Mist

Rundering & indication training - Vigreskogen4

Despite miserable weather (grey and drizzly and wet all day - and therefore cold when not on the move) we had a great training day today .

Drove to Vigreskogen nice and early so I’d have time to take Mist for a walk before training, only to find noone else there and the gate locked. That’s happened before and it’s been because I was in the wrong place But when Ritva turned up within a couple of minutes it seemed more likely that whoever had the key just hadn’t turned up yet. I took Mist for a quick walk and when I got back, a couple more had turned up, and soon Frode arrived with the key.

There were lots of people wanting to train rundering so we had two rundering groups - I was with Nina, Paul, Aud and Ritva, and later Kåre too, on the ‘grownup’ rundering path (as opposed to the open forest where we have trained lots before with Mist). I wanted to continue what I began last Saturday at Sviland - encouraging Mist to run out the full 50m to search for people, and wanted this to be in terrain with some vegetation, not just open, easy-to-run forest.

The wind was quite blustery and changing direction quite a bit, but it was good to have something of a breeze for the dogs to work with. The two ‘bodies’, Nina and Ritva, each had a ball to use as Mist’s reward. Paul directed from the midline. First up - Ritva, on the RHS. Mist clearly had caught some scent from that side, but we got a sound cue anyway. After glancing up at me to ask permission to go (which she got!), Mist ran straight out and had little trouble in finding Ritva. Paul reckoned I should take away the sound cue asap, so we had one more run-out with sound cue after which she got no more!

Once Ritva was finished playing with Mist, I called Mist in and she was full of beans and ready to go the other side. A clap from Nina, and Mist was off again. This time, it seems she was distracted by us on the midline, and the excitement of the whole exercise, and while Nina was playing with her, Mist ran off towards the midline with the ball, turning up without it though When she got no attention there, she ran back out to Nina, but didn’t find her ball on the way. So Nina came back in, and got the biteleather instead.

Then out on the RHS again to Ritva. This time, I stood in position with Mist, facing out into the forest, and Ritva moved forward in the forest a few metres. From Mist’s level, there was nothing to see, but it seems she heard something….. in any case, out she went, no problem . She didn’t go far enough first time so when she came back to me I just took a couple of steps in the same direction and she went again. And this time, she found Ritva - she caught the scent after going just a little further than her first attempt.

Called her in again, and although she was happy to come in to the midline, she wasn’t keen to stop with me - focus was definitely out to the other side. Great . Stood in position, held her collar and with just a step forward and ‘Runder’ out she went. Again, not far enough and she circled round and back to me, but another step and pointing my arm out where I wanted her to go, and Mist ran out again without hesitation and found Nina. Yes!

Once more to Ritva - this time with no cue at all. And Mist ran out just the same . Next time out to Nina, and she stopped about 15m out to sniff. I wondered if it would have distracted her too much, but after a couple of seconds she continued out as if nothing had happened. She disappeared into the thicker forest, and it was a while before we heard from Nina over the radio that she was there. Afterwards, Nina said Mist had had to work really hard to find her… and had been right out by the fence. So my plan to get her at least 60/70m out, worked Nina started to bring Mist in to the midline, playing as she walked in, but realising she was on the way back, Mist ran in ahead… I called her and she came sprinting towards me, but when she was a couple of metres away, she veered off to the right and ran out along the path (where I had planned to send her) to look for the next person. Great ‘passering’ (running over the midline via handler to continue the next loop) Mist!! There’s no doubting her desire to find people!!

Once she’d found Ritva, we finished there. I was very pleased with the morning’s training and chose not to have another rundering session in the afternoon (I was a bit tired after we were all finished in the ‘morning’ session, which finished at 2!).

After lunch, before leaving (there were still enough in the group to manage without me, and I was given special permission to leave early ), I asked Kåre to help me for 10minutes with Mist’s indication training. We took Mist into the open forest behind the buildings, away from both rundering areas. I explained to Kåre how I wanted him to get Mist to bark by standing with her toy hidden behind him and saying ‘Hals!’, and the ‘criteria’ for rewarding her (i.e. at least one good bark the first time, then more than one in subsequent goes…. no jumping up at him). He said ‘Hals!’ and she barked, properly, 3 times (along with her trademark stamping of both her front feet ). We did this a few times, and I was pleased to see that her barking wasn’t at all hesitant. She also didn’t jump on him and kept her stamping/jumping to 1-2metres distance.

We had a short break, and then I tried holding Mist while Kåre moved away a few metres, then let her go to him. The first time she jumped up at him, but then stood and barked/stamped as ‘normal’ - Excellent! We increased the distance a couple of times, and these times she ran to him, stopped a metre or two short, and barked. On the last go, Kåre stood about 15m away, just behind a tree. Mist sat by my side clearly itching to go, but I was super-pleased that she waited without being held, until I said Ok. Then off she ran, a little past the tree (she had seen him disappear but hadn’t seen exactly where he was) and back, stopped, barked and got her tug-toy.

I was really pleased with her progress - especially given her barking was on Wednesday was a little hesitant (although quite likely due to the fact it was evening time and dark, even though we were in a lit carpark). There was no hesitation today, and it was a bonus that she didn’t jump up at Kåre when she ran to him. I must remember to ask ‘bodies’ to throw her toy over her head (to encourage her further to move back rather than towards the ‘body’) when I use a tennis ball as a reward…. it’s a bit tricky with a tugtoy, though. I need to also think about how I will train indication and the rundering pattern/structure in parallel, and how/when eventually to bring them together. Hopefully, presumably (?), she will learn to distinguish between ‘bodies’ she has to bark at (indication training) and those she doesn’t (rundering pattern training), by whether they respond when she gets there. It will be interesting to see how she reacts to ‘bodies’ she finds when training pure rundering pattern, once her indication training has come further….. watch this space!

Posted: Indication / Melding, Rundering

Tracking & indication training - Sviland0

Tracking
Wednesday 24th October
Dry, cold, little wind
Trail-layer - Tove
Waiting time - 30min+
Length - 80-100m
End - biteleather
Terrain - gravel (Sviland)

Tove laid out two shortish trails for us, one from the main track by the stream and onto the large gravel area where we used to train obedience occasionally. The other along the gravel track past the tarmac ’square’ area.

Tove and Linda came with me when I took Mist down - I wanted to know exactly where the trail went, but it was difficult in the dark, on gravel, with few features to refer to. I’d asked for some turns, but think in hindsight I should have made it clear that they should be 90degrees and have at least 20-30metres between them, since some of the zigzagging was only the width of the gravel track and it was very difficult to know if Mist had really picked up on the turn, or whether she’d just accidentally found the trail again.

It’s been a while since we have trained tracking, so I wasn’t expecting too much - but I didn’t want to go in the forest since, in the dark, I’m now finding it a bit more difficult to keep my footing and I wanted to be able to concentrate on Mist, not me!

The first trail I put Mist straight onto (no searching for the beginning), but although she put her nose to the ground she didn’t seem to be overly certain of what we were doing there . After a few metres she was well off, and sniffing round in the grass at the side, and pulling towards the stream. Doh! My mistake…. should have let her go to the toilet and have a drink before we started . Back to the trail and she seemed to be on track again. I wasn’t convinced she took the turns properly, but fortunately she was clearly tracking properly for at least the last 20m or so. It’s not so important if she doesn’t ‘get it’ from the first step, but I don’t want her stumbling across the toy at the end and being rewarded without actually tracking.

The second one went slightly better, but I still find it difficult to ‘read’ Mist when she’s not 100% certain of the trail. Overall she was heading in the right direction and was on track when she found the end. However, it was certainly not the careful, constant nose-to-ground I’ve seen her do before. She was clearly a little uncertain about the fact it was dark, and reacted when she heard ‘bodies’ in the forest rewarding the rundering dogs. Still, distraction training is all part of her training…

Indication
A little later, once Tone and Svein Magnus came back from Tone/Isi’s tracking training in the arboret, I borrowed Tone to be a ‘body’ for Mist to try some indication training - barking . Nina came too, as she’s considering using barking for indication with Bina too. I have started with a ‘bark’ command at home - in the house it’s great. Outdoors she’s not as confident but it’s coming. There are many people who say I should teach a good bark command first before getting others to try. But I’ve also read of people who only train their dogs to bark at others, and I have to admit this appeals to me….. I don’t want her barking at me all the time, when I’m trying to train other things and am standing facing her waiting for her to offer some behaviour, yet it will always be ‘correct’ to bark at a ‘body’.

We drove over to the arboret carpark where there are lights - didn’t want to do this initial training in the dark, and it was good to be away from the distraction of the noises from the rundering area. Mist was a little suspicious of the parking payment machine amongst other things, so Tone suggested to let her have a walk around the carpark first to check things out - good idea . Then Tone showed Mist her toy (rag-on-rope) and stood in front of her and told her to ‘Hals!’ (bark). Mist actually thinks Hals! means jump around, stamping your front feet on the ground at the same time as barking (which is quite amusing ). Which is fine with me, as long as she doesn’t jump on the person…. and so far, she’s been very good at keeping a distance of 1-2metres. After a while she got her confidence up and offered a woof…and got rewarded. Tone managed to increase this to 2-3 barks before rewarding, and then we had a short break before Nina had a go. Mist’s barks weren’t full-on proper barks, but it’s coming. So after a couple of goes with Nina, I put her in the car for a rest.

After a few minutes in the car, I checked on her to see if she looked ready for more (or whether she was lying with her tongue sticking out which means she’s really tired ), and she was sitting up, alert, still looking out at us chatting. So out she came, and Tone asked her to ‘Hals’ again. This time, 3 proper barks in a row - so she got her rag-on-rope, which she sprinted round with, shaking madly to ‘kill’ it and we called it a day.

Forward plan -
Tracking - I’ll try to do some tracking training after work in the industrial area where there’s lots of gravel areas - perhaps a number of short trails to increase her motivation and to improve on the starting few metres. I hope to also start (from scratch, with treats) with tracking on tarmac, in the same area. It’s something I’ll be able to do when incapacitated (by pregnancy and/or baby!) since, to begin with at least, there’s little no no waiting time.
Indication - more of the same. Use standing ‘bodies’, use ‘Hals!’ to get her to bark and gradually reduce the cue. Try this in different locations and move it into the forest as soon as practical (I don’t really want to encourage barking at everyone she meets!).

Posted: Indication / Melding, Tracking / Spor

Rundering - Sviland0

Today Mist had her first go on the ‘grown-ups’ rundering route. Instead of working in the open forest over the stream, we used the gravel road straight ahead from the parking place. I wanted to start getting her used to running out 50m in more difficult terrain. And it was clearly much more difficult! We started with a ‘body’ on each side, out at 50m, and I’d asked for a small sound cue. First, Kristin on the RHS near ‘the rock’ (Mist hasn’t learnt yet to always check behind it, like most of the other dogs know to do, but she’ll learn for sure ). A couple of claps, and Mist was ready….. she ran nice and straight out, had to search a little for Kristin, but then when she saw her lying down near the other gravel road, was for some reason spooked I saw her standing still and waited to see whether she’d be brave enough to go and check it out. There was very little wind, so presumably she had seen Kristin without getting any scent (which would have overcome any uncertainty for sure). When Mist started woofing and growling a little, Kristin spoke to her, and her body language changed immediately! I could see it from the mid-line! Whole body wagging, and now certain what she’d found was human (!), she sprinted over to greet Kristin

On the other side, Johannes hid in the open forest, but Mist had to pass through thick-ish saplings first, then cross the stream. Cant remember if it was this time or the next that she came back and I had to send her again (with another sound cue), but she eventually found a way over the stream and found Johannes.

From the ‘body’s’ viewpoint…
* NOT FOUND *

I’d given the ‘bodies’ 2 tennis or rubber balls each as Mist’s reward. Since Mist was tiny I’ve used two each time to encourage her to bring one back, but now more and more I see that she drops the one she has further and further away since she knows I have another. So, on the second go Kristin tried with just one, and it worked much better… Mist brought it right back. It also halves the amount of toys I (and the ‘bodies’) need to carry around.

We had 7 goes in total during the morning session. Of them, I had to resend Mist 3 times (I think - memory not functioning 100% just now ), but for now I’m not worried about this as it was not that she wasn’t searching, just that she hadn’t realised how far she needed to go out. Hopefully a few more sessions in this type of mixed forest terrain with obstacles like fallen trees, bogs and streams will teach her what 50metres is. After the first 2 goes, I didn’t go out to collect her but got the ‘body’ to let me know when they were finished playing, and I called her in to the midline. I have mixed feelings about this and want to monitor it carefully. As long as she stays focused on the ‘body’ and is keen to play, it’s fine, but I don’t want her to run out, find someone and after a couple of throws of the ball, come in to me because she’s expecting me to call. I want the reward to still be exciting when the ‘body’ chooses to end it and hold her ready to run in again. Just need to make sure I keep asking for feedback to make sure of this.

In the afternoon, we did the same again. The morning session had clearly been tiring, as Mist stretched lots when she got out of the car, and was not quite so bouncy, but as soon as she knew there were people ‘out there’, she was on top form again! Again, a couple of goes she needed an extra sound cue and re-send, but she was less put off by having to cross the stream and still came running in to me when I called. It was also good to see her interest in the person/people on the midline reducing….. I would prefer her attention is on me on the midline, and otherwise only on the ‘bodies’, so I tend to ask anyone else on the midline to ignore her (unless of course she seems spooked by them for some reason, then it’s great to let her greet them and find out that it’s all ok) - otherwise, she doesn’t need any more encouragement to be sociable in my view It was nice to see her looking out from the midline in expectation - definitely starting to ‘get it’.

Posted: Rundering

Tur-O at Giljastølen1

Made the most of a beautiful day on Sunday and while we (I) are still able, decided to go for a walk at Giljastølen, and collect a few Tur-O points on the way

Mist had a whale of a time - she was able to be offlead almost all the time. There were sheep by the road at the start, and we came across one small group of sheep up on the tops, but otherwise the hills were all ours.

2 1/2 hours gave me 150points for the NRH Tur-O competition!! The Ålgård pack is definitely the one to get - and I’d only done one course from it so far. Must try to find time to go to Brusaknuten before the posts are taken in….

A beautiful day!
* NOT FOUND *

One man and his dog…
* NOT FOUND *

Still plenty of energy left…
* NOT FOUND *

Posted: Orienteering / Orientering

A visit to SARDA Lakes (Keswick) training4

We’ve been away for a week in the UK, visiting family (both sides) and Mist has been on her holidays with Synnøve and then Marie&Sisco. While in Keswick visiting Jon’s family, I grabbed the chance to join the Keswick/Cockermouth MRT (mountain rescue team) SARDA training.

We met at Whinlatter visitor centre at 6.30 and it was just getting dark. Fortunately I’d remembered to take a headtorch (no mean feat at the moment - while pregnancy isn’t having too severe effects physically still, it is taking its toll on the functioning of my brain it seems and I forget all sorts of things on a daily basis ).

The ‘bodies’ were sent to hide near the path in various locations on a pre-determined loop in the forest, then the handlers took their dogs in turn and followed the loop. On dark evenings they tend to concentrate on indication training - all the dogs indicate by barking at the ‘body’, then return to the handler and bark, then back to the ‘body’ and so on, until the handler gets to the ‘body’ and the dog is rewarded with a toy. It was lovely to see just how enthusiastic the dogs were to get started and especially in their indication - there is no requirement that the dog comes right in to the handler and sits, just that they come in close and bark. There was absolutely no mistaking when the dog had found the ‘body’, even when Jake didn’t bark at the ‘body’ first time (something handler Laura is working on).

I went round the training loop twice - once with Laura and Jake (trainee) then with Mick and Ginny and Mist (both graded). Mick has two graded dogs and worked them together - they tore off in seeming desperation to be first to find the body, and must have deafened the bodies with their alternating barking Mist has to be the smallest border collie I’ve ever seen, but she makes up for it with her speed and noise!

Afterwards, I was able to enjoy something very British - going to the pub after training My hot chocolate with cream + flake (thanks Mick ) was fantastic! And it was a great opportunity to pick the brains of the SARDA guys - in particular I was interested in their indication method, which I’m still considering using with Mist instead of the bringkobbel (special collar)…. We also debated the very structured and ‘obedience’-oriented methods used by NRH versus the SARDA training methods which are based very much more on wilderness searching of large areas, with heavy emphasis on rescue. No doubt a potentially endless debate, but it’s very interesting to consider the difference in recruiting (to be considered for training a dog SARDA, a potential handler has to have done at least a year with a Mountain Rescue Team), as well as the emphasis on air-scenting.

Three of the guys had been instructing at a NRH training event in Jotunheimen recently, specifically for their expertise in wilderness searching. Maybe something we could learn from in Dio06 too……

My Mist would have loved to be there - next year maybe, when she’s rabies vaccinated and if we ever get round to that long car tour in the UK…….

Posted: SAR / Ettersøkstrening

Rundering - Sviland0

It was busy at Sviland yesterday evening….. at least 12 of us! And with the nights drawing in, there was a bit of a rush on to get all 3 puppies + 1 newbie trained before it got dark, especially since we wouldn’t manage to get through them all in the ‘puppy-forest’! So, Nina and Beana (?) joined the ‘grown-ups’ and Ritva and Bjørn and I trained in the open forest over the stream (the puppy forest).

My plan had been to continue training ’straight out 50m’ but a combination of a lack of working radios (including mine :sad:, and then my spare) and newcomers to the group who aren’t as familiar with the forest, meant that only a couple of her run-outs were actually straight and a couple were a lot more than 50m. Still, much better too long than too short, and since it got completely dark during our turn, Mist got to run out in darkness. I was pleased to see that this didn’t bother her, and in fact she searched long and hard to find her ‘body’ on a couple of occasions when they were further away without returning to me, or being spooked by things in the dark . The only thing she spooked at all evening was, in fact, Paul on the midline wearing a headtorch - SCARY!

Next time I need to be absolutely sure that the ‘body’ is directly out from where I stand with Mist, so that she learns that my body direction shows her the right direction to run out.

Posted: Rundering

Mist - 6months0

A 6-months portrait. Not looking her most intelligent, but she was actually stuck on the rock, having climbed up to look for me
* NOT FOUND *
Not looking such a puppy now. She’s really beginning to look like her mum…
http://www.kewstock.dk/chase_litter_07.html

Posted: Miscellaneous / Diverse

Environment training - Postveien 86, Sandnes3

We’ve got access to a disused office (?) building in Sandnes at the moment (before it gets torn down I think), so 9 of us turned up yesterday evening for some ‘environment training’. Despite being late (had been drilling holes in the wall of Helgøs supermarket in Mariero, to fix a box to the wall to collect deposit receipts from the plastic bottle machines, for NRH of course!), it was Mist’s turn almost as soon as we arrived, since the puppies were to be allowed to train while it was still light.

The building is partly carpeted, partly lino-type flooring, with some office furniture in a few of the rooms, but many of the rooms were mostly empty. There must be 6-8 rooms downstairs, and another 6 or so upstairs. It was really interesting to watch a dog search round and round a room, looking up the walls/at the ceiling/under impossibly small pieces of cut carpet, despite it being (to a human!) perfectly obvious that the only place someone could be hiding was behind the door! The scent travels very differently inside a building, where there is no natural airflow, and it can travel up a wall, across the ceiling and descend at the other side of the room - no wonder the dogs find it difficult to locate the ‘bodies’.

Once off the lead, Mist raced into the house, and around the ground floor, straight past Aud hiding behind a big piece of wood (?) leaning against the wall…. her feet were clearly visible, but obviously didn’t smell enough Piles of carpet pieces, cardboard tubes that moved, and other rubbish were negotiated carefully, but she showed the same enthusiasm as at ResQ a couple of weeks ago - surely not the same dog that barks and runs away if someone puts a towel over the back of a chair in the kitchen at home The excitement of looking for people overcomes those ‘normal’ fears. After much zooming around, she found Kristin hiding in the toilet and was rewarded with her favourite toy - a piece of ripped cotton fabric tied on the end of a piece of rope! There’s nothing better than playing tug-of-war with this, and getting to ‘kill’ it!

Then off to find the next - straight past Aud again, and upstairs. We heard her running around up there, so followed her up. When I eventually caught up, she was waiting at the top of the stairs with a look on her face of “What took you so long ?” and off she rushed to check out the upstairs rooms again. She became very frustrated in a small room with lots of shelving/map cupboards and a sink. Kai-Erik told me that Krissi should be in there, but given where Mist had been I couldn’t see where Krissi could possibly be hiding. It turned out that Mist had been just inches away, but hadn’t realised there was someone there. After a lot of sniffing and huffing around, whining, jumping up to see if there was someone in the sink/on the table, sitting at my feet staring up with a “Where are they?” expression, she went back to the first place she’d been, furthest into the room (and darkest) and found Krissi at last. Yippee!

So then back downstairs to find Aud, still with her feet visible. It was clear that Mist knew there was someone nearby in the big room, but the scent was obviously not leading her directly to where Aud was lying. She spent ages sniffing around the walls at the main-door end of the room (where there was absolutely nothing to hide on/under/in!) before eventually practically stumbling across Aud’s boots, and almost jumping in surprise that there was a body attached to them

It was interesting to see the other, more experienced dogs, also experiencing difficulties and frustration in locating people, and how they ’solved’ it. Poor Clara was absolutely convinced there was someone behind a door in the main room downstairs, scratching at the walls and returning there over and over….. to the extent we started to wonder whether there really was someone/something? there…..

A fun evening! Sadly I think it will be the only NRH environment-training we’ll get to do this autumn, since it will clash with an antenatal class Jon + I will go to starting in a fortnight’s time, and I don’t think sending Jon on his own is all that acceptable

Posted: Socialising & Environment Training / Miljøtrening

Congratulations - Frode & Bandit!0

CONGRATULATIONS!

Frode & Bandit have passed their A tests and are now a fully qualified S&R dog/handler team. Well done both

Posted: Congratulations / Gratulerer

Rundering - Sviland0

Just 7 of us met at Sviland today…. there were A tests taking place at Vigreskogen so lots of people were there either as candidates, ‘bodies’ or assessors.
So, in the rundering group we were me, Hugo, Ritva, Bjørn and Johannes.

I wanted to continue training ’straight out 50m’ with sound cues only, and had decided I wanted to alternate sides from the mid-line to start to ‘brainwash’ the structured rundering pattern in Mist’s head (as opposed to how we did it last time, with the ‘body’ on the same side each time).

1. Morning - in the open forest over the stream. Started with the ‘body’ shouting and clapping the first couple of goes, then reducing the sound cue to just a clap or two, or a single shout. To avoid Mist associating the sound of someone on the midline talking in their radio with there being someone ‘out there’ I asked for a pause between the request for a sound and the ‘body’ actually shouting/clapping. All 7 goes went very well - she ran out the full 50m without hesitation each time. I had asked the ‘bodies’ to try out treats as well as play as her reward - to find out both how interested she was in treats, and whether she would take the treats or choose to jump and climb all over the ‘body’ instead I also wanted to know how gentle she was taking food from new people, and in an excited situation. As expected, play is a much higher value reward, but it was good to hear that she was gentle taking the food, and didn’t jump all over the ‘body’ (apart from once when Bjørn and Ritva hid together at the end of the afternoon session - sorry Bjørn )

2 - Afternoon. Set out the same exercise with (mostly) slightly quieter sound cues - 7 ‘bodies’, the last time 2 together. Some times I didn’t hear the cue myself, but it was very clear that Mist had heard. If I didn’t let her go immediately, she looked up at me asking for permission . For two goes, I took her away from the starting position, walked in a small loop and then back to the starting position and sent her - the start of removing sound cues, by leaving a time gap between the dog hearing the cue and actually getting to run out. It didn’t make any difference (apart from frustration ), and she ran right out without hesitation each time. So, I can increase this gradually. After the first 3 goes, some mushroom pickers turned up in the forest. I asked for a louder sound cue from Bjørn and, despite the distraction of other people in the forest, Mist ran straight out to Bjørn - very pleased with that On the next go, I chose to not send her, as the mushroom picking couple were on a direct line to the ‘body’. The last thing a pup needs is to run out to someone in the forest and be, potentially, screamed at! It was good to see that, after getting the sound cue from the other side, she didn’t look back at the mushroom pickers, but ran out in the right direction.

All in all I was extremely pleased - looking back through this ‘diary’ we’ve not actually trained an awful lot specifically for rundering….. 6 times in 3months or so. And in those 6 goes we’ve gone from full visual cue (someone running out and hiding behind a tree) to very little sound cue…. good girl Mist

Posted: Rundering