Pongo's Second Nose Work 1 Trial

Pongo's second NACSW nose work trial was November 2nd in Sandy, Oregon located 25 miles from Portland. Friend Mary Ellrodt and her dog, Crosby, were also entered in the Sandy, Oregon trial. If you have read my other blogs, Mary and I sometimes get our dogs together for nosework practice on the weekends.  Mary picked me up on Saturday afternoon and we loaded Pongo in the back of her SUV next to Crosby.  We headed for I-5 South as our adventure began.

We arrived in Sandy around 5:30 and promptly checked into the local Best Western.  We had a room on the first floor, halfway down the hall.  I was starving and eager to go find dinner.  We decided on Thai food, one of my favorite cuisines.  Since my husband doesn't like Thai food, I take every opportunity I can to eat it when out with friends.  Mary found the address of a couple Thai restaurants on her phone and we headed out the door.  The amazing thing about the competition dog world, regardless of the sport, is that you begin to recognize people.  Many of the nose work competitors were staying at the Best Western and had been given rooms on the first floor. We saw many people going in and out with their dogs.   I recognized a few people from the Bellingham trial, from an ORT I volunteered for in Fife in September, and a trial I volunteered for at Emerald Downs in October. 

 

When we got to Thai Home on Pionner Boulevard it was full.  I recognized a woman we had just seen at the hotel and who had been at both the Bellingham and Emerald Downs trials. There was a twenty minute wait, so we decided to walk to the nearby Amarin Thai on Proctor.  After a quiet dinner of pad thai, vegetable rolls and a green curry eggplant dish, we returned to the hotel satiated and ready to settle down for the night.  I was excited about the next day, but thankfully was not as anxious as I had been for our first nose work trial.  I was tired from a long, busy work week and the fluffy hotel bed lulled me quickly into sleep.

 

The next morning, we walked the dogs before loading them in the car.  We ate breakfast at the hotel's breakfast bar and chatted with other nose work competitors that were there.  After checking out, we drove the short distance to the trial site.  It was located at the Oral Hull School for the Blind on the outskirts of town.  Surrounded by pastures, it was a picturesque site where the sound of cows and other rural animals (whose vocalizations were not so identifiable to a city girl) floated in the air.

 

We parked the car and went to register in time for the 8:45 check-in. It was a typical Pacific Northwest morning - drizzling and in the 50s. There were two groups of twenty competitors each.  We learned that Mary and Crosby were in Group A, while Pongo and I were in Group B.  That meant that we were not scheduled close together and in the morning's trials were competing in a different element order. During our 9 am walk-through, we learned that the vehicle and interior searches were scheduled for the morning.  The exterior and container searches were scheduled for the afternoon after a short lunch break.

Pongo checks out all the activity at the trial.

 

The trial started early right after the walk-through at 9:35.  Both groups ran simultaneously.  Group A started on the interior search and Group B started on the vehicle search and then would swap.   We watched the colored flip charts to indicate by number who was next. Pongo and I were number 14.  When we finally arrived for our turn at the vehicle search, I walked him to the starting line.  There were three vehicles parked in a cement lot with a vast green field to the right.  I gave Pongo his command to search and he started off toward the closest vehicle.  He began to work, sniffing at the fender then going to the right back wheel well.  But then he looked off into the field and kept walking.  I directed him back to the vehicle, continuing the search, but Pongo was distracted, looking around, his interest on the field.  NACSW rules alot three minutes for the vehicle search.  Pongo showed interest in the first vehicle, but didn't alert.  I actually thought the odor might be on that vehicle and took him around it more than once.  Time ticked away and I began to feel nervous.  He wasn't finding it!  This wasn't like Pongo, as he usually did so well with vehicle searches! I knew we had to search the other two vehicles.  I took him to the second vehicle, but had to keep giving Pongo hand cues to inspect it.  He wasn't interested and kept looking around. One of the timers called 30 seconds to indicate we were almost out of time.  I took him to the third vehicle, but did not circle the entire vehicle before taking Pongo back to the first one.  Before I knew it, we had run out of time!  My heart sank.  It didn't matter how Pongo did on the rest of his searches, he would not title today. 

The judge showed me where the odor was and I rewarded Pongo with treats next to it.  The judge pointed out that we had not made it all the way around the vehicle.  I should have known better!  I chastised myself.  You have to make sure you direct your dog around all of the vehicles -- that's your responsibility as the handler.  He told me it wasn't on the first vehicle and I didn't believe him because he was so distracted.  I had violated the nose work mantra: trust your dog! 

"We timed out," I told Mary when we got back to the car.  I tried not to sink into my disappointment.  Mary and Crosby had passed their interior search.  "Remind me later to tell you the funny thing that happened," she replied.  It was hard not to talk about the details of the search, but we weren't allowed to until it was over.  I lamented over the fact that now a pattern had emerged for us on trial day. Pongo failed the first element search both times.  It seemed I would need do something differently to help him understand that it was a nose work competition before going into the first element.  But just using the practice boxes at the trial site was not enough. 

As Group A and B swapped element order, Crosby went to do the vehicle search and Pongo went to do the interior search, which was located in the kitchen of an outlying office building.  We were alotted three minutes and were allowed to search on or off leash.  I took Pongo to the startline, gave him his search word and let him off leash.  There was a judge and a timer in the kitchen with us, but back-up timers and other volunteers were in the adjacent office watching.  The kitchen was full of stuff - boxes on the floor, an open garbage can, a large old-fashioned scale, among other things.  Pongo showed interest in the scale but then went to the garbage can.  After a prolonged sniff there, he circled to the left side of the kitchen where there were boxes of stryofoam cups.  Then, all of a sudden, he jetted out of the search area into the office.  He ignored my calls, and I had to retrieve him by the collar from where he was sniffing around an old fireplace. I took him back to the search area and gave him his command again.  Almost immediately, he went back to the scale and stayed with it. "Alert," I called.  "Yes," the judge confirmed.  Pongo's search time was one minute, twelve seconds. Not bad, I thought for leaving the search area!  Later, Mary told me that Crosby had also left the search area.  He ran into a dark closet and when she tried to retrieve him by the collar, she tripped over a fan.  Crosby has progressively lost his hearing in the past couple of years due to old age (Crosby is 12) and so she can no longer recall him by voice.  One can only love him for the comedy he brings to nose work!

We decided not to leave for lunch because of the short time constraints and snacked on cheese and fruit that we had brought in a cooler.  Organizers decided to run Group A through the exterior and container searches back-to-back and then run Group B, rather than running the two groups on opposite elements at the same time and switch.  Pongo and I waited in the car while Crosby searched. The second half of the trial was going fast.  Mary came back ecstatic that Crosby had passed all four elements, giving him his Nose Work 1 Title.  Yea for Crosby!  I had felt all along that they would pass in Sandy, as they have worked consistently week after week in nose work classes at Paw-abilities. 

 

Finally, it was Pongo's turn again.  Mary used my camera to take videos before we went into the search area. Now I focused on having fun with Pongo.  I wanted positivity to run down the leash so that he would enjoy himself.  After all, it WAS all about him.  The reason we started doing nose work in the first place was to keep his mind engaged now that he could no longer go jogging due to his arthritis.   The exterior search was held in an outdoor area of the school that had benches arranged in a circle around a large fire pit.  The fire pit was full of ash as if it had been frequently used.  Pongo spent a long time sniffing around the pit, but then made his way to a bench on the far side where he correctly alerted.  His time was one minute seven seconds.  Next we went to the container search, which was done on white boxes that were thankfully indoors this time.  He found the odor in 17 seconds.  

 

When the trial was over, we stayed for the ribbon ceremony and to hear the judges' feedback.   

Mary Accepts Trial Ribbon

Although it was a long day, it was worth staying to hear the judges' feedback.  Both trial judges that day were police officers (one retired and one active) who had years of experience with search dogs. They emphasized checking wind conditions when performing exterior searches and that you work into the wind.  Look at the trees or the flags that mark the search area to tell which direction the wind is blowing.  They suggested checking the wind at the level of the dog's nose. The judges also commented that if you let your dog start in a random search pattern but are not successful, then you should lead him into a pattern.  In addition, they noted that in practicing vehicle searches, you should use different vehicles, not just your own, and that it is helpful sometimes to use more than 3.  Mary and I both asked questions about our particular trial difficulties that day.  The judge told Mary that when working off leash on an interior search that it was okay to ask the judge for a volunteer to block the door since Crosby was deaf and did not have voice recall.  The judge told me that dogs are still dogs and that they will be tempted by specific breed distractors, i.e. an open field, birds, squirrels.  The key, he said, was to train amply in those situations so that your dog would learn to stay focused on the search.

 

After the ceremony, we retrieved our NACSW Trial Score Books and read through the judges' comments on the score sheets.

 

 The Judges' Comments for Pongo and Eva:

Vehicle Search: "Timed Out. Make sure to get your dog around all the vehicles." Hide Found: No. Time: Timed Out. Time Limit: 3 minutes

Interior Search: "Nice work by handler to keep dog focused and hunting.  Good alert on hide - nice job!" Hide Found: Yes.  1 minute 12 seconds. Time limit: 3 minutes.

Exterior Search: "Good search pattern and direction by handler. Nice alert on hide.  Nice work!" Hide Found: Yes. Time: 1 minute 7 seconds. Time Limit: 3 minutes.

Container Search: "Good job." Hide Found: Yes. Time: 17.66 seconds. Time Limit 2 minutes 30 seconds.

 

The day ended with two happy canines dozing and two happy humans beaming on the drive home.  I felt exhilarated, adrenaline running through me even though the day was over.  It had been a wonderful weekend.  Although Pongo had not earned his title, he had improved his search times dramatically, and I had learned a lot to help us in our training.  But above all else, we had fun!