We finished six weeks of dog sports in a row the middle of March. It was a lot of fun, but unlike our eleven weeks in a row last fall where we were mainly trialing locally, this time we traveled four out of the six weeks. Now that we have some time, we wanted to post a review and some highlights from our trials. Since most of our trials were “nose” related, we like to say, “Oh the places noses will take you!”
Weekend One – Barn Hunt
We started the stretch with Barn Hunt. I entered two Masters Trials on Friday afternoon.
It was a lot of fun. The humans lose so many rats in those straw bales, and I love to find them. Unfortunately, it is a team event, and my teammate, Mom, didn’t trust me. Although I found them all, she didn’t believe me, so I didn’t get any Q’s, but it was still a lot of fun.
Bailie needs one Q to earn her Senior Title. Mom signed her up for one run Saturday morning, but Bailie was not feeling it. She didn’t want to search, and it was a mess. No Q, no Title for her…no fun either actually. Hopefully next time she will be more in the mood.
Photos of me doing Barn Hunt have been purchased from Twin Eyes Photography for our use.
Weekend Two – Nose Work
Our second weekend, we drove to Illinois for the Haunted House Trial. Bailie, once again, was not fully in the mood. Do you notice a trend with my sister? When she is feeling it, she is amazing, but if she isn’t feeling it…disaster. She did manage to find six of the eight hides at least.
Mom had a great time as she really wanted to search an interesting venue. She says it was worth the long drive even though they didn’t get a title of any kind.
Photos of Bailie’s searches this weekend have been purchased from Shawn Rossman for our personal use.
Weekend Three – Agility
There are no photos from my agility trial. I only entered one Open Standard and one Open Jumpers run. For some reason, I do so well at school, but when I get to a trial I don’t want to run, jump, or do much of anything. We have now switched to a new school where we are learning new ways to help me work better, get my speed up, and maybe overcome my trial anxiety. Since there is no point in trialing when I’m not wanting to, we are taking a few months off to regroup.
Weekend Four – Scent Work
Our trip to Sioux Falls for Scent Work was the definite highlight of our six weeks of dog sports. In case you are not a dog sports enthusiast, Nose work is an NACSW sport, and Scent Work is an AKC sport. The rules and procedures are slightly different, but both involve sniffing out hides. Locations are not known to the handler.
You may remember this weekend we drove to Sioux Falls in white out conditions, and the trial was held in -16 below temperatures with wind chills of almost -40. It was not a problem as we still had a blast, and all the humans bundled up to stay warm while we dogs worked. I earned my Novice Title, Bailie needs one more Q in Buried Hides for her Advanced Title. Mom has us staggered with Bailie always a level ahead of me, so we can both go to the same trials.
I have some random photos of our searches. This one of Bailie is so her! She is supposed to be preparing to search, but look at her air scenting and smiling. I doubt she was mentally preparing.
Mom and Bailie have some trust issues in their team. Unlike me, Bailie is always happy to lie, thinking she can then quit and get treats. I love this one where Bailie has the correct alert on the trash can, but Mom is checking it out before she decided to believe my sister. Her expressive eyes are almost too much, LOL!
Moving indoors to interior searches for me, it was my first time searching for an unknown number of hides. I would find one or two, and Mom needed to decide when to say we were done. I did a nice search of the area, then told her about the one under the table leg. She called it, but you can see, she is not really sure.
I quickly moved on to the second hide on the seat of the chair. Being so close together, Mom was worried about pooling odor, but I insisted it was there, so she called it and we passed! It was a really happy moment for our team!
Bailie entered Advanced Buried Hides. This was her alerting on one of the containers. In Buried Hides, the odor is in slightly damp sand, at least three inches from the top of the sand.
Photos of us at our Sioux Falls Trials were purchased from Tracy Pollard Photography for our personal use.
Weekend Five – Nose Work
Our fifth week in a row was travel again, this time to Winterset, Iowa for my Element Specialty Trials. We traveled in some ice and snow conditions, but made it safely to our hotel. I was happy to earn my Level 1 Exterior Title. I passed two of my four container searches. The elevated containers got me in the furs. We practiced them at home, but I was not a fan, and could not figure it out at the trial. That is alright since I’m young, I have lots of time to try again.
Weekend Six – Nose Work
Our last weekend was traveling to Moline, Illinois. We had a nice drive down, a fun walk with some friends by the flooding Mississippi River, and Mom had a nice dinner with friends too. Trial day was probably the worst nose work day Mom has ever had. Moline/Davenport was Emma’s trial spot. They had done four road trips down there in the past two years or so. Bailie and I had never been to the area before. On trial day, Mom was crying a lot, and very sad. Bailie really works off Mom’s emotions, so she did not search well at all which only caused the mood to spiral down further. They found three of ten hides. It was a weekend to forget, simply too soon for Mom to go to for a trial. That is alright because we were together, and we all learned something from the experience.
What’s Up Next?
We had a weekend off, and this weekend I’m up again. I have Barn Hunt on Friday, and my first NW3 Nose Work Trial on Saturday. I’m only two, so Mom doesn’t have a lot of expectations for us, other than to have fun and learn more about working together. It was only a year and a half ago that I passed my first Odor Recognition Test. Oddly enough, I passed clove only, and I would not need clove until this weekend. I did test again two months later and passed birch and anise.
April is slow for sports as we don’t trial again until the end of April when we do Barn Hunt one day and Nose Work two days later. I’ve been super lucky getting into trials, so I have more trials coming up than Bailie does. We plan to do lots of practicing during April to make sure we are ready when the trials start up again.
We’re thankful for all our sports, the training and the trialing fun, so we’re joining Brian’s Home Blog in the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop! Visit some other blogs to see what they are thankful for.
You two girls are amazing and most impressive no matter the score! Thanks for joining the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
We love being thankful. It is very important, so we are glad you host it.
Gosh that looks like fun to do with the dogs. And such good doggies to do all that. You all have a fantastic day.
Mom says we are a family addicted to dog sports, but it’s okay because we love it.
BOTH of you have the most beautiful, expressive eyes! Your pictures are pawsome. You are doing great and I want you to have continued success. You both have velvety black noses – mine is more of a pink color and I am jealous! XOXO, Sparkle
Emma’s nose turned more pink as she got older, so Mom wonders if ours will too. We love the photographer photos, but it gets expensive buying them, so we have to pick and choose.
The nose knows! You guys are so busy all the time, I can’t keep up!
We are pretty busy, but we enjoy it, so that makes it alright.
Wow! We are exhausted just reading about your adventures! You girls are amazing. How interesting that Bailie can turn it on and off– amazing and a bit frustrating, I guess. Glad you all got to spend so much time together–that’s a fun thing. This morning mom was soooo happy when she opened the back door, called “Chester! Lilly!” and we both came RUNNING toward her–Chester in the lead. She felt like it was his first time to say “Here I am Mom! I get the routine!” It is kind of embarrassing when he doesn’t come- she has had to go out and get him! Puppies… When we were running toward mom it reminded her of some of your pictures of you girls running in! Have a great day Madison. This is an awesome post. your friend Lilly
I’m sure you and Chester will have lots of good running in your yard! We usually come when we are called, but not always. Sometimes only one of us comes, and Mom has to come out to get the other one of us. That is never a good thing. You know how it is, we are busy and not always ready to come in. Have a fun day!
it seems Bailie is the twin of da Phenny… he is on top when he is in da mood and if not you can dig a hole to hide there LOL it is so amazing to read about your adventures, specially da haunted house was such a super place… and we still dream about a barn hunt … but we don’t have such funny events here…
You all need to move to the USA. Life is so much easier! Bailie is a real project because Mom never knows what to expect with her. She can be really frustrating, but Mom loves her to death anyway. She is the sweetest dog ever.
You two are the busiest dogs I know. Great job on everything!
Working together is a great thing. I see you do that very well.
Have a woof woof Thankful Thursday. My best to your mom. ♥
It’s a great way for humans and dogs to learn to understand each other better.
Great highlights! What a busy 6 weeks.
Once you get in the groove, it is a lot of fun. Our eleven weeks flew by in the fall.
What busy girls you all have been! We really enjoyed reading about your journeys!!
xoxo,
Rosy, Jakey & Arty
PeeEss..Our Mama still gets tears sometimes at certain rest areas or landmarks where she stopped when traveling with Dory too.
It is hard for humans. Mom talks to Emma all the time, but she is not here. We should not have gone to that trial, but Mom thought she could do it. Now we know she needs more time. I’m sure your mom really misses Dory too.
It sounds like you all have a lot of fun most of the time.
We do. Mom keeps us busy doing things we love to do.
No matter what you are doing, succeeding or not, you are spending time together as a family doing something you all enjoy. Even if Bailie isn’t “feeling it” every time, she is with those she loves. That is priceless. ♥
Most of the time that is how we feel, but sometimes Bailie’s not feeling it does get under Mom’s skin. No matter, we still love her to death because she is the most sweet girl around.
I’d luv to try Barn Hunt – I luv hunting rats!
You should try it, it would be a lot of fun for you. I know the Barn Hunt Nationals were in TX last year. They must have the sport in your area.
You are both such beautiful girls and you’re both soooooo SMART!
Thank you. We were born with talented noses!
It sounds like y’all are ready to enjoy more trials together. We admire your dedication and think you’re all amazing!
We enjoy trials a lot. Bailie just doesn’t always feel like working, which is a problem.
Wagnificent my furiends!
💜nose nudges💜
Thank you.
We’re taking most of April off, too! Barley has one day of agility next weekend and then we don’t have anything else this month until Rye has 3 days of agility at the end of the month. We’ve actually found for us and a lot of classmates that trialing more–and in lots of different locations–is the best way to overcome anxiety at a trial. After a year of trialing, Rye is just now starting to relax and focus more, so we’re working on getting our start-line back, which we lost because she would get so anxious when I unclipped the leash that she’d just bolt. Barley hasn’t done so well with the going to different places–she seems much more comfortable in the one small, quiet place we trial, but we’ve found other things that help her. She can be super pokey (even in class), so we do things like always starting together and instead of using things like tunnels and contacts to get ahead, I wait at the end and then we both run as fast as we can. Hope that your new school helps you figure out what works for you!
It’s been almost two months since I did an agility trial. We will probably try again in the summer and see if I feel better about it. At least for us, it is our least important sport, so we can take our time trying to fix issues. Next we need to buy some jumps for the backyard. Trialing a lot in different places, with different sports is great for any dog, but especially those with anxiety.