NACSW Elements Trials

Today was a NACSW Elements trial day for the girls! Perri got into a Level 1 Container trial, and Molly got into a Level 1 Exterior trial. Time to redeem yourself, Molly!

The container trial was first and I was glad of that. Perri especially does not do well in the heat and I kept wondering what I was thinking entering her in a trial in the summer. Blech!

But before any trials, we arrived at the trial site...there was a long driveway and alllll the cars were lined up with nowhere to go. Turns out, the field where every body had parked the day before had received 4 inches of rain the night before and was now a wet and muddy mess. The trial got started a little late as cars were juggled and parking was found. Long story short, nearly everybody just parked each other in along the driveway and that was that. I got lucky, depending on your definition, by being parked on the next property over's driveway. I was within walking distance of the search areas and trial site, under the shade, and not parked in.

The trial site was on a farm, there was a creek running through and there were woods to be enjoyed. We were so far away from the main trial area that before and after searches, my dogs got to enjoy the creek or going for short walks in the woods. Heaven, really.

Perri was the first dog in the run order in the Container trial. The first search was on the grass and it was plastic shoebox type containers with tissue paper inside. It was also right near a barn door entrance. Perri was obsessed with the barn. She wanted to get inside of there so badly. She was only half searching and kept disengaging from the search to try to get into the barn. I kept my head and kept her on the search and she did alert and I called it and we passed that search. Then we had to go...into the barn. 6 ORT style boxes, with only one minute to search. The stuff of nightmares! And Perri was even worse in there. There was a goat paddocked outside of the barn, there were creature smells inside of the barn (the property owner even stated, "rats only run through the barn every now and then.") Perri wanted to hunt and not for birch! It was hair raising and I will be surprised if our time was anything below 59.59 seconds! I really thought we were sunk but I kept asking Perri to check each individual box and she alerted. Whew!

We took a break in the creek and back to the car, and waited for the run order to finish and then we had two more searches. I felt a little more secure in these searches. One was in a foyer of a house. Like, inside of a building with no rats or livestock smell. And the next was on a wooden deck. Perri was her normal self, mildly worried about ghosts or whatever it is she sees when she stares all over the place but she finished both searches and earned her L1C (Level 1 Container) title. Wow, Perri! Today was kind of cool for P-dog because she titled under the judge that was so dismissive of lower drive dogs at her first NACSW trial and she got to title in the element that she failed in her second NW1. So, kind of a vindication day for the poodle.

There was a break in the afternoon, and exodus and re-shuffling of cars as well as new arrivals for the Exteriors trial. Then it was Molly's turn.

We started off by blowing the trial on the first search. Dammitall! Kind of embarrassing to fail a second L1E trial! The search was on a front porch. There was a walkway, stone steps and then a porch full of little ornaments. But there was an ornament at the base of the steps. Molly had run past it. And then she was swirling all over the porch, searching for odor but mostly looking at herself in the glass reflections of the windows alongside of the door. I remember getting her off the porch and resetting her direction. I swear I gave her time to try to catch odor down off of the porch but back up she went. I will be purchasing the video of this search. I mainly remember a lot of focusing on the windows and looking inside and then false alerting at the door. Or, pawing at the door. Whatever you want to call it! Either way, another L1E blown. Looking back, I wish I had taken Molly back to the start line, paused and did a little reboot. 

Molly went on to do a lovely job on the second search. It was in the barn that had so distracted Perri. Molly was not distracted, she found odor and while she did blast past another threshold hide, she was beautiful working odor and following it back to source. 

A short break and then we returned for the day's final two searches. We searched a back deck, table and chairs. Molly did not find odor right away and got a little silly but got back into the search and did a great job working back to source on one of the chairs. No attempts to jump on the table. The last search was alongside the barn, on a step stool and Molly walked right to it and indicated. Super quick.

We finished strong and now Molly has a "leg" towards her L1E title. If she passes 3/4 searches at our next L1E trial she will title. My goal would be to still pass 4/4 searches but hey, at least we improved from the last L1E. I'm frustrated that I let myself get flustered by Molly in the first search and did not handle her well when things got sketchy but I will learn from it!

It was still a great day out with both girls and we had a fun time at a perfect for us trial site.

Hot TaMolly NW1!

The more behind I get in blogging, the more I want to procrastinate! However, Molly had her first NW1 trial in NACSW Nosework on Memorial Day and it was such a special day.

This trial is officially the farthest I have driven for Nosework at nearly 2 1/2 hours away, and it was also the most costly due to the fees put upon the hosting club by the selected trial site. No pressure, Molly! Due to heavy rains in our area, the area they wanted to use for parking was too muddy to be safe, so parking was very close quarters. I actually waited in my vehicle for 15 minutes in a line while the volunteers slowly found spaces and directed each car in. 

The weather was not windy, it was not hot. It was very overcast and a bit drizzly but barely so. When everybody was parked we had our morning briefing and walked around to all of the search areas. This trial was different than the NW1s I have gone to with Perri in that they split the run order and ran two teams at one time. One half searched Interiors and one half searched Containers. I was very excited to be #26 with Molly, but with the group split in half, that meant Molly was searching nearly last in both searches. She was last in Containers. 

Molly's group ran the Interior search. And Molly wasted no time! She was whining at the door, of the little bunk house we were searching. She knew why we were there. They opened the door and I held her on the start line and let her sniff the air a bit and then turned her loose. 12.38 seconds and 6th place! The judge said "that's a fast paced dog!" and even complimented my handling of "a fast paced dog" on our score sheet.

Next was another wait until the ennnnnnd of the run order for Containers. I was trying not to be nervous but I was. Shenanigans can happen in Containers with Molly and I was determined not to make a silly alert call out of nerves if Molly started acting up. The search ended up being absolutely charming, adorable and comical. The videographer even used it as her sample video! 25.77 and 7th place!

Game Face! Entering the search area.

"Alert!"

The hides were set for Exterior and Vehicle elements and then a 45 minute lunch break. I finished a book I had been reading for a while (Dog Man by Martha Sherrill), ate my lunch and tried not to boil over with that "all or nothing" NACSW stress. We had a great morning, but in NACSW your dog must pass all four searches in order to title. If you fail one, at your next trial you start all over again. Part of the challenge! I consoled myself with, if we fail an element it's better to do it in the afternoon! Hope is a wonderful thing!

In the afternoon, things were run the way I have experienced in the past. Molly was #26 in the run order and all competitors ran in order. So, Molly did her Exterior search and then her Vehicle search one after another. I was so grateful for this, a lot less waiting!

Exteriors was first and it was her longest search of the day. You can see on the video, Molly really works odor and I'm proud of myself for staying out of her way and not over managing her or rushing her. She was working hard! The judge wrote "great pattern and bracket on odor". 54.65 and 23rd place on that one.

"The telltale paw!"

Gettin' in there!

I just love us. ♥

We got to head straight to Vehicles! They were organized in a way I had never had Molly search Vehicles before. I confess, Molly doesn't get to practice much with Vehicles. We do not go to a class and I have only my Vehicles and Vince's truck and landscaping trailers and equipment. Sometimes we can practice on a friends car or when I am daring I go to the post office on a Sunday. But Molly has this beast mode birch = food raw talent and so ... we do the best we can. Regardless, 16.20 seconds and 6th place. One of the volunteers told me great job even with a distraction and it wasn't until I got my trial video this past week that I understood what she meant by distraction. Somebody yelled "loose dog!" during our video. It was a neighbor dog. I literally did not even hear this while I was doing the search with Molly. My skills of focusing on my dog must be improving!

Molly NW1! I was high as a kite, so freaking excited and proud of Molly and I had so much fun! After two no-pass NW1s with Perri it was exhilarating for Molly to pass on her first try! This is no bust on Perri, she's a hard little worker and has a lot more stacked against her mentally than Molly does. Molly's talent and drive is very exciting and I really want to do right by her and let her soar to her potential. (As it is, I have done a big fat zero Nosework training since the trial. Boo!)

The award ceremony was a great feeling knowing Molly had titled and done a smooth job of it! Molly not only titled but she earned the Pronounced designation on all four searches and that is Kind of a Big Deal! "The judges may ‘Pronounce’ handler/dog teams demonstrating exceptional technique and/or teamwork"

And it did NOT STOP THERE. At every NW1 trial, a special award called the Harry Award is given out to a rescue dog. From the NACSW rule book, "A long time nose work dog, Harry, passed away just days before the Inaugural nose work trial in August of 2008. The Harry Award was established in loving memory and honor of Harry, the Beauceron, one of our earliest nose work dogs that showed tremendous enthusiasm and promise. The first Harry Award was presented at the Inaugural Nose Work Competition, August 9, 2008. The Harry Award is given to the most outstanding rescue dog that demonstrates extraordinary ability and spirit in nose work."

What is not in the rule book, and this story has been told at every NW1 I have been at, is that Harry died while out hiking with his owner. He was bitten by a venomous snake, after getting in between the snake and his beloved owner. You cannot help but choke up with tears every time.  

I knew about the Harry Award. I wanted it. And I thought Molly really had a shot at earning it. She is fast, talented and a real blast to watch. Turns out, the judges thought so too and so they chose Molly to earn the Harry Award. And when your dog wins the Harry Award, you have to tell everybody about your dog.

So I did. I told them how she is a pitbull, she was a stray, she was returned to the shelter by her first adopters for being "too much", she is my first agility dog, she has titled in many different sports, she has gusto and spirit for any endeavor I desire, she is an incredible partner and game for anything. And she also has cancer and her days are numbered but we live them all to the fullest and I asked everyone to appreciate every single day with their dog. You truly never know when it is your last. 

It was hard not to cry. I love that dog with every cell in my body and I was honored to be on the other end of the leash with her, smashing her NW1. Molly's agility days are truly coming to a close, but it is so exciting to see her passion for this new to her sport. I look forwards to our continued journey in Nose Work together!

Perri's 2nd try at NW1!

Somewhere between last year and this one, my "I'm never doing NACSW again!" turned into ... entering Perri in an NW1. That's what I do! Perri has been successful in Performance Scent Dog trials and there was a part of me that wanted to see if we could conquer what defeated us last year.

Spoiler alert: we did not title! But we had a very nice experience. The trial was well almost three weeks ago, but I wanted to wait for our videos and photos to be available before I wrote about our day.

The weather gods were smiling on us, sort of. The day was in the low 50s and it was downright cold due to...wind chill. Cold is good, Perri likes to search in the cold! It was very windy most of the day, so that made me feel a little bit nervous since Perri would be working against some added challenge in her two weakest elements.

And we had to start with Exteriors.

At least it wasn't Vehicles! The search was on gravel, some tables, chairs, shovels, etc to be searched. Perri had a moment of vacancy but quickly reengaged with the search and sourced, earning her a Pronounced and passing Exteriors in 36 seconds. I was thrilled! In comparison with last year's trial, with a 2.47 minute Exterior search....talk about improved!

We went straight to Containers. I felt invincible. Containers is Perri's best element and she is the best poodle ever and never ever false alerts and this was going to be our "gimme" search for the trial...........

And then she false alerted in Containers and we failed our NW1 because of Containers. I was absolutely astonished. I could have fallen over when I heard the judge say "No". I couldn't believe it. Even Perri looks like she couldn't believe the judge saying "No" in the video! I still can't believe it, nearly three weeks later! I don't understand what happened, I still don't. I have watched my video. I have thought about it. I have been honest and if I could blame my handling I would. I see that Perri never checked the hot box. Her search pattern is disorganized. None of those things are out of her ordinary. She did not seem overly stressed, but maybe she was stressed and due to her disorganized searching and not finding odor she falsed. None of those things is really like Perri to do. I have had friends who are far more experienced than me say maybe she alerted on drool or maybe she was fringing. Maybe? Nothing is impossible? But I do not actually know what happened in that room. Before that search if you said "Bet your life that Perri is correct about this box" I would have done so because Perri is so meticulous and careful and Always Right about Containers. I just don't know! Even when I showed Perri the correct box, she did not seem impressed by it. 

The "all or nothing" of NACSW trials is a very challenging factor indeed and it can be demotivating. 

We had a very long wait until our afternoon searches. Searches that would "count for nothing". I had a nice easy crime novel read on my Kindle and I passed the time away with that. I really did not feel like doing the afternoon searches, especially since one of them was Vehicles. Perri does not enjoy searching Vehicles. 

But, we persisted! We started with Vehicles. The wind was blowing toward us. Perri sources in about 14 seconds but does not alert. And then it was up and down the vehicles. The odor was in the wheel spokes of the middle vehicle. It was blowing all over the red vehicle. Perri knew it too, she checked it out. Eventually she finally was adamant about where the odor was and I called alert. I kept relaxed and reminded myself we had 3 minutes. Our time was 2.14 minutes. We passed Vehicles for our first time! How unbelievable to pass Exteriors and Vehicles and not Containers. Crazy!

We finished our day with Interiors. No videos or photos since that is not permitted in the Interior element by NACSW (eye roll. Haha.)
The search was in an industrial kitchen type area. There were pantry type items and food prep items available to be sniffed. Counter tops and a table top. The search area was wide open with access to the rest of the fire hall. I chose to do my search off leash. Perri was mostly focused for her search, her normal meticulous self. She did exit the boundaries of the search and go off toward the rest of the firehall, but she came back promptly when I called her. On her second pass over the search area she was really evaluating the pantry shelves and then went and alerted on an area that she had checked before (and that I had made a note of.) It was a large metal rack for food trays and the hide was in the little wheel on the bottom.

Another 3/4 day for Perri in NW1 but the day felt much better to me! I was really bummed that we had not titled, especially since we kicked butt in all the tougher elements!

Now the moment of truth - the Award Ceremony. At our trial last year I was disgusted by the poor attitude of one particular judge and by the trial experience in general. This year's experience was the exact opposite. We were allowed to leave the trial site, nobody was patrolling and making sure we followed All!The!Rules! At the award ceremony we were given advice on leash handling and other helpful pointers, all with an indulgent kind tone that made me feel like the judges knew we were at the NW1 level. That means a lot because while there were likely handlers there who are very experienced and have dogs up in the Elite level, I am still a true Level 1 handler. One of the judges in particular handles dogs professionally and he took the time to say that he loves to judge and watch K9 Nosework because he can see the love we all have for our dogs in handling and training them. A stark contrast to a different judge from last year who also handles dogs professionally and uses that platform to look down on competitors.

I know. I sure can hold a grudge.

People deserve to be respected and so do our dogs. That's what I think is important. And I felt respected and honored to be at that Nosework trial. We failed NW1 a second time but I was so happy that we did our last two searches and that my dog was working stronger than she was last year. I have learned to handle a leash! I have learned not to panic because of the clock. And after this year's trial, I feel nothing but anticipation for the next time Perri and I try NW1. Bring it on.