It's Working

Yesterday's training problem was a luggage search. It didn't start out very good. I thought Rogue was going to miss the first aid. He got to the bag (the next to the last bag in that row) and sniffed it but I didn't think he had a COB. We kept moving, got to the end of the row and then started on the next row. While searching the next row Rogue pulled back to the bag with the aid and then had a good COB. He just looked at me after he sniffed it. Once I asked him "Where is it?" he went back to source and responded. We did the same thin on the second aid but on the third aid he looked like a pro. Great COB, sniffed it and responded.

I hate searching luggage but we are so close to fixing this problem that I can't stop now. I'm going to be doing a couple of luggage problems a week for the next couple of weeks.

Cargo/Luggage

The first part of the training problem was cargo. No real problems here. Rogue had a some trouble finding one of the aids because of the wind. He knew it was in the area but he couldn't pinpoint it. When he responded he was about 20 feet from source. He was down wind of it but the odor was pooling up against a group of pallets. Little did I know that the aid was in the next group of pallets. He did good even though he wasn't on source. The next part of the problem was luggage. I hate searching luggage because it is Rogue's weak area. He found all three but didn't want to sit on any of them. After we searched all the bags we did it again (from a different statrting point) and this time he was assisted on the first two but by the third one he sat on his own. I think his light bulb came on and he relized what he should be doing. I will try luggage again next week and see if he remembers what to do. After we finished the problem I found that the aids we were using weren't ours. We were using aids from a local department. Some people says a dog will have trouble finding an aid he has never used before because is smells a little different than the aids he is use to. This wasn't the case here. Rogue had his normal problems but he had a great COB on all of the aids so I'm sure he will find anything that he should.

Blank Problem

Yesterday I get a call from my trainer and she tells me to go to certain building and search a certain room and that it was a self confirm problem. Rogue did the whole search off leash and was doing pretty good. He got to a desk, had his COB but looked a little confused. He responded on the desk after showing high once or twice. This normally happens when the aid is high and he can't get to it. I was thinking that the aid was over his head but the odor was dropping onto that desk. So I sent a text message to my trainer and she told me that there was nothing near that desk. We left that area and continued on with the search. When we got into the next office Rogue was all over the west wall. (The office and the desk Rouge responded on were about 20 feet apart.) He was jumping as high as he could and then responding. By now I am sure that the aid is in the ceiling. This would explain why he is showing high and if the odor was in the ceiling then it could very easily have been going across the ceiling and dropping onto the desk Rogue responded on. Again I sent a text to my trainer and again she told me there was nothing there. This office was the end of our search so I told her we where done. That is when I found out it was a blank problem. Since I didn't expect this type of problem I liked it. The only thing I didn't like was that she did this training in a building that we always use for training. I am now thinking that the reason Rogue had the two false responses was because he was in a building that he also finds something in so he was expecting to find something. We searched for about 20 minutes before Rogue had his first false response. Since we have done longer blank problems than this I don't think the time was a factor. I will have to start doing blank problem in all of our normal training areas to fix this.

Long Time

I know it has been a long time since my last post. Sorry. We didn't do any training yesterday but I did get Rogue to jump into the back of a truck with a running start. The bad news is that I couldn't get him to do it again. We will be back on the obstacle course today.

The funniest thing that happen during last weeks training has nothing to do with Rogue. I was setting up training for another handler and found a nice hiding spot inside a cabinet. I hide a very large aid in the cabinet. While I had the cabinet open I found the keys to the cabinet tapped to the inside of the door. I thought "Great I can lock the aid in here and not have to worry about it". Everything was great until it came time to pick up the aid. I had lost the key. Murphy was with me on that day. I looked for that key for about 30 minutes with no luck. Between me and the other handler we were able to get the door off of it's hinge and save the aid.

During one of the training problems last week my trainer had one of the aids hidden in the middle of a small puddle. Rogue wasn't bothered with the water until he had to sit. It was a hot day so I was sure that he would do it but I was wrong. Once he got to source he just stood there and looked at me. It took a minute or two but he finally sat in the water and was rewarded.

What Were You Thinking?

I already posted about yesterday's training but after I did that I went back and looked at the notes that were put on the training sheet for yesterday. The third training problem of the day was run by another handler and not the trainer. This problem was a dirt road going through the woods and was about 150 yards maybe 200 yards long. We were to search from tree line to tree line but didn't have to go into the woods. Because the wind was blowing from west to east I started my search on the east (left) side of the road. After we had been searching for a minute or two I noticed that the wind had changed and was now blowing south to north. The other handler also made a comment about it. I had a feeling it was going to be one of those days when the wind changes directions every couple of minutes. Since I can't keep changing my search pattern I decided to work the entire left side of the road and then work back on the right side of the road. While we were working back down the right side of the road Rogue had a COB and worked the odor to the middle of the dirt road (the area between the tire tracks) and responded. I thought everything was cool but when I looked at the training sheet I found out the other handler gave me a handler miss for this aid. When I asked him about it he said it was because my dog didn't find it when we went down the left side of the road and I didn't present the aid. I tried to tell him that you can't give someone a handler miss if their dogs finds the aid. I could tell the fight was about to start but our trainer stepped in and told him almost the same thing I did. He could see her point but not mine. Sometimes I have to wonder what people are thinking.

Open Area

Yesterday we did three training problems, they were all open areas. The first training problem was a self confirm problem and Rogue did perfect. He had his COB from 15-20 feet away and did a great job working the odor to source. The second problem was a little different. We weren’t given any search parameters. We were told to start walking down a very wide path. We did miss the second aid. It was hanging in a tree at about 5. My trainer believes that because I had Rogue on a 6 foot leash I might have gotten in his way. She suggested that when doing a big area like this that I either do it off leash or use a 360 leash. I don’t trust Rogue yet while off leash and in a large area, he likes to chase small animals. I will work on doing searches off leash. The last aid of this problem had been out for a long time and the area was saturated with odor. Rogue had it narrowed down to a 30 foot radius but couldn’t pinpoint it. He worked it for 5-10 minutes before he stepped on it and found it. There was a miss in the third problem. I don’t know if he was exhaling when he walked past it or what but on the second pass he had no problems finding it. It was in a tree at about 4 feet high. Rogue was standing on his hind legs trying to get closer to source.

What a Day?

I know every dog has a bad day but yesterday was the worst. Not only did Rogue have a bad day but so did I. As a team we missed all 5 training aids. I’m not going to worry about the first one because there was some confusion about the perimeters of the search area. When we started the search we were up wind of the aid and didn’t make to the downwind side. Once we got the correct search perimeters Rogue had no problem finding it. The second training aid was hidden on the gate of a chain link fence. We searched this gate while we were searching the exterior and Rogue had no change of behavior (COB). Once the perimeter was done we went back to the gate to go inside the fenced area. Rogue stood at the gate with his nose no more than a foot or two away from the aid while I got my keys out and unlocked the fence. The only reason I can think of as to why he didn’t find this aid was because his head was up his ass. I had my head up my ass on the next training aid. Inside the fenced in area is a small shed. Rogue was searching off leash and he spent enough time near this shed that I thought he should have found anything there. What I should have done was open the shed. If I had I’m sure he would have found the aid inside the shed. This training problem was a self confirm problem so my trainer wasn’t there to tell me I was screwing up. We kept searching not know that so far we had missed 3 aids. Rouge did have change of behavior (COB) and I let him work it until he left the area. When he left I felt pretty sure that there was nothing there and later I found out I was right. I don’t know what caused the (COB) but Rogue did a good job working it. Training aid number 4 was in a roll of paper towels sitting on a self. I have learned that the best thing I can do while Rogue is searching is to stay out of his way and just make presentations when he misses an obvious productive area. So while Rogue was searching the pallet in the corner and the stuff around it I saw the roll of paper towels and thought to myself “What a good hiding spot for a training aid.” I should have listen to that voice but I didn’t. Rogue put his nose about 2 feet to the left of the aid and on the floor under and then he went high to the right of it. If I had just presented the roll he would have found it. The last training aid was a combination of him not following his nose and me not making sure he searched everything. The aid was in a wooden flower plot in the middle of some couches and file cabinets that were stacked near each other. There was room for both of us to fit between the couches but for some reason (head up ass) I didn’t cast Rogue back between the couches. While we were about 20 feet down wind Rogue did have a small COB and I let him work it but he didn’t or couldn’t follow the odor to source so when he lost interest in the area. I thought something had peaked his interest but it wasn’t what we were looking for. Once we had searched everything inside the area we exited through the same gate we came in, the one with the training aid. As Rogue walked past the aid this time nothing changed. He still didn’t have a COB. I told my trainer the area was clear. I was sure she had set up a blind problem. I won’t tell you what I said when she told me we had missed 5 training aids. We talked about the first aid and found the problem so we went back to it and got on the correct side of the aid and Rogue responded. When we got back to the aid on the gate it took several minutes before Rogue found it. I didn’t want to present the aid because I don’t want him to learn that if he misses one I will take him back to it and point it out for him. He has to find them on his own so if I have to stand there for 30 minutes before he finds it then I will stand there for 30 minutes. I have no clue as to why this aid was so hard for him to find. I was right about the third aid. As soon as I opened the door to the shed he found it. Before we went back to the fourth aid I asked the trainer to take us to a blank area. I made Rogue search the blank area again to see if he would false respond. I don’t want him to think that just because I take him back to an area that there is an aid there. Rogue had no COB and quickly got bored with the area so we moved on. Rogue had no problems finding aids number 4 and 5 once we went back to them.
Normally this would have been the end of training for the day but my trainer wanted to do one more training problem. I think she was doing this for me to prove that my dog just had a bad training problem and to reestablish my faith in him.
For the second training problem we searched a theater. Inside the theater Rogue found all 4 aids without any help from me. Normally when we search a theater I cut him off leash and he runs up and down each row of seats. Not today. Once I cut him off leash to search the seats he ran back to either the first or second aid. He was using his memory and not his nose. I had to put him back on leash to complete the search. I can’t blame him for not searching the seats like he was trained but I will be doing some more training on searching seats just to make sure he knows how. The trainer said we only missed one. Once I found out where the aid was the argument started. Our trainer wants the dogs to be able to find training aids even if they aren’t giving the command. I agree with this 100%. The way she has been going about this is by putting large training aids outside of the search area but along the path we will walk to get to the search area. The idea is that the large training aid will get the dogs attention and they will pull the handler to source. Again I agree with this 100%. What I don’t agree with was where she had the training aid today. It was upwind of us but was 15 feet away. I feel that if Rogue would have responded everything would be great but if he didn’t it is no big deal because it is so far away. I don’t think he should be given a miss for this. It would be a different story if the aid was only a couple feet away. I lost the argument but I think I got my point across.