4
May
2009
Well, I wasn’t expecting to write this for at least another two weeks! We didn’t know beforehand, but we got the chance to take our B-assessment on Sunday. And passed both tracking and rundering at the first attempt. Yippee! 
Even better was that both Nina with Bina and Ola with Leo, who were on the same training weekend, also passed both assessments, and 5 from our district who took the orienteering test also passed (well done Krissi, Kai Erik, Trond, John and Frode). So it was full points for District06 (Sør-Rogaland) this weekend.
(and I have to admit to being very pleasantly surprised to get the feedback that Mist and I were the best dog-handler team of the day in rundering. I apparently chose well where to send her out, followed where she was and had a good overview of what terrain she’d covered. They teach us well in Dio06 )
B-qualification doesn’t mean anything externally (re: callout list etc), but it is a major milestone in NRH on the road to reaching A-qualification which is when a dog/handler team joins the callout list. It’s great to achieve it relatively early in the year as it means the most possible time until A-assessments next year, which should allow for good preparation. My goal was to qualify before the end of summer as I expect there will be little training from September for a few months, when number2 joins the family.
We were in Etne for a training weekend - Nina, Ola and me were participants in the B-course which, although not a pass/fail course, is still compulsory and involves an incredible amount of different training exercises in the course of 4 days.
We covered:
Tracking
- trail search from an object (rucksack, jacket etc.). Had never tried this before - maybe it was an advantage that Mist still isn’t 100% indicating on objects, especially when I’m nearby. I took her forward to the rucksack, she had a good sniff, then set off on the trail away from it, as if we’d trained it lots before! She did stop up and consider alternative options (wandered back to the rucksack and around) when I didn’t follow her immediately, which I interpret as being the result of her being very sensitive to what I do all the time. But when I gave the command to search for trail,
- trail search 300m. Didn’t go so well - Mist found at least one other trail during the 300m (no surprise as the area had been used the previous day for a tracking assessment), and I stopped when I got to a fence/gate in the road as I could see another handler and dog searching on the same side of the road just past the fence. When I found nothing else going up and down the stretch I’d covered, I passed the gate/fence and Mist found something. Unfortunately, it seems other trails were laid by accident in the vicinity, and Mist managed to switch to another and actually found the bodyusing sight. Not a particularly good ending - better to not have found anyone than to be rewarded for doing things wrong. But, it’s something for us to try more of….. now we have the rest of the year without having to take any more assessments (unless we want to - search square and rundering in the dark we can take this year or next).
- 24hour-old trail. Also a no-go. The start of the trail was along a fence line, with thick juniper on the other side. There was really nowhere else to choose other than along the deertrod by the fence. So, although Mist set off in the right direction I don’t think she even thought about tracking. I found an article dropped by the trailsetter, and then let Mist find it, in the hope she would then be able to pick up the trail. But it wasn’t to be. We have successfully tracked 24-hour-old trails before (once), so it’s just another thing to add to the list…. and it’s a lot more realistic than 1-2hour-old assessed trails which are almost never going to be a reality in a real-life search!
- multiple dog-handler teams following a newly laid trail, switching dogs every 100m or so after finding an object.
This came after the 24-hour-old trail, and I wasn’t expecting too much from Mist. But she turned out to be a credit to our group! We were 4 handlers and dogs (Line + GSD, Harald + BCxgordon setter, Ola + Leo, GSD and me+Mist). One dog/handler took the trail search from a car, which after a false start, went very well, and we were off. With hindsight, it would have been good to take my GPS (easy to say afterwards), both to compare trail log with the trailsetter’s afterwards, but also to mark where we found articles ‘en route’, which would have helped us get back to the trail when we lost it. We spent easily as much time off track, re-searching for the trail, as we did following where Gunnhild had gone. But I was really pleased with Mist who not only
- tracking through a group (in my case, with a group nearby, as they didn’t actually know where the trail was!)
Went fine. Mist glanced at the noisy bunch as we passed a few metres away, but otherwise was not bothered. Unfortunately though, she then went past the ‘finish’ and we spent ages wandering round trying to find the trail again. The instructor who set us off didn’t know where the finish was, nor where the trail was, so she couldn’t stop us!
- parallel tracking - 18 dogs/handlers, a few metres apart, simultaneously across a football pitch. I hope I can get a photo from Annette (instructor) who was the photographer.
Not sure how much was tracking and how much was a race to get to the other side first! But Mist (and most of the others) had her nose down well over half the time, and considering I think she’s often easily distracted, she did very well.
- tracking on gravel and tarmac
Gravel - fine. Tarmac - no chance! Have tried this before with minimal success. If I use food in the trail, she just starts searching for goodies rather than tracking…. probably due to me setting it up wrong way back when, when I first tried. Anyway, Karen Sofie showed me how to pretty much show Mist each footstep (we’d marked the tarmac with chalk every 2-4 steps), and make sure she then tracked a step or two before getting a goodie. Will try this at home (or in a carpark somewhere!)…
- terrain changes (gravel to grass to gravel)
Not bad - I know it’s difficult, so I was expecting her to have to work. Went ok though and she managed it even with crossing of other trails and other dogs tracking nearby at the same time. In fact, tracking on short grass seemed to be as difficult as gravel.
Rundering
- indication of body in tree. No probs.
- indication of rucksack. As often, I was visible so when she found the rucksack she sat down by it and tried to stare me out! I waited her out, and eventually she barked. Something to concentrate on, as it will be part of A assessment. I need to find a really good reward that I can fit into a rucksack, under a jacket…..as it’s clear it’s nowhere near as rewarding as finding a person. A dwarf perhaps? 
- indication of inaccessible body (up on top of an enormous boulder)
Fine. Took a long while to locate, but that was the idea. Indication fine.
Lyttepost (have no idea what that should be in English - dog/handler sit in one place and listen….. when the dog registers a noise, it is released and should follow up and indicate a find.
As I suspected, Mist reacted immediately and very clearly to the noise. I said ‘ok’ to try to make it positive as I expected she would be sceptical. She ran out about halfway to where the person was hiding, banging a stick against a log, but then thought better of it and came back. With a bit of encouragement from me, and from the body once Mist was within sight, she ’solved’ the problem herself. But it’s not a strong point - she’s a chicken!
Area search
- Searching an area using air-scenting, dog running free
- Planning, setting up a search for multiple lost people.
For us, during the search phase, the biggest challenge was making forward progress in huge boulders, massive holes and juniper bushes. There were places that I had to lift Mist up crags, onto boulders….and then climb up myself. Not the best for a 5-month pregnant person with a knackered shoulder!! But hey…. We didn’t find anyone- good to hear afterwards that there was noone in the area we were allocated (the exercise was partly an exercise in planning how to divide an area in to smaller search areas, and the people doing the dividing didn’t know where the bodies were).
Posted: Indication / Melding, Airscenting / Overvær, Tracking / Spor, Rundering
12
March
2009
I wanted to continue my efforts with ‘recall from empty loops’ in rundering, and chose to use the open forest (Sviland) as I wanted to see at least some of the time where Mist was. I met Gro for the first time this evening - she has a lovely 10-month old black lab like Bina, who seems to be making a promising start. It was an opportunity for Mist to find an ‘unfamiliar body’, so Gro was sent out to be found on the first loop. Since it was dark, and I wanted to make things as simple as possible, Mist got a sound cue (clap) so that she was sure of where the ‘body’ was. I was a bit uncertain whether she was struggling to start barking since her lights stopped at Gro but the barking didn’t start right away. But Gro assured me afterwards that Mist was just giving her a getting-to-know-you kiss before she stepped back and started indicating . She didn’t need any ‘help’ which was good to know.
So, we started the empty loops and apart from Mist looping back rather than forward once or twice, they went very well. She was always out at least 50m (never been a problem!) and she came when I called . So much so that, when John was hiding the other side of the marshy area, I managed to call her in just as she sat down in front of him to start barking. Doh 
I was convinced he must be further back and that, given the wind direction, Mist wouldn’t find him because she was in front…. but no, he’d managed to sprint in the dark through the forest all the way past the marsh and up onto the hill. Well ok, so I messed up that time. But Mist was still focused out that side and when I sent her again, she went straight back to John and indicated immediately. Yes, I’d have failed on the rundering assessment for her not indicating first time, but more importantly I think, is that I feel confident that, if in a real life search, she found someone and I called her away from them just at the wrong moment, then she’d go back as soon as she got a chance.
In terms of rewarding her for coming when called, I alternated between playing tug, just taking her harness and sending her straight out again, or, if she was heading in the right direction sending her without stopping. By switching tactics each time, I hope it means she’ll concentrate on me to see what’s coming, rather than deciding things herself!
All in all the sequence was FBBF(no ind.)F(same body)FBBBF.
(Probably never written it before - F=find, B=blind/empty loop)
If I can get to feel confident that she’ll come in from empty loops, I think we’re well on the way to what we need for B-assessment. Distance isn’t a big issue as Mist’s in good shape, and running in the forest is quite a reward for her in itself. She does find it more difficult to start barking when she’s been going a while, but once she starts it’s generally not a problem. So, just need to practice with plenty of variation to keep her interest, and perhaps a few more ‘easy’ sessions (or loops at least) now and again (i.e. using sounds cues, or without indication) to keep motivation high.
Posted: Rundering
7
March
2009
Yes, it’s a month since we last trained! (due to a combination of being away with work, then being ill and then going on holiday). Not that I wrote about that day - when Mist did everything possible to make me seriously wonder whether we will B-qualify this year! We trained rundering in Vigreskogen and chose to not know where the ‘bodies’ were….. he he, first time I’ve tried this and yes it was a learning experience. Mist ran completely wild from the start, and not only searched a large part of the forest on her first ‘loop’, but also found more than one body and didn’t indicate, ignored my calls to come in, later needed help to indicate at an unfamiliar ‘body’, then finally legged it after something or other in the forest and didn’t come back for 5-10minutes (seemed like forever).
Well, at least Tone who was on the midline with me, got to see the ‘problem’ I’d asked for previously at Sviland, when Mist was playing model student .
So, today….. I’d planned on training ‘recall on empty loops’/rundering, but the list of people signed up to runder at Vigreskogen was incredibly long and I just wasn’t interested in fighting for space, and ending up in the ‘puppy forest’ for some half-hearted training. So, I changed my mind and signed up for Gravdal where there were only 4 others signed up.
What a good choice! Aud, Kaare, Frode D and Kristin T and I had an excellent day, with sausages cooked over a campfire at lunchtime, chocolate brownies, and plenty of space for us all to train what we wanted. Aud, Kaare and Frode stuck to the rules and trained tracking (that was what was training at Gravdal was supposed to be today). Kirstin wanted to do an area search and there was no problem with space so she got her wish. And I got to runder up from the cars, in open terrain where I could (mostly) see what the little minx was doing.
After some discussion on the way there (I shared a lift with KristinT), I followed Kristin’s suggestion of having a find (Kaare) on the first loop so that Mist wouldn’t search the whole area in a one-er. After a slight detour, where Mist shot off up the midline in the direction Kaare had walked, and I called her back successfully , she ran out well, found Kaare and indicated. I’d also sent out Frode on the other side for the 2nd loop, but when I sent Mist she didn’t find him, despite apparently (Aud was on a hilltop the other side of the road and saw everything!) searching all the way back down to the road, even across the road, and a large part of the hillside Frode was hiding. Anyway, what was good was that when I called her eventually, she came. And was rewarded with a long game of tug while Frode moved further on. Another empty loop on the wind-side was good - 50m out and turned and came when I called. And then straight out to Frode.
I’d asked the ‘bodies’ to help Mist with indication so that that wouldn’t be any hindrance in training today. I see that she can find it quite demanding to get started barking when she’s been running empty loops a while. So, they helped her by giving the bark command and also by rewarding immediately, then taking the toy away and asking her to bark to get it back.
At one point I tried to send Mist out on the other side while Frode was still in place, but she was very focused on him and in the end he had to come in so that she’d go out the other side. Then he ran (impressive stuff ), uphill in horrible terrain, while Mist was out the other side. Another two empty loops and Mist got to find Kaare for a final time, and we stopped there as I was more than satisfied.
Overall sequence - FBBFFBBFBBF.
My ‘recall’ today was quite dramatic - a pretty piercing whistle with fingers in mouth! I usually reserve it for ‘emergencies’ - it’s more a stop command than a recall, but it (usually) gets her attention. My intention is to gradually reduce the signal I need to use in order to ensure Mist comes in from empty loops, but for now I want to be sure it works!
In the afternoon, KristinT laid out a trail for Mist and waited at the end. It was just a few hundred metres long and we took it straight away. I just wanted something fun and motivating today, as I’ve trained far too much ‘difficult’ tracking recently, without much easy stuff. Apart from one point where she lost the trail, and had to work around in circles for a while to find it again, she was fast and accurate. Kristin was lying in a jervenduk (camouflage bivi bag kind of thing) and was so well camouflaged against the terrain that neither Mist nor I saw her before Mist was about a metre away, despite Kristin feeling very visible!
Thanks everyone for a very enjoyable day
Posted: Tracking / Spor, Rundering
25
January
2009
Its been over 4 weeks since I last updated this. Life’s busy now I’m back at work and Thomas in nursery/barnehage 5days/week. We seem to have found some kind of routine, and working only 80% really helps as it gives us a bit more time for chores, dogwalking, training etc. etc.
Christmas/New Year was a good opportunity for some longer walks (and runs, for Mist with Jon!). Here’s Mist and Bina having fun at Alsvik:
And me, Thomas and Mist having a cake break (good pic, Nina 
)
So, a quick overview of training….
Sat 27th Dec
Rundering - Sviland
A rundering training that didn’t go as planned - I wanted to train empty loops but Mist’s loops were far too big for my liking (i.e. I had no idea where she was, and she was out a long time on some of them). Don’t remember exact details, but had a mix of probably 40:60 find:empty loop. Suspect I should have kept the ratio higher than that for now as Mist can be an independent little madam and clearly thinks taking in the whole forest is a good option when she doesn’t find someone immediately 
. Still, when I did get her back to me, there was no doubt that there was no motivation issue, as she wasn’t interested in any kind of reward from me, and just wanted to get out on the other side and search again.
In addition the lady with the puffin dogs (strange, 6-toed Norwegian dogs!) had parked in our rundering area and walked out with her pack of (?5 or 6?) dogs just as we were coming into the midline, and Mist was quite put off by it. Still, after a misunderstanding by me of what the others knew of where the lady and her dogs would be going, it became clear that she would not be nearby for very long and after a short break, we re-started and just ensured to have a body to find in the area where they’d just walked out into the forest.
I’d also chosen to use the rundering track ‘back-to-front’ and started up just past the junction, working back towards the carpark. Don’t know whether that contributed to Mist’s behaviour, but she should be able to runder wherever and in whichever direction I want!
Sat 3rd Jan
Rundering - Sviland
I asked Tone if she would help me with rundering today, as the previous rundering training didn’t go quite according to plan. Tone had control of the midline and set out the bodies and instructed me where to send Mist. And, of course, Mist was model student today . She searched well, she came when called, she found everyone she should, and indicated well. Problem…..? what problem?! I think we had about 50:50 finds and empty loops - I probably just need to be careful about increasing the number of empties I send her in a row. And feel confident about where the bodies are at this stage.
Weds 7th Jan
Tracking/practical - Dale
Parallel tracking - Nina, Ghita and I put out three ‘parallel’ trails on the big grassy field at Dale and Nina/Bina and me/Mist tracked at the same time. KristinM and Athena started soon after and caught us up at our ‘finishes’ as her trail went a lot further. It was interesting to see both dogs a little confused at what we were doing since they are very used to going for walks/playing together. But, despite many stops and looking over to see what the other one was doing, they both found and followed their trails to the finish (with a little help from a headwind near the end ). Still, the point was tracking alongside another dog, and they both managed it .
We also shared a search square (30m x 30m) with Nina/Bina - the dogs took turns to go out and search. Mist was somewhat embarrassing, Bina was model student, so I knew there was something I needed to work on! Mist zoomed out and ran around like a loony, inside and outside the trampled area (she ought to know by now that she only finds things inside, and I thought she’d learned that pretty well). We also think she chose not to bring back some object(s) she found as she was stationary at one point a couple of times. Since it was dark I couldn’t see to be sure and tell her to pick it up. So, not the best planned exercise for us - I thought she was more capable/reliable than that. But, since it was working with distractions (another dog) that I wanted to train, we did get something out of it. Mist did ‘visit’ Bina once or twice when I called her in, but she was willing to come to me and be sentout again.
Sat 10th Jan
Tracking/practical - Dale
I chose to do a ‘practical’ exercise this morning as I think it’s important that Mist understands that she is searching for people even though she doesn’t have a find within minutes (as is normal in rundering training). Aud walked up the farmroad to the top of the valley and went up to hide in the big scree on the south side of the valley. I started searching with Mist from the Dalevannet path, up through the forest and then down into the fields at the top, and round the back of an old electricity building, round to the other side where there is lots of scree, and finally onto the scree. I’d hoped to be able to send Mist to search up there and keep my feet on solid ground! But, the wind was variable, and on that side of the valley, it was blowing up the hillside so I had to go up onto the scree too, in order to get Mist high enough up to find Aud.
It was interesting to see Mist’s confidence increase on the scree, from a little whining at the first big rocks, to jumping confidently ahead of me after a few minutes. She’s got good balance and isn’t particularly wimpy in most terrain, but she can get a bit nervous when she has to jump from rock to rock with big gaps inbetween! Excellent timing then, when she got scent of Aud just after we came off the worst of the scree. Indication was good. We’d searched for just over half an hour. I hope I can train this kind of search perhaps once a month, or 1 in 4 trainings so that we can increase the time to the find and Mist learns that we’re not just out for a walk if she doesn’t find someone immediately.
We also got to join Ghita/Tara training search square with Paul instructing. He was showing Ghita how to get Tara to slow down in her search, but getting someone to walk about in a small area in front of Ghita/Tara, pretending to put objects on the ground and placing only one or two in fact, within just a few metres of Ghita. It helps encourage the dog to search, nose down, from the word go, instead of legging it 30m+ out into the forest before starting to search.
Aud/Speedy and me/Mist had a go afterwards. We took both dogs out at once and took turns to tie one to a tree - neither of them liked that idea, but neither was bothered by another dog nearby either. I think it’s good to take opportunities to have more than one dog out at once, so that they do get used to having to watch, and to working side by side with others.
Both Speedy and Mist are a bit too quick in their searching and bound around the area which isn’t as effective as those who walk/trot calmly with nose to the ground. Hopefully both of them will learn that it pays to pay attention from the start!
Weds 14th Jan
Sviland
The parking place was packed when I arrived, just after 6 ( 
) so I chose to train search square in the Arboret instead. Ritva put out two ’squares’ for us - one 5×30m, one 10×10m. I’d tried the technique Paul showed Ghita on Saturday a few times since the weekend but wasn’t sure whether it had worked or not as Mist was sometimes still sprinting out, and sometimes searching from the start. I’d also got her to lie down before starting (therefore nose is closer to ground before setting off….).
The search squares were about 30-40mins when we started. We took the one in open forest (pine needles on the ground) first. And it went very well! She searched from the word go. Ok, so she bark indicated at one corner because I’d had the wise idea to hang up the reflective triangle that she wears when she’s working, so I could see where the corners were . But once I’d rewarded her for that, and brought in the triangle, she searched well and found all the articles in just a few minutes.
The second square was in more difficult terrain - lots of long grass and a gravel track that someone had actually walked along with a dog between when Ritva laid it out and Mist searched. But she managed well - she found 2 of 4 objects and I threw out another one so that she’d have another find before we gave up. She searched close to me when I set her off and worked her way out well. So, perhaps the previous few days of training had paid off!
Sat 17th Jan
Rundering - Vigreskogen
a.m. indication of rucksack/jacket in the ‘baby’ forest. Chose to send out to a ‘body’ first, but we’d not understood correctly where he was, so Mist didn’t find him, did an enormous loop coming out onto the path way ahead of me, got scent of the rucksack on the other side, and despite trying to call her in, she went out, ‘found’ it and indicated. Well, it was what we were training so was actually very pleased! Alternated between bodies and articles. All went well except for a pair of mittens hanging in a bush, which Mist managed to get hold of and bring back to me (she’s indicated successfully for gloves hanging in a tree before, but I think they were probably out of reach).
p.m. rundering (finds and empty loops) in the ‘grownup’ forest. We did about 400-450m with about 50:50 finds and empty loops (FBFBBFFBBBF). She ran out well, at least 50m each time, ran reasonable loops, a few times she took a while to come in when I called but it is her job to search and she wasn’t so long that I suspected she was doing other things (!). Even though it was blowing a hooly and it was very noisy in the forest with the trees and masts whistling and creaking away, I was pleased to be able to hear Mist’s indication each time without any problem.
Weds 21st Jan
Tracking - Dale
Just Paul, Steffen and me tonight in wet windy weather. I put out a trail for Paul, up the big field and into the woods and then managed to get disorientated and ended up clambering up wet slippy rocks and crags to get up to the path to walk back to the carpark! Steffen put out 4 trail searches for Mist - i.e. short trails that I would start at a distance from and get Mist to search at rightangles to, until she found them. Then she had to decide which way to go, and be rewarded pretty soon for finding/choosing correctly. It’s something I need to do more of as we need to be able to search 50m for B-assessment.
It’s a while since we’ve trained this specifically, although I always start Mist searching at least a few metres from a trail, so that I never set her straight on it. So, I was very pleased when, the minute I gave her the command to search for a trail, she set her nose down and walked calmly forwards, concentrating on her task and not darting off in other directions as I’ve experienced her doing before. When she found the trail she turned immediately in the right direction and pulled steadily on the line indicatng to me that she was onto something! Steffen asked if she was always so calm and concentrated? I admitted that no, not always, but I have to say she’s pretty good when tracking, to maintain a steady pace and it’s seldom she wants to go faster than is comfortable for me to walk. I made a big effort when I started training her tracking as a puppy, to keep her pace down, as I was pregnant and knew that if I wanted to be able to train with her as long as possible during pregnancy she would have to not drag me along!
We did 3 of the 4 that Steffen had put out -they went so well, that I didn’t want to risk getting it wrong on the 4th. She didn’t find the finish on one of them, so I just threw a toy to reward her since she was still on track. And she wasn’t too keen in picking up paper articles, so I need to train more of that (thinking about it, I rarely use paper/card, so it’s not so surprising). But, her search was really good and I was very happy with her
Posted: Indication / Melding, Article search / Feltsøk, Tracking / Spor, Rundering
21
December
2008
It’s great being on holiday and at home For once, we have time to do everyday chores and train! When I heard there would be folk training on Sunday morning, I begged a ‘pass’ (in return for Jon getting a long run on Monday 
) and signed up.
I’ve never been to ‘Sviland2′ before….. why?!? What a lovely area of forest - a mixture of open, mature trees, young thick forest, marshes and open grass/heather. Apparently it was used in the past but there are a lot of other users - including the GSD club, and horseriders. Maybe not a great location for sunny summer Saturdays, but surely suitable for Wednesday evenings, at least outside of ‘peak’ summer season. Anyway….. it was great to runder somewhere unfamiliar - a new challenge for both me and Mist.
Sylvelin, Ritva and I wanted to runder, and John planned to go tracking. We were all done in only a couple of hours (?) and had plenty of time therefore to enjoy some freshly baked cake courtesy of John - thanks, John
For Mist’s rundering, I wanted to train ‘empty loops’ with some focus on control on the midline (i.e. knowing roughly where Mist was, and being able to call her in). I sent her out to find John first, on the right, then she had a good loop on the left after which I called her to me. She crossed the midline just in front of me, but accepted being stopped and came to me, but absolutely didn’t want to play. Her reward was being allowed to continue searching and it seemed that was more than good enough. I sent her out on the left again, to cover the outside of a bend, and when she came in I stopped her again and managed to get her to play briefly before she made it quite clear that she’d rather carry on doing her job . Another empty loop on the right - with good progression forward and when I called her in she had to come back along the midline path a little towards me. Rather than stop her, since she’d done such a nice loop, I directed her out at 90degrees, which she managed fine….. and ran straight into the low branches of a big pine tree - and got pinged back. Oops She sorted herself out and ran out where I’d intended, the other side of the tree trunk! And found John again.
Back to the midline, and out to the right. Sylvelin had gone out to hide, and when I tried to send Mist out on a deer-trod, she put her nose down and started tracking. But Sylvelin hadn’t gone that way, so I ignored it and hoped Mist would realise it was getting her nowhere and continue the loop properly. Mist did give up tracking, but chose to come back the same way. So I caught her on the midline and sent her out again…. straight to Sylvelin.
Out once again to John on the left, and finally to Sylvelin on the right. This last time, I’d forgotten to give Sylvelin anything to reward with, so just agreed over the radio that I would bring it with me, and Mist would have to bark till I got there. An additional challenge was that Sylvelin was a walking ‘body’ ( ) - something Mist has previously found difficult (last time we tried, many months ago). As expected, she needed some help in the form of praise for her attempts at barking, but she stayed with the body and barked until I came.
Otherwise, her indication was good - I’d asked the bodies to reward briefly after a good few barks, then take away the toy and wait for further barking…. and so on until I got there. I want to make sure Mist doesn’t stop barking when I turn up - or else she might decide not to bother if she thinks I can see the body myself (may not always be the case in real life). I was very pleased with her indication today, and the empty loops that she took in her stride.
I thought it was a very ‘grown-up’ performance today (by Mist at least ). It made me feel positive about B-qualification in 2009 - my plan is hopefully to take the B assessed week (actually 4 days) in April/May, and the assessed tracking/rundering before the end of summer. We’ll see…
Posted: Rundering
14
December
2008
We were at Vigreskogen on Saturday, along with John, Ghita and KaiErik who had B-assessments. A fantastic morning all in all - all 3 passed their assessments and are now B-qualified. Well done and congratulations all of you
After lunch the forest was free for the rest of us to train. I had a reasonably long session with Mist - the plan was to test her bark indication on rundering, and include some ‘empty’ loops. Well, it must have been a day for success, because Mist did just what I wanted. She needed no help with indication even when Ritva was under a jervenduk. The empty loops she took in her stride - searched well and then came when I called. A couple of times I couldn’t see exactly where she was and she returned to me on the midline, from behind. So, I could do to include some practice in getting her to advance in the loop. But her runouts were excellent - more-or-less straight out every time and plenty far enough.
Pattern - F F B F B B F F B F. Or something like that! We’ve only tried empty loops once or twice before so I was very pleased.
After everyone had had a first session, Ola and I used the ‘baby forest’ to train article indication. At first it didn’t go so well and Mist picked up sticks in frustration and didn’t bark. But then we tried hanging the article (Ola’s jacket) in a tree, and it worked perfectly. Mist stood right under it and barked and barked until I came.
A good day
Posted: Congratulations / Gratulerer, Rundering
15
May
2008
Training was at Vigreskogen Wednesday evening and for once, I was completely decided on what I would train, and how. I wanted to start training ‘passing’… i.e. while rundering, when Mist comes in from a loop on one side, she should cross the mid-line right by me, allowing me to direct her where and in which direction I want her to go in next. I therefore decided I should minimise the ’search’ part and stick with barking just at the body (no shuttling) so that I could concentrate on the new part, ‘passing’.
It soon became clear, though, that my idea of making things easy by training in the ‘baby forest’ (mature, widely spaced trees with pine needles covering the ground) wasn’t necessarily the best plan. For starters, I parked the van face in, and left the door up (as I usually do)…. and so Mist got to watch Ola and Leo train first. She yelped, barked and howled in frustration that it wasn’t yet her turn. And when it was finally her turn, she had obviously wound herself up so much, it was like letting go of a balloon full of air without tying the knot
Focused out into the forest in the right direction, I thought Mist was concentrated and ready. Let her go, and…. zoom… off she shot like a rocket, straight out 50m (just as it should be)… and straight on (not as it should be ). Right past the body at full speed! There was no chance she’d notice anyone at that speed, unless she trod on them (and perhaps not even then!). Over to the left 50m or so, then back again, passing Kristin again and taking a tour of pretty much the whole baby forest. Eventually, after she’d let off some steam, I called her in and tried again. This time she found Kristin. She barked fine and Kristin kept her barking until I got there.
Then came the planned ‘passing’ part. Kristin would hold Mist and I’d go in to the mid-line and call Mist to me, then send her over to the next body (KaiErik) by taking a few steps with her as she crossed over the path, thereby showing her which direction to run out.
Well, the speed she came in at, there was no chance of taking any steps with her. I was almost scared of the blur that passed me, thinking she’d either completely deck me, or collide with something in the forest and do herself an injury. So, anyway, as she whizzed past (note to self - too much running with greyhound friend Sisco ) I managed to mumble ‘runder’ and off she went out towards KaiErik. Fortunately, she was on the right line and I thought maybe it would be ok…. but no, she flew past KaiErik at top speed and took another tour of the forest before coming back towards me, at which point I was ready to bring her in and send her again. But at last moment, she turned and ran out again towards KaiErik, got some airscent and after a little work, found him.
Basically, the rest of the session continued in the same way. Flat out mad running all the way! Physically she could have gone on like that all night, it seemed. Her barking got worse as she became more mentally tired and hoped to shortcut the process by a quick bark and wait for me to turn up. But I stood still (instead of walking/running out towards the body) if she stopped barking, and the bodies encouraged her to bark, so she didn’t get away with it!
Not a complete disaster, since she did cross the midline relatively close to me, and in the right direction. But it was at least 50% luck, and there was very little ’steering’ on my part.
So, next time, I will be avoiding any ‘easy’ terrain with the intention to avoid this top-speed running in the hope that I might get a chance to direct her a little……….perhaps even say ‘Runder’ as she passes….
Posted: Rundering
11
May
2008
Now that the evenings are long and light, it’s nice to be back to regular Wednesday night training. This week it was split training, for Group1 at Dale. Since the Tjørn weekend, I’ve been moved into the same group as Bjørn and Sylvelin since they both are training barking indication too. So there was the 3 of us plus Ola, all to train rundering.
I wanted to try out the shuttling in a rundering situation (all the weekend’s training was open air-scenting). Sylvelin was the body on the right-hand-side and Bjørn on the other side. It went generally well, although Mist needed quite a bit of help to get started at Sylvelin, both times (she went out to each body twice before I called it a day). At Bjørn she barked spontaneously, and even came running back to me without me calling on the second go . Hard to know whether the ease with which she indicated at Bjørn and relative difficulty at Sylvelin was due to her being used to Bjørn as a body, from the weekend, or the terrain. Sylvelin was sitting near the terrain boundary of the forest and the open field/rough ground. I’ve seen lots of dogs distracted here, and Krimp showed the same tendency today. Never mind, she needed help and she got it, and we had a good session. I stopped while we were ‘up’ after 4 finds.
Posted: Indication / Melding, Rundering
7
May
2008
Where did the last month go? For various reasons I haven’t managed to keep the ‘training diary’ updated, so will no doubt have forgotten a few sessions here and there. Anyway, here’s an attempt to recap on some of what Mist has been up to…
4 April - Tracking, grassy field, Sviland
A couple of 100-150m trails in the grassy field with 2 articles each. Went fine, nothing particular to comment on. Mist still picks up fabric objects and stops at plastic/other objects but rarely picks them up. Something to work on….
5 April - Tracking, Arboret
Not able to train with others (the lice issue!), we had a family outing to the Arboret. Jon laid out a couple of short (<100m) trails with the main challenge being path-crossings. We waited just 20-30minutes before setting off. And it was as if there were no paths! Mist crossed both small woodland paths and a slightly wider gravel path without even checking out alternative trails along the paths (including one of mine, which was very recent). Yes!
9 April - Search square, Sviland
KristinT laid out 3 ‘corridor’ searches for Mist. The first two had a single object each and Mist saw Kristin go out, the last one had 2 objects and we waited 15minutes before going back and searching. All went well. At the moment, I reward Mist with a toy for picking up and starting towards me. She isn’t required to bring the object right to me. The idea is we’ll shape this gradually, and it seems to be working. She certainly comes in at quite a speed!
12 April - Tracking / Search square, Dale
Krissi laid a 200m (?) trail for Mist which crossed the main path up to Dalevatn, twice. It laid for a couple of hours. Despite becoming a little distracted in the young, thick trees about 10metres before the first crossing, and struggling again a few metres after, Mist seemed to tackle the crossings themselves without a problem. Certainly the second crossing was excellent - Krissi had walked down a steep bank to the path, and then at a 45degree angle down into the forest on the other side (it wasn’t possible to go straight across due to fallen trees/branches), and Mist followed it as if there was no path. Well done Mist And thanks Ronny for pushing Thomas in his pram while we trained .
In the afternoon, Krissi laid out a large ‘corridor’ for Mist to search - about 20m x 10-15m. We definitely made it too easy! She raced out, found the objects in no time and came in at top speed. Need to make things more difficult….
16 April - rundering, Sviland
3 weeks since the op, and both Mist and I were itching to get back to ‘real’ training! It was nice to meet up with everyone at Sviland and train rundering. Don’t remember many details, but I do remember that it went well. She barked without any help each time she found a body. And she even had her first ‘blindslag’ (loop without any body) - totally accidental but although she searched for some time, she didn’t find the Bjørn, so I just called her in and sent her the other side. She certainly didn’t seem to mind!
17-21st April - holiday with Marie & Sisco
Jon, Thomas and I went to Scotland for a long weekend and Mist went to Marie’s for a holiday with best friend Sisco! It’s lovely being able to go away knowing that she’ll be having a great time .
22 and 25? April - tracking, Vedafjell
Not sure about the dates but sometime around then, Jon laid two longer trails for Mist. We have mostly trained up to 200m previously, sometimes a little longer. We’ve increased the time to up to 2.5hours, so thought it was about time to increase the distance too. It’s also easier than increasing the time even more, as I can get Jon to lay a trail when he comes home from work, then follow it later once Thomas is in bed - giving us a ~2.5hour old trail.
500m one day and 750m the other. Both with 4 objects. The first one, Mist picked up the fabric objects, marked one plastic object and didn’t notice another. The second, she only found the first object which was plastic (!) and I think didn’t get any of the others because they were along the top of the ridge (leading up to the concrete building halfway up Vedafjell), and there was quite a strong wind, so I think she was tracking quite a few metres from the actual trail. Still, the extra length didn’t seem to bother her at all and she worked well the whole way.
26 April - search square, Sviland
Jon was running Siddisløp (10km race) in the afternoon, and I wasn’t 100% well, plus Mist was back on antibiotics as a tiny part of her scar was infected….. so I didn’t go to NRH training. Instead we had a family outing to Sviland (!) and set up 3 short trail searches. Mist chose the right direction each time. The first one she went right over to start with, but when I wouldn’t pay out any more line, she came back and turned at the right place. The other two, she ound straight away and set off in the right direction with no hesitation.
Sometime during April we also did some more search squares at Sviland on the grassy area. Still working with ‘corridors’ - i.e. the full 30m out, but 10-15m wide. Mist found and picked up both objects both times. I have a suspicion that she sometimes finds one, but continues to look for another in case it’s more exciting. Still need to work on interested in non-fabric objects. She does pick up plastic/leather/paper items, but not with the enthusiasm she has for fabric!
Posted: Article search / Feltsøk, Tracking / Spor, Rundering
25
March
2008
Well, Easter was supposed to be a holiday - we had tickets to go to the UK for 5 days, staying with family and friends and competing (Jon) in the JK orienteering comp. But this little evil creature changed all that 
* NOT FOUND *
Lice!
Although she’d been treated, Mist was/is still contagious and so Marie couldn’t look after her as planned, and no kennels would have her (no surprise). So, Thomas, Mist and I stayed at home while Jon flew to England and caught up with various friends and ran his races.
Not looking forward to the prospect of an itchy, frustrated dog becoming even more frustrated and unsettled, I sent out a plea for help to some NRH friends for a little babysitting, so I could give Mist a decent walk each day. And they came up trumps I am very very grateful to Tone, Ghita and Krissi who were so kind as to look after Thomas for an hour or so on Thurs,Fri and Mon. It helped me keep my sanity, and Mist’s too! Seems Thomas had saved up one of his ‘madras specials’ for Tone - sorry 
, and I need to learn the song Krissi sang to him which promptly sent him to sleep. THANKYOU! Also thanks to Nina and Kristin who looked after Thomas while I trained with Mist on Saturday - I really appreciated it
Training on Saturday was a bonus - I’d gone along more for the social side, and given the gorgeous sunny cold weather, thought if nothing else I could go for a little walk. Anyway, Nina and Kristin offered to take Thomas off my hands so I chose to do a little rundering, with indication. Bjørn and Ghita were ‘bodies’. I wasn’t sure whether I was going to use cues or not, but Mist’s focus was so definitely in the right direction when we got ready for the first runout, that I sent her without… and it went fine. So, I didn’t use cues at all and all runouts went well. She was a bit overexcited to find Bjørn lying on the ground and got a bit carried away with jumping on him and trying to lick his face (we haven’t tried with bodies on the ground before, only standing and squatting), but for the next go, he asked her to bark before she jumped all over him, and by the third time, she barked without ‘attacking’ him first . I asked Ghita to use 2 tennis balls as Mist’s reward - Mist has not been good at bringing back any toy, for quite a while, so I’ve been using mainly tug toys as her reward. This works fine - she loves the game - but I’d like her to be able to play throw/fetch/swap with other toys too. As I suspected, Mist was more willing to bring a toy back near Ghita than she often is with me. So, will do more of this when the terrain suits - i.e. open enough that the ‘body’ can easily move around to pick up the ball that Mist has dropped a few metres away. Hopefully she’ll eventually be as good as she was when she was 3 months old!!
In total we had 8 runouts. One go Mist failed to find Bjørn, but we just took it as an ‘empty circuit’ (i.e. no ‘body’) and sent her out the other side…. well, that was the plan - she actually ran out of her own accord when she saw Ghita moving in the forest . On one ‘find’ Marshall, Hugo’s (8-month-old?)GSD, came to join us - they were rundering on the other path and we were a bit too close. Mist was not impressed at the intruder and was quite clear in her body language that he wasn’t welcome, but Marshall just bounded around trying to get her to play! It’s the first time I’ve seen Mist like that - she normally wants to play as much as the other dog. But maybe it was the fact she was ‘working’ - it was interesting to observe…she tried turning away and ‘freezing’ first, but that didn’t work, so she showed her teeth and growled at him and tried to chase him away from where her tennis ball had been (we’d actually removed it to avoid any arguing). Fortunately, Hugo came and dragged away the disappointed Marshall without any further issues.
It’s Mist’s turn babysitting
* NOT FOUND *
Posted: Miscellaneous / Diverse, Rundering, Uncategorized
