Training March 8th, 2012

Komu searched for Cheeto in training at Mirror Lake Park (which has neither a lake nor a mirror, as far as I could see).  The weather conditions were warmer, drier, and calmer than optimal.

Temp: 57°F
Feels like: 57°F
Fair
Humidity: 41%
Wind: S 3 mph

Immediately after the search, I recorded my notes in a voice memo, so I wouldn't forget anything.  Komu has been training for over a month, now, and he is doing very well.  We trained at about 7:30.  Lots of stars were out.  The park was very dark, so we used flashlights.  Cheeto was hidden in the salal, about 4 feet off the trail.  Komu was very excited to be at training.  He knows he will be finding kitties when he sees Kat.  He became more excited when I put his harness on.  When I hooked the long leash onto his harness and asked him to search, he immediately started sniffing around the grass with his head low.  He worked most of the time with his nose right on the ground.  At times he made the "helicopter sound" like Griffin makes when he's got a good scent of something.  I redirected him to the right or the left, and he readily shifted his searching to the new areas I chose.  I led Komu north of Cheeto's location, to give him some time working and not find the cat too fast.  Komu took me through the brush on a small animal trail, which is a good sign that he is not reluctant to search in dense brush or brambles.  We passed by Cheeto once, about six feet away, and Komu did not catch the scent.  He worked the bushes south of Cheeto and then I led him back by Cheeto's area again.  The next time by, he caught Cheeto's scent from about six feet away.  You could see he caught the scent the way his head lifted up and then arced back down, right to Cheeto's crate.  I had gotten turned around and couldn't see Cheeto's dark carrier, so I didn't actually know how close we were until Komu pulled me right over to the carrier.  Cheeto clawed the screen, so Komu was excited but a little cautious.  He whined when he found Cheeto, and I praised him.  He started barking when he saw me bring out the cheese treats.  I offered him his rope toy to play with, but he wasn't interested.  I thought he did very well in less than optimal conditions.

For next time, we should remember to move Cheeto or the target cat to a new location after each dog finds him, so the next dog isn't cheating by following the scent of the previous dog.