Spirit at the Dave Kroyer Seminar Sunday, 9/18/22
See An Illustrated Explanation of Nosework for Those Unfamiliar with It
Learn more at www.davekroyer.com (including a thirteen-video “Super Snout series showing his method) and on @davekroyerdogs.
This seminar focused on efficient searching, accurate indications and reading the dog’s indication (whatever that indication may be). In Dave’s method, the indication is a sit or down – or reaching up on high hides to get as close as possible – and staring at the hide until released by a clicker or spoken “yes,” at which time the dog goes away from the hide to the owner to receive its reward. All of us in Sheridan use that indication but some seminar participants don’t.
Sunday, 9/18/22: Sunday was for dogs actively competing in all four elements (exteriors, interiors, vehicles & containers). In the morning we worked vehicles at Craftco Metal’s storage yard; in the afternoon we worked containers in Sue’s arena
Sheila, a professional photographer as well as seminar participant, took photos except when she was walking or working her dog. Katina who has Kaiser (a Cantor/Lovely son from the RR litter), also took a few of me working Spirit, if she had worked Kaiser already. (So that we had blind searches, we couldn’t watch until we had run our dogs).
Also participating was Ursa (a Cantor/Mercy son from my UU litter). See the main seminar page for their photos.
Novice Vehicle classes involve three passenger vehicles, lined up facing the same direction. Teams search only the front bumpers for only 1 hide (birch), with no distractions. Advanced Vehicle classes also include 3 vehicles facing the same direction. Teams search all areas of the three vehicles for only 1 hide (anise) and must ignore a toy distraction. The other classes use up to 6 vehicles of any type, scattered and facing any direction, and have up to 4 hides and 1 or 2 distractions. As usual, Dave sets up harder exercises that we will encounter in a trial. Different dogs do different searches according to their ability and Dave is always there to show both human and dog how to work out anything they struggle with. A lot of the photos show a series of his helping a team. He set up a Novice/Advanced search of 3 passenger vehicles, plus another search of 5 vehicles. Then he set up a BIG search involving 2 passenger cars and 4 big Craftco trucks – and a lot of detailing to find both high and low hides. Some of the teams struggled, but Spirit did great because I work high, medium and low hides, and we practice detailing, every time I train.
Superior Vehicles Search For this search, Dave had 5 passenger vehicles and two hides (and probably a distraction).
Spirit on Superior Vehicle Search
Master/Elite Vehicle Search Dave moved the two vehicles which didn’t have a hide on them and used them for the beginning of the BIG search. They didn’t have a hide this time either. Dave also utilized four big trucks and set up the search as an exercise in detailing (which we had worked on the previous day). The handlers needed to help the dogs search high as well as low so this was pretty intense searching. Dave had some dogs do fewer vehicles depending on their age and experience. On the first truck, #206, Dave put 3 hides. I put the photos of the search for the first hide on one page, and the photos of the 2nd & 3rd hides on another. The second truck, #201, had 2 hides. On the third truck, #203, the dogs had to climb up on the back to find the hide. We had a ball with that one! On the fourth truck, #204, there was only one hide and it was low – an easy end to an intense search exercise.
Spirit on Master/Elite Vehicle Search
See all the vehicle search photos:
to the Novice & Superior Vehicle Searches (page 1)
to the first part of the Elite Vehicles Search (2 cars, page 2)
to the 2nd part of the Elite Vehicles Search (first truck – #206 – 1st hide, page 3)
to the 3rd part of the Elite Vehicles Search (first truck – #206 – 2nd & 3rd hides, page 4)
to the 4th part of the Elite Vehicles Search (second truck – #201, page 5)
to the 5th part of the Elite Vehicles Search (third truck – #203, page 6)
to the 6th part of the Elite Vehicles Search (fourth truck – #204, page 7)
After lunch we were ready to tackle containers. The first exercise was a single row of containers. Second exercise was several rows of containers and pipes. The third exercise consisted of the containers arranged in circles.
Spirit on Container Search – single row
Spirit on Container Search – multiple rows
Spirit on Container Search – in circles
See all the Container Search photos:
to the container search in single lines (page 8)
to the container search in multiple lines (page 9)
to the container search in circles (page 10)
See Spirit’s Saturday seminar photos
See Hopeful’s Sunday seminar photos
See the main seminar page and all the other dogs