This has been a real stressy, up and down week at our house. Monday and Tuesday night, Bailie and I had our ORT (odor recognition test) with Mom. In order to really understand how it all went down, I have to tell you a bit about Mom’s feelings on success and failure.
Mom is real competitive. She can’t help the way she feels and doesn’t expect everyone to understand, but she doesn’t handle failure, or missing a goal very well. Mom is a lousy team player as she doesn’t trust others to help her achieve her goals which is why she loves sports like running, golf, tennis (NOT doubles). If she loses, she is real hard on herself. Going through Obedience School with Bailie was the first time she has ever really partnered with a dog and had to worry about someone other than herself for success and failure. Mom put her all into training and Bailie passed, Mom was happy, Bailie could care less. Nose work is really a sport that requires Mom to fully put her trust in us and that realization really hit home the past week or so. At the ORT briefing she was told the objective was to have fun and just enjoy the time with your dog, but Mom had to “win”. She only wanted to get that alert and pass the test.
The ORT is very secretive, so we weren’t allowed to be taking photos of much stuff. Mom did take more photos of me as she had a better idea of what was going on than she did the first night with Bailie. On Bailie’s night it was cold and pouring rain too, which did not make for good photo ops. A handler is only allowed one dog per odor per night, which is why we each had a different night. The above photo was me waiting for my turn in the car. Holding paws with Mom is relaxing. I was the eighth dog on Birch Tuesday night.
Monday night Bailie had her test. It was the first time for any of us to try an ORT. Mom was confident Bailie would pass with flying colors. She didn’t think much about success and failure because failure wasn’t an option. Well, Bailie failed (actually, you don’t fail, you get a “miss”). Mom was in shock when Bailie went to the same box twice and it was wrong. There is no second chance, they say no, and you are done. Bailie was happy as could be, not a care in the world – it was fun for her and they were done. Mom’s first reaction was to be mad at Bailie for not doing her job, but then she was mad at herself because maybe she caused Bailie to fail. Bailie said Mom cried a little bit in the car on the way home. Mom had to learn to deal with the fact that she was helpless and she needed to find a way to work better with Bailie to pass the test the next time she has a chance.
Tuesday night Mom was pretty scared as I was not doing well on my training at home. I was choosing every box and Mom really did not expect me to pass. The thought of two failed performances had her considering dropping out of nose work altogether. Mom talked to me a lot…I wish I could have said clam up, but I just let her ramble. We finally got into the test room and started. I sniffed all twelve boxes and did not signal a single one. Mom panicked, now what? We decided to go around again but Mom and I switched sides. I sniffed each box again, but on the second row, I stopped, started to lick and paw at one box. Mom decided this was me saying it is here. She called alert and heard “yes”. What happened next almost killed me! I got my reward but she hugged me so tight, I could feel my stuffing coming out my ears! She was so happy and so proud of me doing a textbook search. Life was good again!
What did we learn from success and failure?
- Mom learned that she has to spend a lot of time learning to understand and read us.
- When you fail, it isn’t the dog, it isn’t the pet parent, it is the working together than broke down, the communication.
- Nose work is all about knowing when to help your dog, how to help your dog, and what is your dog thinking/smelling.
- Step back from it, sleep on it and go after your goal again the next day.
- Make a new plan of action – hopefully in July Bailie will try Birch again and I will try Anise.
- Remember, dogs don’t feel failure in tests like this, we are just happy to be with our pet parent doing a fun activity. Try to think like a dog and enjoy those moments.
- Doing nose work with us will be good for Mom as she really has to learn to trust us 100%. There is no way in heaven she can find an odor without us! This will be wonderful for bonding.
- Talk to your instructor for guidance. On the second night our instructor gave Mom some ideas as to why Bailie may have failed and she gave good pointers on how to help me succeed.
- Most people think it is easy, like they see on TV. A dog searches and then sits or barks when it finds what it is searching for, but in reality, it is so much more complicated than that. Finding the odor isn’t always the hardest part, but reading your dog is hard and we don’t just sit or bark like on TV. Nose work classes for fun are also much different than an actual ORT. Just a little movement of air can throw a dog off.
- That saying on the sign above: “Don’t just have a dog, have fun with your dog.” is really the key to life with a dog!
If you succeed, it sure is fun getting tons of loving from your mom! She is so very proud of me and in some ways I am glad Bailie failed because I was able to remind her that I am the boss around here!
I’m ready to get back to nose work class and the fun of it all. Luckily there are only three odors, and you only have to pass an ORT one time for each odor in order to qualify to compete. We need lots more practice, but still hope to do some competition next winter.
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There are life lessons here, not only lessons for working with your dog-although those are very important.
Congrats Emma and mom on your pass, Bailey will get it next time. Thank you for a good post, this came in time for our hunt test tomorrow with Gman where I am very competitive also and just want him to pass and also feel like a failure when they don’t pass. I will be going over your advice to handle what ever tomorrow brings us.
It took a good 2 days for Mom to really get over it and the hardest thing is she can’t blame Bailie, but we are ready to hit it hard and try again hopefully in July. Glad to know Mom isn’t the only one with those competitive issues!
Way to go Emma, thanks for passing so your mom could feel a little better, and not quit nose work! Tell her that Bailie will nail it the next time around. We all have our up and downs in dog competitions and tests, but as long as we learn to see through the failures and just have fun, it’s worth it. 🙂
We are all definitely learning. Being the first test and failing made it extra hard, but we have worked through it and are now on the road getting ready for next time.
Awesome post. Life has wins and losses, but both are momentary. As long as you have each other and a committed attitude you are in good shape. You can’t predict the future but you can always work hard to be better. Thanks for the reminder, I have a lot of puppy challenges awaiting and it will be important to keep the right perspective
Committed attitude with healthy goals, lots of hard work, and fun, that is what makes for a huge pay off with the dog/human team. It is a constant work in progress. Your new little pup will push Eko and you to the limits but it is so worth it.
I say good job for trying and congrats on your pass Emma. Yes it can be frustrating when you think you are good to go and then the training breaks down. But once you are hooked (and it sounds like you are), you dust yourself off and train harder. 🙂
More like dry your dog off in Bailie’s case with all the rain. We have worked through it and have learned a lot. Now on to more nose work.
Well done Emma. To be honest, this is probably one of the reasons I don’t do any competitions…hate to lose. What is it with us humans…the dogs don’t care. I’m sure Bailie had a fine old time and was quite proud of herself. Wish we could be so confident that winning was immaterial. Oh well, good lesson for us all…be more like Bailie 😉
Mom is forcing herself to learn to fail and accept it. I’m sure it will happen more in the future, but right now it has her working even harder to make sure and “win” next time. It is tough when your partner doesn’t care either way!
So many life lessons learned. We remember your mom thought Bailie would do better in nose work, but you fooled all of us, Emma. Mom tells me dogs do fell failure because she had it happen with one of her Afghan hounds. That is a story for another time and another place. WE are proud of all of you…you go, girls! XOXO Sparkle the PBGV
I am very relaxed and methodical, Bailie and Mom are both rush, rush types, so that makes it tough. For sure Bailie will be a great tracking dog, but that won’t start until the end of August. Mom and Bailie can run through the woods together like fools. I will stay home and relax. For now we will both keep up with nose work but down the road, Bailie may focus more on just tracking and me on nose work. We will see 😉
Congrats Emma.
Thank you, I’m pretty happy with myself.
Well done Emma. Bailie we are sure will come up trumps next time. The thing is it should be fun for all including mum. Have a fabulous Friday.
Best wishes Molly
Mom will adjust. You have to be somewhat competitive at least if you want to compete in a sport, but she is a bit over the top. We will do well, I know it. We just need to work on our teamwork.
Of course you nailed it! Older siblings ARE the boss. I love when mom hugs me so tight like that — you’re right its like the stuffing is coming out of my ears!! Have a great weekend, Emma! your doodle friend, Dash
I love good cuddles and hugs too, as long as they don’t kill me 🙂 I’m happy with my week. Enjoy the long weekend!
Yay!!! Good for you!!!!!!!
Sounds like you got quite the bear hug!!!!! BOL!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
I got tons of them. I want to do that again!
Mom and I are so much alike. I too am very competitive and set very high standards for myself and beat myself up when I don’t meet those standards. I totally get where Mom is coming from. 🙂 Which is why I won’t do competition type events with the dogs. I can’t take the chance that we will fail.
Interesting story, when I was in college there were a couple of classes where we had to do group projects. This one class (Corporate Communication) had a group of five or six of us. We sat in a circle and went around letting other group members know what grade we wanted on the project. All but one of us wanted an A, the other guy said he would be happy with a B. Oh boy, that did not sit well with me. One does not maintain a high GPA with B’s. What I did learn in that class was the “A” students brought the “B” student up to their level. We did ace that project, but it reinforced to me how much I dislike relying on others.
I was a bit worried to let the cat out of the bag about Mom, but it seems like there are a lot of her type our there. Mom loves a good challenge too which is why I think she is so driven to have us succeed at nose work, etc. It is a huge challenge getting us dogs to be as perfect as she wants, but she really wants to achieve the goals. I guess if she can run marathons and never walk because she says that is not running, she can figure out how to work with us furry ones 😉
And I was very rude not to congratulate you Emma. Great job!!
Oh thank you. I’m real proud and so is Mom.
Congrats to Emma, Yeah. And Bailie will work it out, or not. Either way is really OK, you just have to accept that and have fun together.
Mom has a new goal with Bailie and I’m sure she will get a pass next time around unless there is a wabbit in the area.
You are the Boss. I love you tons. Hope your sister does better next time. Love and kisses
Mom says I work smarter, Bailie is more like my mom, always in a rush, not me.
Way to go Emma! I knew that you would be awesome. My mom is very competitive too. I think most humans want to win, it’s something about having and being the best. She even screams at the tv during LSU baseball & football games. It is kinda embarrassing, because she doesn’t play either game. She isn’t as competitive as she used to be when she coached competitive cheerleading and all of that stuff. Sheesh, I’m glad I wasn’t born then! She says that she has mellowed. I’m glad since I never want to disappoint her and I feel when she thinks that I’ve let her down. It makes me sad, too. Tell your mom & Bailie they will sniff out a “win” next time. Your Boy, Bentley
We were back in class last night and both did awesome. There were so many factors that contributed to Bailie not passing, I think she will make it next time and now Mom is more determined than ever too and knows how the whole thing works. My mom yells at the TV too sometimes…so weird!
Oh Emma, congratulations on your nose work! Good job. I am sure Bailie just had an off day and will get it next time. Tell your mom not to be so hard on you two OR HERSELF. Some of the best and funniest memories are made when there is an “oopsie” involved. BOL We like what Thomas Edison once said…”I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”
Have a terrierific weekend!
Oz
Thanks Oz. Mom got over it, just needed a couple days, and now we are back in class and steaming towards our next goals. Enjoy the long weekend.
My mom said she understands what your mom felt that moment on monday, it’s allowed to cry a little, no problem :o) And next time we all cross our paws for Bailie, so I’m sure she will pass the test. Congratulations to you Emma, that deserves a GIANT hug (hope your stuffing is on the right place again :o)
I did manage to get my stuffing back in place, thank you. Mom and Bailie will do better next time I am sure. For now we are back in class having fun.
Oh Emma and Bailey, tell your mom it’s all ok, and “failures” are opportunities to be better! Wooooooowooooooooooooo!
We have rounded the corner to that way of thinking now. Mom just needed some time.
Such a good post, Emma. I am pretty competitive myself. I haven’t competed with my dog officially, though, except I guess one example is when we took the CGC test. He passed – yay! But I know tests like these are very stressful for the owners. They feel like they “fail” if they do not pass, but really they should be proud of the fact that their dog was good enough to even take the test to begin with.
Nosework sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe this is something I should look into with Ace.
Oh boy! Mom and Bailie are going to try for the CGC test next month, that will be interesting. Nose work is a lot of fun and the good things are that it can be done with any dog, for fun or for competition, and all ages of dogs. My first class had several seniors. It helps give them something to do that isn’t real physical.
I overstress at trials/fun matches too! Even more so because Mr. N tends to be an “off-breed” for almost everything and I feel like the pressure is there not to make a fool out of ourselves!
Imagine taking your scent hound to a scent test and failing…that is what Mom was feeling, so we totally get it with Mr. N.
Aw that’s too bad Bailie, you’ll get there one day 🙁 But big congratulations to you Emma!
Bailie doesn’t seem to care, but I bet she will make it next time.
Congrats Emma! But remember, Bailie didn’t fail, she just missed!
Well, I like to say she failed, it is a big sister thing.
Congratulations to you and your Mom, Emma! Great job! As much as your Mom hates failing, it sounds like she is doing the best thing in trying to understand why so she and Bailie can do better next time.
I once dropped a course in junior college because I knew I wasn’t going to ace it and it would ruin my plans to get a 4.0 GPA…so I understand your Mom completely.
You did well not to brag more about beating your sister too! LOL!
I try to be somewhat nice when it comes to Bailie, even though she can be a pain in my furry behind sometimes.
Goodness I had no idea how intense this is! Now mom is rethinking us taking the course. But congratulations to the both of you and tell mom to relax and not be so hard on herself, have fun! Love Dolly
You don’t have to take the test, it is only if you want to actually compete. You can just do nose work for fun forever if you want. You should definitely give it a try.
Great post! Having fun is the most important part. Enjoying the moment, just like you smart dogs do, is the way to go. But it’s so much easier said than done! So good luck to your Mom, I hope she can relax and just have fun with nose work.
Congratulations Emma! So happy for you! Better luck next time with Bailie! 🙂
Mom has come to grips with the situation and is moving forward. Bailie will pass the next time around.
Crudues to you and your Mom. Jolie Amie and I are soo proud of you both! We know you worked long and hard to reach this level of excellence.
Emma, dear, we must remember that although you sister is a smart little girl she still has a puppybrain and will grow up one of these days! Give her a kiss from us and tell her and your mom that they have acompanished a lot really fast and are ahead of most all pups her age.
Kiss your mom for us and ask her how many newbies were working two dogs. Then tell her I want to be perfect, too, but generally don’t make it. Probably the world is a better place as I would be perfectly obnoxious if I was!
Thank you for your kind words. We are all moved on now, out with the old and on to new challenges. You are right that we do have two dogs and are all newbies, never thought about that. Two is a lot to keep trained all the time which is why only Bailie will be doing tracking, at least for a while because it would be too much to be laying two tracks all the time. We all aspire to do our best but some days it just doesn’t happen. Have a great weekend!
This is such a fantastic post with so many great things to remember. Atka will being going for his CGC title in a few months and then on to become a therapy dog. So many great things to keep in mind during this stressful process.
Believe it or not, Bailie is going to CGC class next month. We will see how that goes. Lots of challenges ahead for Mom and us dogs this summer! Good luck to Atka! We will just be doing nose work and tracking, no therapy dog stuff, but that is enough.
Well done Emma! We know it’s all about having fun with your dog too. But it sure is more fun to win, isn’t it?! heehee! Sounds like your mom is on the right track.
Your pals,
Diane and Rocco
Winning does make it much more fun and Rocco sure is good at that!
Very cool! Congrats on the pass and Bailie will do great next time. 🙂 Some of us need a little more honing than others. 🙂
We think she will get it next time. She is still a puppy, so that might be part of it.
Wow congrats Emma, very interesting post. We filmed cancer detection, police and drug dogs finding odours for our doc. It clearly takes a lot of training, trust and team work, but very rewarding when you get it right. I’m sure Bailie will next time. X S
Mom used to be a flight attendant and they would sometimes have bomb sniffing dogs running test with fake explosives early in the day before passengers were on the plane. She always thought it was amazing. Now we do nose work which is nowhere near what those dogs do, but it is in that direction and we enjoy it.
Emma I congratulate you, Bailey and your Mom. Each of you learned something, and I appreciate you sharing such an honest story for the rest of us to learn from as well. Can’t wait till you all go back again.
We are “back on the horse” now and steaming on towards the next tests. So happy you boys both passed your therapy tests.
Rooo congrats Emma! Well you are the big sister after all so I expected your nose to pass the ORT, Bailie is still a little pup *Waggy tail*. My human is exactly the same as yours – incredibly competitive. We are still going through the beginners classes and have only just started looking at my behaviour when sniffing and finding the right box. She can imagine it will get really hard when she doesn’t know which box is the right one!
Have fun and trust your dog is the best advice, but it is really hard for a human to do. We are doing exterior searches now which I will post about on Friday. Much more fun but much more difficult.
Congratulations Emma! That is awesome that you passed. Your poor mom! Bailie will pass next time!
Looking back, lots of stuff was wrong with Mom and Bailie that day, but it will be better next time.
Congratulations, Emma! It’s hard for your mom to be that competitive, but I guess it’s a learning experience. Next time Bailie will get it right too. =)
Once Mom gets over it, she comes back with a bigger and better plan. Bailie will do it next time.
Yay! for lessons learned!
Learning is great for the brain!