# Passed Birch ORT



## Katsugsd (Jul 7, 2018)

Katsu passed her Odor Recognition Test (ORT) for Birch yesterday (Sunday). I'm so proud of her! 


I was pretty nervous since she started false alerting last week. We went in and she immediately found the box and alerted. I didn't call it and made her check the rest of the boxes first. She walked by them and went straight back to the same box, laid down and gave me this look like "I TOLD you, it's THIS one!" :grin2: 
Her search time was 25 seconds. Would have been 6 seconds if I had called it when she first alerted.


Now we can submit our entry for the NW1 in November (and hopefully get in)!


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## Beau's Mom (Nov 9, 2017)

Lol, good for her!


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## WIBackpacker (Jan 9, 2014)

Congratulations!


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## GypsyGhost (Dec 29, 2014)

Congrats!


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## sebrench (Dec 2, 2014)

Awesome job! Congratulations!


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## Katsugsd (Jul 7, 2018)

Thanks guys! I don't have any pictures from the trial, but here are two from the past 3 weeks of practice. :smile2:


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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

Congratulations!!!! Trials are hard to get into so plan ahead and with that is often a lottery system- so sign up as soon as you can! Very exciting!!!!


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Great job! Trusting our dogs, especially on a test (or mission) can be both the easiest and hardest thing to do... We know they know their job, but that fast, or when we think they didn't sniff everything... Lol.. I know I am the weakest link in our partnership, but my Doggies still love me and work well... Again, congrats!


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## Kairo's Dad (Jul 4, 2018)

That is so awesome! Congratulations!


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## Bramble (Oct 23, 2011)

Congratulations!


Be careful about allowing pawing at source. I volunteered at a trial in the spring and judges are not being as lenient about it anymore in the lower levels because once teams reach upper levels they are still doing it. It doesn't take much for a large breed dog to crush a container. It is easier to stop a bad habit early on in training vs. later on once it has become an established habit.


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

It'll happen over time, but yeah, learn to trust your dog...Congratulations!


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## Katsugsd (Jul 7, 2018)

Bramble said:


> Congratulations!
> 
> Be careful about allowing pawing at source. I volunteered at a trial in the spring and judges are not being as lenient about it anymore in the lower levels because once teams reach upper levels they are still doing it. It doesn't take much for a large breed dog to crush a container. It is easier to stop a bad habit early on in training vs. later on once it has become an established habit.



Interesting, though I can understand since a crushed container is a dead give away. Our trainer's newer dog trialed two weeks ago in AKC scent work and was DQ'd because he crushed the box. She did good at the trial and just laid next to it. 


The picture with her paw on it was actually a "distractor" (slim jim) container. Our trainer does the elite level and is adding distractors early for us to recognize the difference in behavior. I hope eventually she'll realise it's not the box I want her to pay attention to.



Hineni7 said:


> Great job! Trusting our dogs, especially on a test (or mission) can be both the easiest and hardest thing to do... We know they know their job, but that fast, or when we think they didn't sniff everything... Lol.. I know I am the weakest link in our partnership, but my Doggies still love me and work well... Again, congrats!



Thank you! I am, for sure, the weakest link between us. :grin2:
I need to get better at reading her. Barnhunt it was easier to read - she'd paw at it as her nose is pressed to the container, her body somewhat stiff with tail up. We'll get there!


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

I did nose work with Wolfy in the past. He was doing well and we both enjoyed it. Then I realized the flaws of nose work. People from the nose work group planted scents in dog friendly stores and took their dogs there for real-life practice. So, one time I came in one of these stores with Wolfy and it looked like he alerted by keeping his nose at a stack of bags with soil or fertilizer (forgot what) but how was I supposed to know if he was right? If he was right, how could he trust me after ignoring his good work?
I am curious what the track or IPO community thinks of nose work. I think it is a fun activity but I decided not to do it anymore in order not to confuse the heck out of my dogs.


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## Katsugsd (Jul 7, 2018)

Hmm, I've never thought of it that way. I figured if you didn't use the "search" command it shouldn't have an effect on the dog. I think I would treat it as I would for when she alerts on a hide she already found and tell her good girl, but call her off the hide.


I'm curious what other sport communities have to say as well. We've pretty much given up on the idea of IPO. It will be something to "dabble" in but never something I will push her to do. She seems to do "okay" at bitework and obedience, but she really shines using her nose. I'm sure she could be much better in IPO if I was a better handler or trained more seriously for it.


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## GypsyGhost (Dec 29, 2014)

wolfy dog said:


> I did nose work with Wolfy in the past. He was doing well and we both enjoyed it. Then I realized the flaws of nose work. People from the nose work group planted scents in dog friendly stores and took their dogs there for real-life practice. So, one time I came in one of these stores with Wolfy and it looked like he alerted by keeping his nose at a stack of bags with soil or fertilizer (forgot what) but how was I supposed to know if he was right? If he was right, how could he trust me after ignoring his good work?
> I am curious what the track or IPO community thinks of nose work. I think it is a fun activity but I decided not to do it anymore in order not to confuse the heck out of my dogs.


I don’t really know that it matters what the IPO or tracking communities think of nose work. But having at least dabbled in all of them, I can say that they are all very different. The training is different. The goals are different. Nose work is challenging in a way that people who don’t train in it will never realize, for both the dogs and handlers. IME training in one doesn’t confuse the training for the other. You will likely not have time for nose work if you are very invovled with IPO, though. I personally like nose work more than tracking. I find the training to be more interesting. I feel like you work more as a team with your dog in nose work as well. Nose work has taught me more about how to read a dog’s body language than other dog sports I’ve done. It’s also interesting to work in many different environments with your dog and see how they handle each one. The problems you can set up for your dog to solve are innumerable.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Katsugsd said:


> I figured if you didn't use the "search" command it shouldn't have an effect on the dog. I think I would treat it as I would for when she alerts on a hide she already found and tell her good girl, but call her off the hide.


To only do it on command seems like an option to avoid the confusion. Kinda like a K9 police dog not alerting on every metal object he finds? Would that be correct K9 officers out here? I wouldn't reward my dog though as I wouldn't know for sure if he was right. Just a 'Leave It' would probably be all I'd do.


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## GypsyGhost (Dec 29, 2014)

wolfy dog said:


> To only do it on command seems like an option to avoid the confusion. Kinda like a K9 police dog not alerting on every metal object he finds? Would that be correct K9 officers out here? I wouldn't reward my dog though as I wouldn't know for sure if he was right. Just a 'Leave It' would probably be all I'd do.


I can’t say my dogs would not find or alert to a hide in a store left by someone else, but they do know that they are not “on” unless they are commanded to search. Also, they wear harnesses to search, and never wear them when not searching, which I think is a huge cue to them as to what their role is at the time. So if they alerted when we were not actively working on nosework, I would ignore it. We have run into hides left at parks before. It hasn’t screwed up their training one bit. But I do have to say, most nosework people are fairly good about removing their hides once they are done working their dogs.


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