Oh fab, that's great, @Cath ! I'd love it if a few of us have a go, it's a good game I think and we can make it more and more complex. I can't wait for my workshop in 3 weeks!
I wonder if this would be good for my Charlie as he's not interested in retrieving, maybe this could be something that might interest him.
You could give a try, Helen - all you need is a clean toy, a jar and a small bag of catnip. Or cheese, some dogs search for cheese in which case what could be easier, really. At first it's very simple, but you can build it up until the dog is searching for 30 minutes or more. Seems a great way to tire out doggie minds...
No, I didn't get my catnip spray until the morning we left for the UK. I've got several new toys to use with it (and a huge tub of "real" catnip now) that I'll be starting with when I get home. Very exciting
It's worth watching the second DVD before you start (I wish I had). It's also worth buying the second DVD (ditto - I rented it, but know I want to watch it again).
Please let me know how you get on Julie at your workshop. I don't have any DVD only your posts, so would love some more ideas. I did sew some feathers onto the squares I made, they seemed to like them.
So what I've learned from the second DVD, is that you do have to be able to 'direct' your dog to search so you can work through a search area and know what you've searched and what you haven't. The second DVD is £13 to buy on vimeo, and £6 to rent. I rented it, but now regret it because I'll definitely want to watch it a few times - it's 1.5 hours long. Unlike the first DVD which is short, and I bought it, but won't watch again. But - and whether this will change later, I don't know but there aren't any more DVDs to watch so I'll have to wait for the later workshops - you don't need to stop the dog free searching, he is allowed to do a quick free search to see whether he 'hits' on the article. Only you and the dog do need to be a team so you want your dog to look to you quite soon, and if you are ready to start a directed search then you should be able to get the dog to do that. Then the DVD went on to explain some techniques to search an area that involved sections of directed search and sections of free search (I definitely think this is because a directed search requires a dog with a good concentration span and a fair bit of drive so the early search patterns are designed to be easy on the dog by not asking for too long sections of directed search). So I haven't done anything massively wrong so far! The other tips included: don't follow your dog, move away from your dog to encourage him to move round the search area, stand back when he indicates a find, don't rush in to find it for him (this takes away his fun) but do help him by opening boxes etc if he needs help. Off to construct a row of chairs in the garden to do a directed search exercise. Which you start off doing on lead.
I was ever so pleased with him (although we might not be doing it right, of course). He wasn't at all 'hyper' (er, well, he was on lead of course ) and seemed to be really thinking about what we were doing, and looked properly where I indicated. I was pleased with this as a first go - he didn't rush passed me, and he looked where I asked, and I didn't forget to step back when he found stuff (unfortunately I knew where it was, but can't be helped, we'll get OH to hide some stuff for us later). By the way dogs that counter surf are much better at getting 'height' into their searches! HAHAHAH! I knew it would be a waste of time getting Charlie not to counter surf and it wasn't because I am just far too lazy and couldn't give a fig about stuff like that! Brill - counter surfing skills come in dead handy here! [click pic for vid] first directed by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr
My police dog handler friend says it's a real problem for detection dogs if you inhibit them too much like no getting on furniture or counters etc. You knew that all along right?
Yes, yes, of course. I knew that Charlie's future career would benefit from him being uninhibited. Now I just have the best excuse ever! When people who care about dogs not jumping on the kitchen table and stuff like that say "aren't you going to at least put him in time out?" (I still know one or two people like that, unfortunately....) I can tell them our national security defence against catnip soaked terrorists depends on me not punishing my dog!
You go, Charlie! I have skimmed through the book I bought - it's more of a find the object kind of search, not based on things like catnip. But I'll give it a go anyway, just got to go back and read it a little more carefully now.
Slight variation on the theme of scent work. This is my Clumber spaniel Amy at her first attempt to find a pebble in a sea of pebbles. There is nothing other than the scent of my hand (and a bit of spit ) on the pebble and she hasn't seen it being thrown as she was behind a closed door. Next time I might try it without her usual cue 'lost there'. Amazing noses those dogs have! Please, don't try this if your dog has a tendency to swallow pebbles!
