On May 5th, Bailie earned an NW3 Vehicle Element Title at the trial in Luxemburg, Wisconsin. It was not the day they had hoped for, but Mom and Bailie are proud to have at least accomplished something.
The trial took place at the Kewaunee County Fairgrounds. Mom thought it would be a real fun place to have searches. The weather was perfect, but it ended up being yet another trial with thirty five dogs, and no titles.
Bailie was dog #33, so she did two searches in the morning and the last four were all several hours later at the end of the day. It’s hard waiting around all day. Mom said when it was time to get back to work, she was even less motivated than Bailie. Madison was bored after just hanging out in the car all day.
This was the third try at an NW3 trial for Bailie. The previous two started with a container search and a “no”. Sadly, this trial was no different. Bailie found one hide, then false alerted and got a “no”. You have to be perfect to get a title, so starting your day knowing you lost is not a good thing. Only 17% of the competitors passed containers, which is very, very low, and the main reason there were no titles that day.
Interiors were quite interesting. The three search rooms were set up in a larger building. Standing outside the first search room, was this sign. Mom was wondering how the search would go without Bailie, but found out dogs were going to be allowed after all.
The first of the three rooms was a pretty full conference room. Bailie did a good job covering the perimeter and finding two hides. Mom called finished and then realized they never covered the middle of the room. No problem this time. There were only the two hides.
The second interior room was a smaller, packed full, storage room. Bailie went in, and got right to work. She was stuck on some pooling odor, so Mom moved her along and she hit the single hide almost immediately. There was only the one hide in that room.
How about searching the ladies room? The bathroom was the third and final interior search room. Bailie loves to sniff toilets, so Mom was not real thrilled about this area. Toilets are like drains and sinks, they push and pull a lot of odor. There wasn’t much to search in the bathroom since it was, well a bathroom. Bailie found a hide on a sign, then proceeded to search around some toilets, the sinks, the drain, and then Mom called finish. One hide was all there was, so Bailie passed interiors. If she passes one more time, she will get her NW3 Interior Element Title.
The final search of the day was an interior search. It was tough as there were so many smells, leaves, and lots of places a hide could be. The wind was pushing the odor up under those high tables, which was confusing. Unfortunately, Bailie ran out of time before finding the hide.
Vehicles was their second search, and the winner search of the day for team purple with the NW3 Vehicle Element Title. Four vehicles were parked in an L shape. Of course, Mom started out on the far side of the vehicles. If everyone, photographers, judge, timer, are all on the other side, chances are there won’t be much on the side Mom took. Nevertheless, they continued and Bailie did find one hide on that side. Bailie did a great job finding the first two hides, but then she got slow and lazy. Mom wanted to cover the final two vehicles and Bailie was not being much help. They got the thirty second warning, and ended up finding a third hide with just eight seconds to spare. Finding three is such a great feeling because then you know you found all the hides for sure!
Mom is super proud of Bailie for earning her NW3 Vehicle Element Title for several reasons. First, Mom has a fear of vehicle searches, but Bailie seems to do quite well anyway. Second, remember you don’t know how many hides there are. It could be one, two, or three, which makes it tough. Third, all three of Bailie’s NW3 vehicle searches have been really tough, with low pass rates. The first NW3 had five vehicles and only 2 1/2 minutes to find the hides, a tall order!
Bailie did a good job of working pretty hard on all her searches, but the title was not to be. At this time, we are all on waitlists for various trials over the next two months. Hopefully some of us will get into a trial or two, but one never knows. In the meantime, we are taking classes, and practicing.
Well I think you did good Bailie, nose work in a potty box area sure doesn’t sound easy!
Human potty areas are interesting, dog potty areas create problems.
Great job Bailie!
She did some good searching, but we need even better work.
oh the look at 1:40 as you found the second treasure… what a good team you are you understand each other without words… BRAVO and CONGRATS !!!!!! (btw. the mama first thought you are in “that”Luxemburg… but that would be a very long way LOL)
We found it funny too. Wisconsin is very German, I know Luxemburg is not German, but there are tons of European, German towns and things in that part of the state.
Wow, searching a restroom? That sounds really tough.
This post shares exactly why scent work is such a challenging sport. Unlike agility, the conditions change from moment to moment. All you need is a change in the wind or for a furnace or AC unit to fire up and the search area is entirely different.
And yes, the fact that dogs compete one at a time is great for reactive pups. But the downside is that it must be very hard to keep your motivation up when you’re waiting all day.
Such a great post–I feel like I was there with you.
Thank you. Even opening and closing a door to the search area moves the odor around. Even when dogs don’t have to be separated, it is still an all day event because of the time it takes to search, especially with the unknown number of hides.
great post! Bailie is such fun to watch. Mom and I enjoyed this very much. Here’s hoping for the title! your doodle friend Dash
Thank you. We always get our videos so we can learn from out successes and mistakes. One day we will bring home an NW3 Title. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.
Congrats
Thank you.
Congratulations! At least the day wasn’t a total wash.
Exactly. It is really a bummer to go home with absolutely nothing but memories.
Great job Baillie!!!
Thank you. She is working better as she matures.
We are so proud of our huggle buddy and her mom! ♥
You will be happy to know that Mom and Bailie often huggle while they are waiting for their turn. It relaxes them both and gets them in togetherness mode.
Good job, Team Purple!
Thank you. The team is trying their best, most of the time.
Way to go!
We just keep on sniffin!
We think Bailie and your Mama did a great job, even if they didn’t get the title. We bet practicing is more fun than the trials.
xoxo,
Jakey, Arty & Rosy
Trials are a lot of fun because you really find out what you don’t know. Mom has to trust us 100% because she cannot find a Q-Tip with odor if her life depended on it. It bonds us together, but practice is definitely a lot easier.
Great job, Bailie and Mom! We’re so glad your Mom was happy even though they didn’t get all they wanted. Bailie does kind of poke along there, and I thought sure she wasn’t going to find that last one! It also seems like her alert is pretty subtle. Or was that just me, or maybe the angle we were seeing it from?
Mom says Bailie has a very clear alert, but everyone that doesn’t see her working on a regular basis says she has a super soft alert that is hard to see. Mom knows it really well, and says it is always crystal clear to her in a trial, but watching videos, she often wonders how she knows because Bailie offers so many things that seem to be alerts but in person it must be different.
Way to go that is awesome!
Thank you.
Great job Bailie and Mom we would never be able to wait all that time and accomplish anything. To be honest Mom HATES to wait the most, we could just sleep:)
The whole day is fun in an odd way, there are friends to hang out with, but it is hard to wait. We know why we are there and just want to sniff too.