Mist

B qualified - yippee!8

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

Free search at Orrestranden0

Aud, Kaare, Steffen and I met up at Orrestrand on afantastic clear, cold and moonlit night. Mist was first out. We had three bodies and I wanted to train bark indication (spontaneous). Since she often strikes from a long distance I asked the bodies to let her bark a few times then play a little, then take the toy back and be passive to get her to bark again, and repeat until I got there. It worked well - she barked without help each time, and at Kaare she barked almost continuously until I got there.

She also barked (quite a lot!) at an information post in the dunes. I heard her soon after we started, but knew it wasn’t a find as the barking sounds quite different. I had to go and back her up so that she could check it out, and it was a nice coincidence that pretty much immediately after having ’solved’ this problem, she got the scent of one of the bodies and ran to find them.

Posted: Indication / Melding, Airscenting / Overvær, Uncategorized

Still in the UK…4

According to original plans, we should by now all be in the Czech Republic supporting Jon at the World Orienteering Championships. Thomas, Mist and I are, however, still in the UK after we decided that 5days’ travel through Europe, and a week on my own with the 2- and 4-legged dependents on a Czech campsite, might be less fun than staying longer in Keswick and having another week with my parents in Wensleydale. Jon flew to Czech and will fly back here before we set off back to Norway, and the long drive north to Tromsø.

We had 12 days in the Lake District, staying at Jon’s dad’s house and enjoying all that Keswick has to offer. It was really great to be able to do so much without using the car….. running, dog-walking, Thomas-walking/pushing, shopping, family-visiting…. all from the door. It’s certainly a fantastic place to live, and it was the first time really since we went to Norway, that I really noticed things I miss about Britain. Probably most noticeable was how so many people are willing to make conversation, or at least say hello - total strangers you pass on the way into town make eye contact, smile and say hello or thank you for stepping aside on the narrow footpath to let them pass, an old lady calling out from her garden asking whether we thought it would rain or whether she should go and visit a friend in town, people who saw Mist and wondered where she was from (given her strange colouring), and all the people Thomas beamed at, who then stopped and chatted for a while .
We spent lots of time with Jon’s sister and family - at home, at the park, days out….

On the Lal Rattie steam train
* NOT FOUND *
* NOT FOUND *

Walking by Derwentwater (from the house )
* NOT FOUND ** NOT FOUND *

New friend, Flo
* NOT FOUND *

I tried to fit in some training - a bit of tracking and search squares in Castle Head (the woods just over the road from Jon’s dad’s house), but most exciting of course was joining the SARDA crew for Tuesday evening training, twice. Both times was at Winlatter, on open fell behind the forest. There were sheep, but they moved out of the area once they heard all the dogs barking . I wasn’t sure how Mist would behave if sheep ran away as she searched, so was quite relieved that they left before we got out there! I’ve tried to do as much training as possible with sheep in relatively controlled situations (more about that later ), but didn’t want to risk it in such a large open area, and especially in front of the SARDA guys of course .

There were about 6-8 dog handlers (?), plus 5or6 ‘bodies’, and one person (Mike) running the session. Les, Benny and Kaz, who came to Norway to run a course for us (NRH) in May were all there the first week, and it was really nice to see them all again, meet their dogs (especially Benny’s lurcher ) and see them ‘at work’.

The format was a ‘circuit’ of the area, with 5 or 6 bodies located in various places, and dog/handlers setting off at intervals. The bodies were sent out first and it was noticeable how unconcerned the dogs were - they’re used to seeing the bodies set off, whereas Mist set off in an attempt to ‘find’ them almost immediately . Thankfully she did come back after a bit of whistling. The following week, I kept her in the van while the bodies walked out to their positions.

The first Tuesday we searched for/found 4 bodies, and I should have stopped after #3 as I saw Mist’s concentration was dwindling (ah, the joy of hindsight ). I’d asked the bodies to induce barking if necessary, and I think all did need to ‘help’ her to get started, although they did say she wasn’t difficult to get barking, despite having to remember a silly command (Hats! - thought it was easier to remember than the Norwegian command I use… Hals!). It was no problem to get Mist to return to me and bark at me, but she still didn’t bark spontaneously back at the body. However, given that we’ve been moving from place to place, the location, other dogs/handlers, bodies etc were all new… I think she did ok .

The second Tuesday we searched for/found 3 bodies, and had a second circuit finding the first 2 again. It was fun working at the same time as other dog/handler teams - we don’t often train ‘back home’ with other dogs out at the same time, and Mist was quite obviously affected by it, especially the second Tuesday when there were up to 3 dog/handler teams visible at once. Mist seemed quite concerned by all the barking going on (not really any surprise, bearing in mind there are very few other dogs in our NRH district that use bark indication), and seemed unsure whether Mick G was a ‘body’ or not…. and tore off after his dogs anyway :roll:. As a result, Mist didn’t indicate for body #3 (Geoff) at all, and I ended up ‘finding’ him myself!

Thanks to all the SARDA Lakes folk for letting us join in, and for sharing fundraising ideas which I will take back to Norway with me (and no doubt pick brains further in future). Hope to be back again sometime (maybe with a qualified search dog) .

Here’s a pic of the area we were searching in - the first week, by the time I remembered I wanted to take some pics, the weather was pretty awful and it was getting a bit dark, and the second time Mist and I were out almost all the time available. Anyway, there wouldn’t be much to see…. a pinprick figure of a handler, and possibly a dot of fluorescent yellow for the dog….

* NOT FOUND *

I also spent some time continuing my ’sheep-proofing’ training. All was going well until we went for a walk with a friend and her BC and passed through a field of sheep. Mist was about 20m in front of me when a lone scraggy-looking sheep suddenly appeared from a hedgerow and ran off. Mist first stood still, woofing uncertainly, when the sheep began to run away and, to my horror, Mist followed. Aaaargh I’d taken note of the sheep up the field from us, and another group downhill (both groups more than 50m away), and decided Mist was unlikely to be bothered by them, since they were far enough away to stay put. But I missed the single sheep ahead of us. Oops. I don’t know exactly what happened, because Mist ignored my whistles, and disappeared down the hill into a dip, out of sight. I saw the lower group of sheep take flight and my heart sank, expecting to see my dog in hot pursuit. But, no…. she re-appeared up the hill and came back to me .

I was pretty gutted that this had happened, after all the hours gradually building up Mist’s exposure to sheep in relatively controlled situations. But, it seems that it hasn’t had such a big impact after all…. Back in Wensleydale, we have continued to walk in fields of sheep and Mist doesn’t seem any more interested than previously. Individual sheep have run away in front of us, and Mist hasn’t reacted. When out running (on-lead) on Tuesday, we followed a loose lamb up a lane and when it finally darted off into a field to the side, Mist just continued along the lane without even much of a glance. I’ve had her off-lead in fields with sheep and, keeping her close, have walked towards the sheep to get them to move, and she hasn’t bothered about them and just waited for her tennis ball to be thrown. So, fingers crossed it was just an unfortunate blip in her ’sheep training’ and I will still reach the goal of her being indifferent to them.

Back at Redmire…. good old English country lanes
* NOT FOUND *

Swimming at Redmire falls
* NOT FOUND *

Posted: Miscellaneous / Diverse, Airscenting / Overvær

Tjørn training weekend with SARDA (Lakes) instructors 1-4 May0

I’d been looking forward to this weekend for some time…. 4 days with instructors from SARDA (Lake District) at Tjørn, training open air-scenting in the extensive open hill terrain around the Rogaland Friluftsliv hytte. The idea began last October when Jon and I were in Keswick (Lake District) and I joined an evening SARDA training session at Grizedale. Over the following few months we agreed a plan, and last Wednesday I drove to the airport to collect the 3 instructors, Kaz, Benny and Les.

* NOT FOUND *

Posted: Indication / Melding, Airscenting / Overvær

A much needed mad runaround in Sviland!0

I wanted to train specifically searching today as we’ve only trained tracking and indication for quite a while now (over 2 months, maybe more…). Given there was a reasonable wind, I decided to train airscenting, letting Mist work freely. I also wanted to test whether she would indicate (bark) when she found the ‘body’, since we haven’t tried this before. I thought it was more likely to work in an open search setting, rather than trying for the first time in a rundering session. I’d hoped to use the open grass/gravel area, but as it turned out, a group turned up to ‘play’ paintball at the far side of the area, exactly the direction the wind was coming from.

So, for the morning session, Aud and Krissi hid in the forest area on the right-hand-side of the main rundering track. The wind kindly died down quite a lot just as we started, so it was more difficult than I’d expected. The moment I let Mist off the lead, she sprinted off down the track, and suddenly veered into the trees. I thought she’d ‘got’ someone already, but a while later she turned up again. Off she went again and was gone a few minutes without me seeing her (one of the reasons I’d wanted to use the open area was so I’d be able to see what she was doing ). But then she was back again and hadn’t found anyone. I wondered if there were walkers on the other gravel road, but fortunately there didn’t seem to be (at that time anyway). Soon enough, while we walked along the road, Mist suddenly lifted.her nose and dashed off into the trees/bushes on the right. A few seconds later I heard barking - proper barking too Mist had found Krissi, and had started to indicate without needing any ‘help’ (I’d asked Aud and Krissi to give her the bark command if she didn’t bark of her own accord).

We went back to the road and continued. Mist heard ‘bodies’ playing with Bina in the forest on the other side, and I was worried she was about to take off to join in! But fortunately, a quick whistle brought her back and I walked in the terrain to the right of the road to try to show her it was there we were searching. The next distraction was the sound of a child on the other gravel road. I breathed a sigh of relief when Mist decided it was ok to come with me instead of running off to find the source of the voices! Luckily the wind wasn’t blowing from them to us, or else I think it would have been more difficult. Or maybe her recall is getting better

The wind direction had changed, and Aud had told me over the radio that there was next to no wind at all where she was hiding. We therefore worked along the stream by the road, and up the track to the right where the road divides. It wasn’t long before Mist dived off again, and soon I heard more barking. Yes! Just at that moment, the voices we’d heard earlier appeared on the track above where Aud was hiding. Good timing, since Mist wasn’t to know that they weren’t the ‘right’ people to find.

In the afternoon the paintballers had gone, so I was able to use the gravel/grass area. Aud and Ritva hid just into the forest at the far side of the grass and Mist and I started searching from the near side of the grass. It didn’t take long for Mist to pick up the scent of someone…. and off she went. Soon, the barking started and she’d found Ritva. We searched a little longer and Mist found Aud too. Both times she didn’t need any command to start barking.

I was really pleased that Mist indicated as soon as she found the ‘body’, even though we haven’t previously put this part together with the search.

Posted: Airscenting / Overvær, Uncategorized

Weekend at Tjørn hytte0

A select group gathered at the cabin at Tjørn (near Bjerkreim) for a weekend of training. After a somewhat hectic day, I got a lift there with Krissi as Jon was going to drive up on Saturday morning, bringing Mist, and cycle from there.

We arrived in good time and it was looking like a relaxing evening. Kai-Erik began cooking dinner, Tone, Krissi and I made ourselves comfortable and we waited for Aud and Kåre to arrive for dinner at 7. However, when A&K did arrive, despite us all looking forward to sitting down and eating, Kai-Erik suddenly announced that he’d had a phonecall from a workmate who was in the area checking out the fishing to say he and a friend had got lost while trying to find their way to two different small lakes in the area.

….and so the next hour and a half were spent on a search exercise. While Kai-Erik continued cooking dinner, Aud, Kåre, Tone and Krissi divided up the search area and set off to search for the two lost men. I acted as ‘headquarters’, keeping track of who was where and any messages from those searching. To cut a long story short, the exercise was very successful - the first was found within half an hour and another half hour or so later, the second was also found. I’d always dreaded being ‘HQ’ as it involves lots of use of the radio, often with less than 100% signal when people are searching a little further away. Still, it was a great opportunity to try it out with only a limited number of people to hear me and Kai-Erik was on hand to ask how to say something when I got stuck!

Once the two lost colleagues and the 4 doghandlers were all back at the cabin, we sat down to a well-earned evening meal. It was fun to hear Kai-Erik’s colleagues (who hadn’t been ‘bodies’ for S&R dogs before) tell their side of the story, especially the surprise of one when he found an enormous rottweiler ‘in his face’ having expected a cuddly springer spaniel to come to the rescue (We did explain that Snuppa is actually a very small rottweiler, and about as cute and cuddly a rottweiler as you could imagine! Good job it wan’t John’s Odin )

Saturday training - Air-scenting (+sheep!)
I wanted to use the chance of there being sheep in the area to train Mist with sheep nearby. In the morning Aud and I drove down the road to the gravel ‘quarry’ area where there were lots of sheep. Aud hid at one end of a low ridge. When she set off there were sheep on the ridge (the idea was that Mist would have to run past them to get to her) but the sheep were obviously air-scenting too, and took off when they got scent of Aud. I set off about 60m+ downwind with Mist on a longline and we crossed towards the ridge until Mist got scent of Aud. The undulating terrain meant that her first attempt to follow it up didn’t get very far and she came back to me. I walked up onto the end of the ridge and could see the sheep that had run a little way away. There was a group of maybe 20sheep and Mist saw them too. She got wind of them, and set off in their direction to check them out. I called ‘No! this way’ to her, and she came racing back and, perfect timing, caught scent of Aud again as she came back onto the ridge. This time she followed it up and found her ‘body’! Yeay!

For our second attempt we agreed that I should set off with Mist, downwind, at the same time as Aud, so that the sheep wouldn’t run away downwind - they would be ‘trapped’ between us. It worked great, and we ended up with the sheep penned against a fence parallel to the road, and parallel to the wind direction. It meant that Mist had to run right past them (and they couldn’t easily go anywhere) to get to Aud. As she got near to them they started to move about, so I asked Aud to jump up to ensure Mist would choose her over the sheep ( ) and it worked perfectly! Just what I wanted

In the afternoon Kai-Erik was ‘body’ for Mist and hid uphill from the rundering-track that goes to the small lakes. I walked with Mist loose perpendicular to the wind direction until Mist crossed into the scent-zone. It was clear she had something, but the terrain was quite difficult for her puppy legs (and perhaps puppy coordination ) and she came back to me when she lost the scent. We zig-zagged slowly, gradually nearer to Kai-Erik and at about 50m distance Mist was suddenly very certain, and took off to find him. Tjørn terrain is always tough, and the deep heather, boulders and endless invisible holes makes for slow progress. But she got there!
We did the same thing twice again, after which I decided that, physically, Mist had had enough. It was only about 2 weeks since she’d had kennel cough so didn’t want to overdo things.

Sunday training - Tracking
a.m.
Dry, little wind
Trail-layer - Kai-Erik
Waiting time - 10min; 20min
Length - 60-80m
End - Kai-Erik + kongs; rag-on-rope
Terrain - heather/bilberry (Tjørn terrain). Both relatively straight.

No problem with either trail - both were very fresh and Mist found the start and set off determinedly both times. Afterwards Kai-Erik and I discussed extending the wait-time since it was clear Mist knew what she should be doing.

* NOT FOUND * * NOT FOUND *

p.m.
Trail-layer - me
Wait time - 45min; 50min; 50min
Length - 70-100m+
End - bite-leather; rag-on-rope; rubber chicken
Terrain - heather/bilberry (Tjørn terrain). Straight; 3 x 90degree turns; 2 x turns, steep up and down and holey terrain.

Hadn’t meant to extend the time quite this much, but with hindsight am glad I did. Mist found the trail and got going without a problem, and worked at a much gentler pace than in the morning. On the second and third trails she concentrated when she got to the turns, and found where the trail had ‘disappeared to’ without going more than 2-3m past the turn (with experience this should reduce). I was especially pleased with the 3rd trail where the terrain was particularly difficult, with holes she had to concentrate on not falling in as well as checking where the trail went

Posted: Airscenting / Overvær, Tracking / Spor

Various air-scenting + sheep - Tjørn0

18th August - Tjørn
Light wind, dry and quite warm.
Lots of sheep just down the road from the hytte.

Decided to use the opportunity to have Mist run out to play with a ‘body’ in the presence of lots of sheep. Found a gap in the flock of sheep alongside the road, and Tone sat out in the heather about 20m from the road. The two groups of sheep were about 10m either side of us. Went well at first - Mist ran straight out and wasn’t at all bothered about the sheep being there. Very happy to play with Tone and we tested her a bit by (with long lead on as a precaution) throwing the toy a few metres away in the heather - no problem, she got it and came back. But then the sheep decided they should all be together and one group sprinted ‘en masse’ down the road. At this point I had to hold the lead to prevent her running after them. She’s definitely interested but she doesn’t lunge or whine. She accepts she’s not allowed. Hopefully, with time, and assuming she never gets the chance to chase for real, she will learn that sheep really aren’t interesting and ‘bodies’ are!

We went back to the road, and did the same thing again and despite having shown interest in the sheep when they ran, she was focused on Tone again and went out fine and played.

Later, Tone hid in the big gap under a huge stone behind the hytte. We approached from the hill side and it was clear when Mist got the scent as her tail started wagging . She struggled with the terrain and took a long time to find a way down through the rocks/heather/holes! She found an entrance to Tone’s underground hiding place but couldn’t get in there, so continued to work to find another way in. She was frustrated and started whining, and eventually found a way down to the ‘main entrance’. However, she wasn’t brave enough to jump the 40cm down at the entrance - it was dark inside and a bit wet/slippy. Hugo and I went inside too, to try to persuade her to come in, but she still waited whining at the entrance. In the end Tone went to her and lifted her in. Then she was happy to go in and out! Good environment training

I’ve found you, but how do I get in?
* NOT FOUND *

The way in, but a bit scary!
* NOT FOUND *

At the end of the day, after being a ‘body’ for Tone/Isi for two area searches, I decided to test Mist’s interest in human scent in the presence of sheep. I’d hoped to have Tone hide such that she was further away than a group of sheep, and Mist would have to run past the sheep to get to her. I didn’t want the sheep behind Tone, or else I reckoned Mist may well just not stop when she found Tone, but continue to chase the sheep since they would likely start moving away. But the wind wasn’t ideal and was coming almost directly parallel with the road, so we set it up so that Mist and I started right by the big flock of sheep on one side of the road and Tone hid close to the road on the other side, so we zig-zagged back and forth away from the sheep and back towards them, with Mist on the long lead, until she got scent of Tone and then I unclipped her and let her run free to find her. The first go went great - she showed very little interest in all the sheep (although they weren’t moving) but was very focused on finding Tone once she got the scent.
The second go we set up similarly, a little further down the road. The wind direction was such that I needed to go further up the bank on the uphill side of the road (away from the sheep) for Mist to find the scent. She seemed concentrated on the job, so I let her go free as we left the road opposite the sheep…. she had her nose up and I thought she must already have scent of Tone, but then she ran a big curve back to the road and directly towards all the sheep! She must have been <10metres from them at their side of the road when I shouted 'No!', heart in mouth....... She stopped, looked at me, I called 'This way!' and turned, and she came racing back :grin: :grin: Phew!! I'm not sure she was actually deliberately running to the sheep - the terrain between us and Tone included a small stream re-entrant and the air movement would have been quite disturbed by the topography, so she may well have had the scent then lost it, and run down the easiest terrain to try to find it again :???: Anyway, it wasn't long before she stopped, nose up and clearly knew that Tone was there…. and ran as fast as the terrain would allow to get her reward. It seemed trying to jump all over and lick Tone’s face was as rewarding as the treats and play Still, I was very pleased with the day - need to try to do as much as possible of this before the sheep go inside for the winter.

Posted: Socialising & Environment Training / Miljøtrening, Airscenting / Overvær

Air-scenting - Vigreskogen1

A bit late posting this, but want to keep track of what we’ve done…

Vigreskogen, Saturday 4th August
Warm, dry, changeable wind direction

Had 4 short training exercises each in the ‘puppy group’ (me, FrodeS, Hugo and Kai-Erik) in the open forest. Umi’s not a puppy (physically, at least ), but Kai-Erik wanted to have a number of short indication training sessions, so it suited him to be in the baby group!

I had ‘bodies’ with umbrellas, under jervenduks etc. etc. as environment training. Mist can be quite spooked by ‘odd’ things, but the motivation she gets from the air-scent overcomes any inhibitions she would otherwise have. Even Hugo standing with the jervenduk flapping in the wind didn’t cause a problem, and at home, if it’s hanging on a door to dry it’s a scary object She was a bit hesitant the first time someone hid behind the golf umbrella, but 2nd time onwards it was fine.

I let Mist search ‘loose’ for the first couple of exercises, walking cross-wind to pick up the air-scent. She was very clear when she got the scent of someone, but the speed that she zooms off to find them means that, in changeable wind, she can quickly go out of the scent zone. Having lost the scent, tt was really fun to see her sprint back in the direction of where she had last had the scent, and quite literally skid into a 90degree turn when she came back into the scent zone!! It’s nice to see she’s confident to search quite some distance away from me, but that she does also check now and again that I’m on my way

The second two exercises I tried Mist on the long lead, working across the wind. When she showed clear signs of having picked up the scent I waited to see how confident she was, and she ran out to the end of the lead then sat down. Good indicating, Mist! So, with a quiet ‘Good girl!’ I unclipped the lead and let her run out to find the body. We did this with 3 bodies each time, and her sitting was consistent. I was very happy with today’s training

Posted: Airscenting / Overvær

Airscenting and strange-looking people - Vigreskogen4

Vigreskogen - warm and dry (at last!), some rain later (after our training session), changeable wind - both direction and strength

The plan today was to teach Mist that it doesn’t matter what it looks like, as long as it smells like a humanbeing! So, off went Sylvelin with a camouflage jervenduk/shelter, Johannes with a mosquito net and Hugo with a green scarf over his head (looking as if he should be carrying a gun as well), to hide in the forest!
Sylvelin sporting the latest in jervenduks…
* NOT FOUND *

Johannes with this season’s favourite……. the mosquito net!
* NOT FOUND *

A few minutes later, Mist and I were called in - all were in place and ready. After a quick attempt at tracking down her bodies* by following the trail along the main path , we set off into the forest in the hope of using air-scenting to find them. The wind was so changeable that it was hard to select the right direction to search - best is at 90degrees to the wind direction. Anyway, after walking almost full circle around Sylvelin, Mist picked up the scent and charged in. No worries that Sylvelin was actually just a strange camouflage-coloured shape on the ground - human scent was enough to get Mist’s bottom wiggling as she climbed all over in an attempt to find a way in I’m not sure Sylvelin needed the two Ikea spider soft-toys as a reward - a lying-down body is reward enough…… the opportunity to lick a face and stick her tongue in an ear is rewarding enough

* NOT FOUND *

* NOT FOUND *

* NOT FOUND *

Next was Hugo, on the more vegetated side of the main path. We had to walk almost full circle around him in order for Mist to pick up the scent, but when she did there was no hesitation - she ran wiggling as fast as she could to get to him. He kept the scarf over his face, and didn’t speak to her, but played with the bite-leather - I don’t think Mist’s play was as enthusiastic as when the body is also active and moving, but she was certainly happy to be there and wasn’t phased by the strange appearance.

* NOT FOUND *

Last was Johannes and since we didn’t know exactly where he was I wanted to make sure we didn’t pass too close, so walked quite a way towards the end of the path (towards the road) before turning to go at right angles to and across the main path. Before we got to the path, Mist suddenly lifted her head and raced off into the trees. Johannes must have been 40m or so from us and she didn’t hesitate to go and check out the scent once she had it. Great! Another fun training session

* NOT FOUND *

We left after lunch (2ish), as I’ve run out of dogfood, and the shop was only open until 3! Afterwards we went to the sheep field and did some anti-sheep training again. It’s quite annoying that whenever we stay still, there’s always at least one sheep that is inquisitive enough to want to come right up to us. I want them to keep their distance as a) it would allow Mist to concentrate on me and b) that’s what normal sheep do , or else they run away. We managed to get away from the most friendly bunch and found a place where we were looking downhill towards lots of sheep with one or two within 20m. At that distance Mist was happy to play - when they come closer, she clearly feels she needs to concentrate on the sheep instead. I don’t think she’s either scared of them, nor that she wants to chase necessarily, but is unsure of what to do so needs to watch them. Hopefully, I’ll manage to train the sheep to accept our presence without bothering us, at the same time as training Mist to accept their presence
The other challenge is keeping Mist from eating her own body weight in sheep poo The best method is to run around, so she follows me and doesn’t have time to stop and eat. I had planned to just have her sit quietly and reward her for staying put and not going towards the sheep, but it doesn’t work - she can’t concentrate on me when there’s sheep poo within reaching distance, and even squeezy cheese is struggling to compete. Maybe I need to fill a squeezy cheese tube with sheep poo instead
Still, despite all this - she is being exposed to sheep and without the opportunity to chase (she’s on a 5m lead which I let trail on the ground), so I’m hoping it must be doing some good. Hugo advised me to get someone else to help out, and let Mist play with them, so she learns that people + sheep = fun games with people. Even recall training between Jon and me would probably work, as she loves running between us.
I drove round to the farm again, to ask permission to have her loose in a field with sheep (I’m assuming they own those sheep, and that they have some idea about dogs since they have a number of border collies themselves), but there was noone home again. It’s July!

* body = figurant = hiding person….. figurant sounds great in Norwegian, odd in English but previously I couldn’t think of anything better. Having just been looking at the SARDA (UK Search and Rescue Dog Association) website, I’ve decided the English version ‘body’, while a bit macabre sounding, is marginally better and will have to do…

Posted: Socialising & Environment Training / Miljøtrening, Airscenting / Overvær