I earned my Elite 1 Title at Stearns Scout Camp on October 13th. Mom and I had a ton of fun sniffing around at the camp. I needed seventy four of a possible one hundred points to earn my title. Mom was pretty sure we could do it. She said Olivia also needed about the same number of points to earn her Elite 1 Title back in 2022. But, Olivia was four months older than I am when she earned her ELT1…just sayin’.
The trial has four searches as they normally do. My first and best search of the day was the fire pit search. Mom was worried about it because I am a boy and I am not “fixed”, whatever that means. The area was covered in pine needles and pine cones, with stacks of logs all over, several trees, and picnic tables. The question was, could I search in such an environment and not pee on anything or do only crittering?
Sometimes I worry that my mom has no idea what a hard working, honest guy I am. The above video is my search. Once I hear the queue word, I am in full working dog mode. She did not believe me when I told her about the hide in the crack on the ground, but I finally convinced her. The other mistake was not stopping about a minute sooner when I kept leaving the area because I was done working. But, we did find all four hides and it was a lot of fun!
Olivia has told me that Elite is where teams really bond and develop a new level of trust and understanding. This search was a good start on that. Mom is learning to trust me more and to read my behavior better. I’m trying hard to show her things in a more clear way. We had a bunk room search which I bombed, not sure what really went amiss. Next we did a yurt search that I passed wonderfully, and then there was a pavilion search where I missed just one hide.
Thankfully, I earned my Elite 1 Title with my 76.47 points, finding thirteen of seventeen hides. The weekend was hard emotionally for us all, but Madison was there and she let us know she had a paw in our successes. Mom and I are looking forward to more trials and building our team bond for more success down the road.
I’m joining Brian’s Home Blog in the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
Congratulations to you and your mom, Nelson! We love watching you work and we love the smile on your face when you find a hide and are waiting for your reward!
As I say, it’s all about the snacks when I am working. I love my snacks and I also enjoy working.
congratulations!!! and what a wonderful color they picket… it fits with your fur and your leash….
Purple is kind of a good spooky Halloween color too.
Great to hear Nelson, we are so happy that you guys are moving forward!
Oh yes, no quitting sports for me and Olivia!
I love watching the videos. So much fun to see how you work together.
Thank you. Mom has to call finish much quicker, but she is learning to understand me better every trial.
WOW, that is such a wonderful thankful Nelson, congratulations from all of us! Thanks for joining Angel Brian’s Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
I’m pretty excited and being so young it is even more fun.
Well done Nelson…it sounds like the wind is really blowing so WELL done on picking up the scents
Hugs Cecilia
Most of the time, wind is my friend but if it is swirling, then it can complicate the puzzles I have to solve.
Congratulations, Nelson! We love to watch you work.
Thanks! I love my sniffing work a lot, but the snacks are the best!
Great job Nelson!!
xoxo,
Rosy & Sunny
Thanks, girls.
Nelson ~ congratulations to you sweet doggie and Mom too ~ hugs,
Wishing you good health, laughter and love in your days,
clm ~ A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
Thank you. We had a lot of fun.
Great Job, Nelson!! love your search work. Yeah, that crack was a clear alert to me, but you finally convinced your mom, so all’s well that ends well.
We will learn more about trusting and stuff as we work more together. She didn’t want to start the day with a no, so I had to get her to believe me.
Wonderful work, Nelson and Ms. Joy! It’s fun to see what delight these searches bring you all when you do them.
Mom loves the sport as much as we do. It is a lot of fun.
Well done, I enjoyed watching you work, Nelson. Are the blue flags to divide the areas?
They use flags, cones, things like that for search area boundaries. Glad you like watching me. I love doing my sniffing and getting the snacks.
Way to go, Nelson!
Team Lime is improving as we go 🙂