Unicorns, Gremlins and Trolls, Oh My

Having made it past the mid-point of winter, it’s that time when dreams of spring seem to be within reach of reality. So why not take a trip with Logan and see what the future looks like in the area of nose work. A K9 nose work Spring Training, if you will, minus the balmy temperatures of the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues.

With two legs toward our NW3 elite earned, competing at the Elite Division level seems a little closer. I say “seems” because who knows if and when we’ll get that third and final NW3 title. Meanwhile, it was fun to get out in a trial like setting and shake off some winter rust.

Organized by Anne Steciw, it featured Gail McCarthy and K9 Nose Work co-founder Jill Marie O’Brien as the judges. Given that this Elite style mock trial was the day before Leap Day, there was a mystical creature theme with all the search areas being named for fairies, unicorns, gremlins, mermaids and trolls. Perhaps an odd direction given this was at a National Guard armory, but it was fun nonetheless.

Overall, Logan did well. We started with the largest of the five search areas, which was the Gremlin search area. It was a large paved area on one side of the main building and did not feature those “classic” AMC Gremlin cars, but military trucks instead. Hides could be anywhere, not just on a vehicle. Teams had six minutes to find 5 hides. Logan found three.

The next area was the Unicorn search, which was an area inside a large gymnasium/multi-function hall type space. There were several long lunch tables in the area, along with some miscellaneous boxes, suitcases and chairs. The parameters: 0-3 hides and 4 minutes. It took Logan about 1:20 to find the first hide. He continued searching but when it was all done, to my surprise, there was just the one hide. Yes, the mind game that K9 Nose Work can inflict on a handler is not for the faint of heart. Actually, this “mind game” is usually more self inflicted than anything else.

We moved on to the Troll search. This was in an exercise room and was 0-5 hides with a time limit of 3 minutes. It was my favorite search of the day because I love watching Logan work off leash, and he did a great job covering the entire room with very little guidance. Solid independent searching. When the 30-second warning was announced, I knew it was a clear room.

It was back outside for the Mermaid search. This was a container search that featured bowls of watch covered with plastic lids in which holes had been punched through. We were told there was “1 or more hides,” and we had 2 minutes. Once again Logan searched well, hitting each bowl and finding the one and only hide.

The “Fairies” search area proved the most challenging. It was an interior search made up of classroom, a small shower/locker room, and the hall way that joined them. Eight hides in five minutes.  I called two false alerts, which at this level doesn’t stop the search, but still no one likes to hear “no.” One of them was at the base of a locker room bench about a foot away from a floor drain. The hide was actually inside a locker about a foot and half on the other side of the bench. I’ve seen how floor drains can draw odor in during training, so I should have known better.

The other false alert was on a chair in the classroom. The hide was on the next chair. There was a high hide on a window sill that Logan looked at a couple of times but I missed the chance to call it. By the end we only found 2 of the 8 hides.

All in all, a fun day and some lessons learned on what to expect at the Elite level, if we make it there.