On November 1, I earned my NW2 Title at Buckhill! You may recall I earned my NW1 Title at Afton Alps ski area in July which makes me think ski areas in the off season are lucky for me! If you are not from Minnesota, you may not know much about Buckhill, but if you follow skiing, you probably have heard of Lindsey Vonn. She learned to ski and got her start at Buckhill. I have to say move over Lindsey, there’s a new winner in town now!
My NW2 Title consisted of four element searches. The odor used was birch, anise, or a combination of the two, and there could be more than one hide in a search, but they tell you how many there will be ahead of time. My trial started out with interiors. There are no photos of the interior searches. I searched a smaller room for one hide, followed by a larger room with two hides. I found all three hides in 1:32 which was the 6th fastest time. 38 dogs total were competing in this trial. FYI, all the search photos have been purchased for my use from Caprise Adams, the trial photographer.
Containers was my second search. Containers in level 2 are no longer just boxes, they can be bags, buckets, anything really container like. There can be more than one hide and there can be distractors in some some containers. This search had on odor hide and two distractors, one dog toy, and one bag with food.
And, I’m off sniffing containers, searching for the odor.
One thing Mom loves about me, is I work like her, very thorough. I like to check every single container.
The search area was a bit tricky as the opening and closing of the door to the outside created a wind pushing the odor, the pop machine was blowing some air, and there was an air vent moving air.
Alert! The odor is in this bag, Mom! My time was 53 seconds, 12th fastest. I’m not a fast searcher, but I get the job done and don’t miss things.
I do have this video of my entire search. At the end, Mom has to loudly and clearly say alert and finish for the clock to stop. Mom is a bit slow on the saying alert thing which she needs to work on. The guy with the clipboard in the front right corner is the judge, people in orange vests are volunteers, and the clicking noise in the background is the trial photographer. Note how Mom lets me do my thing, doesn’t talk to me, gives me lots of space and plenty of leash to work. At the end, I catch the odor on the table and follow it right down to the bag. The motion of the air in the room pushed the odor up and out.
Next up was the exterior search which had two hides to find. I was on the first hide in the dustpan right off the bat!
Then it was off to search for the other one.
The wind was blowing at our faces, so that is also blowing the odor in the same direction. I follow the odor on the pipe, up a bit, and down to the outlet on the wall where the hide is located, and then alert my mom.
I gave the alert, now where is the reward. Faster service would be nice!
After I find the last hide in a search and get the reward, Mom and I always like to have a quick snuggle. I love to snuggle. I found these two hides in 51 seconds which put me at the 20th fastest time.
The final search was vehicles. Four vehicles, one hide, three minutes. My team fell apart on this one! I found the hide in about 30 seconds, but Mom was like a dear in the headlights and could not bring herself to say alert. She was scared, scared of hearing a “no”. I tried to show her but she insisted we keep looking, so I went along with her. Finally she let me go back to where I had originally found the hide.
I had my nose so deep in the wheel I was afraid it would get stuck but she still did not say alert! She remembered my first try at my NW1 Title where our last search was vehicles and we missed and failed. She did not want a repeat.
Finally, Mom did it, she said alert, finish. I had my NW2 Title! Because of Mom and her fear, I placed dead last for time, so embarrassing. Don’t worry, I have us signed up for classes starting next week. She needs to step up her game if we want to earn an NW3 Title!
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Awesome job, congrats!!! So what if you were dead last you did it and you got a title that’s what counts. Have fun in class.
Mom and I never expect to win any speed awards, we are just after the titles, but it was maddening since it was Mom who didn’t have the guts to call it when I clearly showed her the first time.
You soooo rock, Emma!! We just know your Mama will catch up after some more training!
Smileys!
Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
She has improved a lot in the past year, but she really froze up on that last search. She is lucky I am so patient with her.
Congratulations! Humans sure are hard to train aren’t they. π
They really are. It isn’t that hard to read me, but sometimes Mom just is a mess.
Congratulations. Good luck for your next set of tests.
Thank you. It will be a while now with winter approaching.
Way to go!
Thanks Whitley!
Emma! I know you said the times aren’t the fastest, but they sound fast to us! And we thought you might get your nose caught in the wheel!! You were saying: It’s heeeerrre!!! Great job, so interesting. your doodle friend Dash
I have a video of the vehicle search too where I clearly show mom for many seconds the first time and she pulled me away. I will keep working with her until she gets it!
you are such a clever girl and persistence paid off in the end π
I have to be patient with Mom as she for some reason has trouble believing me sometimes. She says I’m reliable but then she fumbles when it counts. I think she learned a good lesson and we still got our title.
Congratulations, we’re very impressed. Go easy on your human, they do like to overcomplicate things!
Her goal is not to think, but she tossed that out and was thinking on the vehicle search but we did it anyway, thank goodness!
Great job Emma. Not such a great job Mom. Mom owns more training.
Mom is getting better, but she needs to just follow my lead as I am reliable.
Congratulations! That was great to watch you… how careful and highly focused you checked efurry bag! I probably would throw all bags around to look if a treat is inside :o)
Some dogs do toss bags and boxes around or smash them. Sometimes I kick them or push them with my nose if it is boxes only as it is so boring, but I like the mix with bags and I know I should only find the odor, not the food or toys.
You are beautiful – and so serious – when you look at your mom with that “find” look. Congratulations, Emma! XOXO Sparkle the PBGV
It is a serious sport for us. Bailie takes it real easy and isn’t so into it, but I totally get it and am focused on my job.
What a champ! You guys are ready for the Olympics just as soon as they get their act together and make it an official sport.
Nose work Olympics would sure be interesting! I wonder when it will be approved by the Olympic committee?
Good job Emma…you guys need some bigger hills for skiing in MN.
If you are small, Buckhill looks like a mountain, and great skiers have gotten there start on it, but to really ski, one needs to find something bigger!
We believe that slow and steady wins the race…I mean Nose Work titles! You are going to have to train Mom to say, “Alert” on time though. They can be so hard to teach! BOL! I loved watching you in action on the video! XXOO Bentley β₯
Thanks Bentley. She has made progress, but she lost it on my last search. I have her back in training on Monday.
Congrats, congrats, congrats, we’re all so proud of you!!!
Thank you. I’m proud of myself too π
Wow, great job!!!!! Congrats!!!!!
α¦ husky hugz α¦ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Thank you. Mom and I are pretty happy!
Yay! Go Emma!
I’ll never have as many ribbons as you, but my collection is growing!
Congratulations again, Emma, you did it even if it wasn’t perfect! Your Mom just needs to gain some more confidence. I think she does have the tough part of the team. We humans have the problem of being nervous and sometimes over thinking things….you just rely on your nose and it doesn’t let you down! I really enjoyed seeing you at work.
Thank you. She did better than she has ever done until the last search where she kind of fell apart, but overall, we are thrilled to have the title!
Ya congratulations Emma! Great job. I am sure Mom will get more confident with more training and trials. What a fun activity to do together, especially as you both like to be thorough.
We work together really well as long as she doesn’t start thinking! We look forward to many more trials and titles together.
This is a wonderful demonstration of your skills, Emma. I loved the combination of photographs and video.
You have such a deliberate search style. So professional. And your tail never stops wagging.
It seems like you and your mom are becoming a good team. Humans don’t have the confidence that dogs too sometimes. It’s good that you’re patient with her. π
Honey is very fast when she searches. When she catches a whiff of the scent behind her, she turns on her heels like a cartoon character. It’s very funny.
Bailie is very fast too. She doesn’t check everything like I do, she goes right for the odor which sometimes leads to her missing things. Every dog has her style I guess. Now we have to start working towards our NW3 which will be much more difficult, but I know we can do it.
Great work!
Thank you. I tried really hard and it worked.
Maybe like you, your mom is trying to be extra thorough. Good job!
Mom is afraid of failing and isn’t real good at team sports, so she has to keep working on it.
Congratulations on your second title! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to follow through on that nosework class with Gretel but we’re proud of you for sticking with it.
That is a bummer. Maybe you can give it another shot? Nose work is really one of the easiest dog sports around. You can practice any time, any place, don’t need much equipment, just taking a class once a week is the only real expense. I love it, and can’t wait to compete again in the spring hopefully.
Congratulations! I love when there are elements like wind affecting the searches. It’s so fun to see Barley’s head snap in the right direction when she realizes the wind’s taking her away from it.
If Mom sees a head snap she is always so thrilled. It’s always fun to see how the odor is traveling and how we follow the trail to the hide. Love nose work!
Congratulations and great job. I am sure your mom will get it with more practice. π
She is improving drastically, but sometimes she fumbles and I have to be patient or we will mess up.
Pawesome job! Congrats!!! Yeah, humans can be SO slow sometimes, can’t they??
Humans are tough to properly train!
Emma, you are spectacular in the photo showing your ribbon, and the photos showing your work. Congratulations again to you and your mom for your great achievement!
Thank you. We had a great trial weekend, and both of us were quite proud of our work.
Great job Emma, you just need to help mom build her confidence up. π I’m sure you’ll get your NW3 title!!
We have a lot of hard work to do, but I know we will get it. The harder thing might be getting a place in a trial.