Lexi, Search & Rescue Dog?
In my continuing quest to find something for Lexi to be passionate about, other than the couch, we attended our first "Air Scenting" class at the Lee Mannix Center for Canine Behavior yesterday. I wasn't really sure what the class was going to be like, but I knew that Lexi is good at sniffing out the kongs I hide for her in the house. It turns out that Lee is trying to build a Search and Rescue team and this is the first step. Lee & Shari are the teachers and we've worked with both of them before. First they tried to decide if they had any "short bus" dogs. I suppose someone could be offended by that but Lexi has definite "short bus" tendencies. Lee asked if we had reliable recalls. Lexi has repeatedly demonstrated that I am only more interesting than the mulch between us about 50% of the time, so I couldn't raise my hand for that one. Then he asked if our dogs wanted to be with us. Well...if Jeff isn't around and if I have food she wants to be with me. I was thinking at this point I should leave. It didn't help that Lexi was carrying on like an idiot at being tied to a tree and she got the dog next to her in trouble when he wouldn't shut up either. But Lee had us each demonstrate a recall, and Lexi went first to quiet her down. Amazingly enough, with the proper incentive (shredded chicken) Lexi ran right to me! Twice! So we stayed.
Next we did some exercises where someone held Lexi while I ran into the woods to hide and then she had to find me. She wasn't the star of the class, but she did find me every time! Sometimes it took an extra call from me to get her going in the right direction.
Finally we did some working in teams where we had to send our dog away to our partner who was sitting in a chair holding treats. Lexi really excels at going for the treats!
The 90 minute class flew by without Lexi shutting down like she did in agility. I don't know if she'll ever be good enough to actually search and rescue someone, but at least we didn't get thrown out of class! We'll go back next week.
Next we did some exercises where someone held Lexi while I ran into the woods to hide and then she had to find me. She wasn't the star of the class, but she did find me every time! Sometimes it took an extra call from me to get her going in the right direction.
Finally we did some working in teams where we had to send our dog away to our partner who was sitting in a chair holding treats. Lexi really excels at going for the treats!
The 90 minute class flew by without Lexi shutting down like she did in agility. I don't know if she'll ever be good enough to actually search and rescue someone, but at least we didn't get thrown out of class! We'll go back next week.