# Play paid off in the real world



## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

I have been playing hide and seek with random items with Deja; out of her sight I hide some random item outside with my scent on it without her smell or seeing me hiding it. Once outside I tell her "Search!" which is different from the retrieve command. Retrieve is "Find It!" and it is something she has seen me throw or hide. With "search" she doesn't/shouldn't have a clue what it is but just randomly search for anything that could be mine or hers.
So yesterday on the training field I lost a leather collar from my pocket. No clue where it could be. After class I told her "search" and she criss-crossed the area in a fast run and within a half a minute she found and retrieved it. I would have never looked in that area.
Hooray for her nose and drive!:smile2:


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## CeraDean (Jul 9, 2019)

Awesome story!


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

Excellent!


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## Springbrz (Aug 13, 2013)

That's awesome. Is she for hire because I lost my "going for a walk at night" flashlight between my house and somewhere in the field at the high school at the end of the street 2 nights ago. I loved that little light and I just put fresh batteries in it last week. *sigh*


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Springbrz said:


> That's awesome. Is she for hire because I lost my "going for a walk at night" flashlight between my house and somewhere in the field at the high school at the end of the street 2 nights ago. I loved that little light and I just put fresh batteries in it last week. *sigh*


Your scent might very well still be on it. Just take her back out there on a long line or off leash and see what she finds and just tell her your alternate 'find it' command as if she has known this forever. That's how I started Deja in play and for some reason she knew what I was talking about. Their nose is always exploring so you have to look for subtle signs twhen she finds something of interest. It cold be a rotten squirrel though :grin2:
In the past I took a young foster pup on the trails we use often (off leash). She was about 6 months old and showed up with a hound collar that one of the Whippets had lost a year earlier. Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. I guess because its scent stood out from the rest of the area.


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

A couple of years ago my husband dropped his keys in the snow on the way from the car to the house.We raked and scraped carefully next to his footprints and just couldn't locate them.The next morning Misty was sniffing around the yard,dug them out of the snow,and left them next to the hole.Little smarty pants.


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## banzai555 (Sep 2, 2019)

wolfy dog said:


> I have been playing hide and seek with random items with Deja; out of her sight I hide some random item outside with my scent on it without her smell or seeing me hiding it. Once outside I tell her "Search!" which is different from the retrieve command. Retrieve is "Find It!" and it is something she has seen me throw or hide. With "search" she doesn't/shouldn't have a clue what it is but just randomly search for anything that could be mine or hers.
> So yesterday on the training field I lost a leather collar from my pocket. No clue where it could be. After class I told her "search" and she criss-crossed the area in a fast run and within a half a minute she found and retrieved it. I would have never looked in that area.
> Hooray for her nose and drive!:smile2:


How do you teach these things??? I'd love for Willow to do stuff like this....she LOVES smelling but I don't know how good she is at it (she'll sniff and sniff for a piece of kibble that's a foot away)


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

banzai555 said:


> How do you teach these things??? I'd love for Willow to do stuff like this....she LOVES smelling but I don't know how good she is at it (she'll sniff and sniff for a piece of kibble that's a foot away)


I never did it in a structured way. One day I hid something interesting in an easy for her to find spot and told her "Search!" She never heard that one before but she did it and I celebrated her find. She often learns stuff this way, no clue how. I think she is part human.


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## readaboutdogs (Jul 8, 2001)

Great story!


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