As some of you already know, I am so pleased to share that Pieka and I successfully completed the NW2 title yesterday! For those of you unfamiliar with the sport, NoseWork mimics detection work (explosives or narcotics) and was designed by former military working dog handlers.
We completed our NW1 title last fall. NW2 is a step up in difficulty, adding multiple hides, multiple search areas, larger areas, distractions and often shorter times. Pieka had been working VERY well in training for the last month. I have been working on increasing her motivation and confidence, while improving my leash handling. You should just see some of the things I use as a reward – tripe in small containers, cream cheese blended with tuna, anything that really makes her drool is fair game. It is not unusual for me to give her 20 small treats to reward for one find. Too many dog handlers (in all sports) are cheap!
All that motivation paid off. The trial conditions were brutal. It was 90 degrees by 11:00 am and very humid. I was worried about the weather. Pieka is not heat tolerant at all, with her long coat, and I knew there was a good chance that she would run out of energy before the day was done. We were crating in a large asphalt parking lot. I got one of the few shade trees by arriving early. I had quite the set up – a huge aluminet sheet over my EZ up, sheets to block the sun, etc. I refreshed Pieka’s swamp cooler coat every hour with cold water and kept two fans on her. Both of us got lots of water to drink – I took water and a mister bottle with me into each search. Parking in the middle of nowhere also kept her away from the other dogs, which helped to keep her calm and cool. A girl likes her privacy, you know? It all seemed to work. Pieka even managed to get some good naps in during the day.
Here were our searches and times:
Interiors – there were two rooms to search. The first room had one hide. We had 2 minutes, but we found the hide in 19 seconds (an awesome time). The second room had two hides. We had three minutes, but successfully completed the search in 1 minute, 25 seconds.
Vehicles – there were three cars with two hides, we found them both in 1 minute, 25 seconds.
Exteriors – there was only one hide (thankfully, as the area was in the direct sun and Pieka was getting really hot), which we found in 56 seconds. We walked off that search and both of us had to sit down in a hallway for a few minutes to cool down. A nice volunteer brought me a cold soda and said “I just watched your face go white and both you and your dog look beat.” Naturally, I had water with me for the dog but none for myself!
Containers – this is our hardest element. Thankfully, it wasn’t too bad. I think the judges took pity on all the exhausted dogs and handlers. There were 15 boxes and one hide. We found it in 36 seconds. One of the distraction boxes contained scallops and linguine (gross). Pieka gave it a second look but thankfully did not false indicate on that box! When we got the final “yes” from the judge, Pieka and I had a party in front of a crowd of people. Luckily, they joined in the cheering. 🙂
We had the 4th fastest overall time of the day. I am just so proud of my gorgeous girl – she worked very hard for me in tough conditions. We really can’t ask for more than that, can we?
We don’t have any pictures yet, but there was a (terrific) photographer there – I will certainly share with the blog when I get them. In the meantime, here are a couple of backyard shots:
Congratulations Jaime and Pieka! Excellent work!!
Congratulations to you and Pieka, Jaime. And good job on finding the ONLY shade tree!! Prime territory. 🙂
DuKe’s Ma, Terri
Congrats you guys!
THAT is NOT easy! You guys are awesome and Pieka is absolutely beautiful!!!!
You both put in a lot of hard work training for that title, and it certainly paid off. Congratulations!
Way to Go Jaime and Pieka.
You had a super set up for you and Pieka away from all the confusion and in the shade.
Sounds like Pieka gave it her all under tough weather conditions.
Congratulations on your new title. She is such a lovely girl. Will be looking forward to the pics of her working. It is tough tracking in the heat. I started tracking this summer w/Ziva since it is the only training we won’t get kicked out of for 3 weeks when she goes in heat. She really likes it.
Jaimie CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. I felt you had brought me along with you and Peika’s big event.
Very amazing results. Super fantastic performance from you both in those sweltering conditions. Heat and humidity just knock me out, can’t imagine how hard it is for double coated Long haired dog who average temperature is 101 degrees.
Now give yourself Peika a big reward…and don’t be cheap! 😉
That last sentence should say you AND Peika.
Do you like the swamp cooler coat?
I do like the swamp cooler. It is one of the coats that you soak in cold water, wring out, then put it on the dog. It works via evaporation. Accordingly, I don’t think it’s AS effective in high humidity without any air flow.
This weekend, I used it mostly while Pieka was crated in the car with fans on her. It worked really well with that arrangement. Her coat (fur coat) was cool to the touch under the swamp cooler. She panted – but had periods where she was closed mouthed breathing and she even took some good naps.
I did “refresh” the swamp cooler about every hour. With the fans, it was starting to dry by that time, so I could tell the water was evaporating quickly.
Congratulations!!! Hard work paid off beautifully, I can sympathize with you on the heat, I’m still peeling!
I read through the nosework you sent me. But Koda’s nose is either broken (Julie, I want my warranty darn it!). I mean, I have to freakin’ show the dude where the bacon is! How sad is that? — lol—
That is very very sad! Definitely not taking after his momma on this one.
Jaime how about sharing that nose work info with me?