Humility can produce more happiness, positive emotions, and well-being because a person has a clearer understanding of the self.--Tiara Blain, MA
It’s almost summer. Mild weather. Great for travel. Our summer line up of trips actually started in the Spring. Keeping in mind visits to family and friends, with a sprinkling of trials throughout, I have been on the road, it seems, more than when I used to drive transit buses for Golden Gate Bridge. Winnie and I returned from California on our most recent trip, bringing home with me some conclusions.
I have decided that the Select level in the Elite Division is the greatest invention since Pizza crust stuffed with melty cheese. The satisfaction of having goals is undeniable, yet it is crucial to maintain humility. In nose work, the fact is we have very little control.
Practice and having fun make the half-day format of the ELT-S great for sniffer dog teams. The absence of titles and placement ribbons reduces the pressure we feel to be perfect. With fewer hides, the searches are challenging, but the puzzles are not as intimidating for the handler to read as their dogs work it out. I joke about it, but there is some truth that in a two or three-minute search, there isn’t time for me to get in Winnie’s way or make a bad handler decision.
Designed to fill the gap between NW3 and ELT Ch and to give NW3 dogs an opportunity to ‘practice’ for Elite, some who’ve achieved their ELT Ch and maybe even a Summit title might look at ELT-S as not the best use of their time and resources. Never fear, there will be another opportunity beginning this Fall; Elite Premier. Beginning in September, ELT-P will be an option that fills the need for Specialty level type trials at the Summit League level. These additions are a dream come true for a Puggle and her handler, which brings me to the humbling aspect of our most recent trial.
We have done well in the three ELT-S trials we’ve logged in. Feeling like I know what I am doing is intoxicating, albeit rare. I have learned to go into each trial, each search, with no preconceived ideas. I can tell when we do good and when we do not so good, but it doesn’t change how I feel in the end.
When I looked at videos of our most recent Summit trial, it filled me with trepidation. Knowing where the hides are in review and remembering what we missed, I find my present self yelling at my video self, “get her out of there. You’re wasting time and making her work too hard” and “take her back to the alcove where she never even had a chance to cross the odor path the first time through.”
Removing my emotions, I force myself to watch the videos and study them for Winnie’s body language, my body language, and how we interact. With a sense of satisfaction, I can acknowledge aspects that went well and be grateful to see not too many things I could have done differently. Quite by accident, I realized yet another way I can be a better advocate for my dog. It had nothing to do with us. Not a fault of the handler or the dog, but the circumstances.
Allow me to explain that last statement. In the search called C200 at the Sedona Summit trial, there were too many people crowding into the small rooms and blocking the doors when Team Winnie wanted to leave. Next time I will speak up and say MOVE, but I can't think about that in real time when I am most focused on my dog.
In the C200 Search, it was an unknown number of hides and we had four minutes. There was the hallway area in play and three classrooms off the hallway, one with two doorways in and out. The handlers were to open doors for yourself.
Off to a good start, Winnie chose a classroom after sniffing in the hallway area and we went in. She finds odor in 58 seconds of total time elapsed. She continues to clear the room and at 1:15; I see the first sign she is done when she heads to the door. With three people in the way she deflects to the right, snoots around. Then at 1:21, Winnie again makes a move towards the door, but dang! the people are in the way. She even looks at me, so I stay oriented between the door and Winnie, knowing I want to leave (subtle, I admit, but I remember my intentions).
At 1:33 I use MY body to PRESSURE the PEOPLE to MOVE and at 1:35 we exit. That cost us fifteen to twenty seconds.
At 1:53, we enter the classroom with two doors. It is small and we still have all these people to accompany us. At 2:04 Winnie is working the hide, but because of all the bodies in the way, the trial video service camera doesn’t see it. After sourcing the hide at 2:16, Winnie gives the room a once over and at 2:26 and again at 2:38, Winnie would have gone to the door in which she entered the room, but you guessed it, TOO MANY PEOPLE!
At 2:43 Winnie checks in and I am sidestepping to the other door, helping Winnie get out of the room.
At 3 minutes, I open the door to the last classroom, and Winnie goes to work. Her interest in the wall on the opposite side of the room from where the hide was is interesting. She keeps on working and becomes interested in the other side. We barely get over there when at 3:30, we get the thirty-second call. As a short dog, Winnie needs to get farther away from elevated hides to work her way back. She was working on odor around the tables and chairs, but she didn’t have enough data. We ran out of time. Winnie was still working when I called finish. Had we had more time, like the twenty to thirty seconds we lost because the people were twice blocking the doors, Winnie quite possibly could have finished the puzzle and sourced the hide.
Before I watched the videos from the Sedona Summit trial, I felt good about our experience. Winnie and I traveled to and competed in what is to date, my favorite trial since we got her second NW3 title. The ELT-S in Santa Rosa, CA hosted by Carrie Alongi and Marin Humane Society and COed by Laurel Scarioni.
Our third time in ELT-S was this Santa Rosa trial, and the two other ELT-S trials we have done made me feel like I know what I am doing again. We went into each search expecting only to have fun. We were not disappointed. By the end of the fourth search, I knew we had found all the hides. It was exhilarating to find 13 out of 13 hides, and nothing could take away from that accomplishment. It felt pretty good, and we came in as the second fastest of only two dogs to find all the hides. Winnie’s determination to avoid a one hundred percent score only makes me laugh.
Flying into the container search, Winnie lead with one goal, one thing on her mind; odor. Immediately zeroing in on one of the four containers with odor, with unbridled enthusiasm pumping from her paw, Winnie pounces and flips that container on its lid! Continuing the search, she expertly sources the three remaining hides and ignores the multitude of containers with Cheetos, dog toys, biscuits without even lifting a paw. But it was too late. Team Winnie earned a fault which brought us down to 99% and here’s the humbling part. It changed nothing. We still found all the hides that day, had no problem managing the short search time constraints, worked through some odor challenges, and did it Winnie’s way. It was a one hundred percent Team Winnie performance.
And here it is. Wait for it…. the kicker. The point of my story. It’s the experience, not the outcome or the results. Rather, it’s the sum of all the parts that makes this crazy sport so addictive. The camaraderie of training with people who are as nuts as me. Taking my dog on vacation everywhere I go. The recognition among our peers, regardless of how we do or where we place. It’s the way it feels during the search, before we know ‘how we did’. We are always having fun. It’s not until we see the results or the videos that the joy of having the experience gets eroded down. Stop giving away the joy.
As many times I say it to myself, “just have fun” is the same number of times I forget. And so, in conclusion, all I can say is thank goodness for all the support we get and we give.
To all my fellow sniffers, Thank You.
See you next time in the parking lot soon where we will laugh, cry, get mad, disappointed and then calm down. And above all, love, love, love our dogs, this sport, ourselves and each other.
I enjoyed reading this. Thanks for sharing. Alison