I always have firmly believed that a lot of short and sweet searches will work for the benefit of the dog and the handler. Not only does it help when you are working on one particular "skill" but it keeps the dog's excitement level at a peak when it is a young dog, eager to learn, and eager to make the find. It is of course necessary to give plenty of "nose time" but in some cases a "short and sweet" fits the bill.

That was the case this morning. A photographer friend was here. I wanted to get some shots of active searching, with both my older newf and my young "hotshot". I set the hubby ot the photographer out behind a tree. The photographer busily snapped pictures as my older dog first, quite methodically and steadily, made her find and got her reward: a good old fashioned belly rub and a ton of praise. The photos of her lying on her back in the lap of the "victim" getting her belly rub should be priceless. But the youngster...ahhh...what a delight. She is of course still in the "tearing around" mode. But all I wanted was two things: (well, three, if you count that I wanted her to make the find!) I wanted her to ignore the baby bunny nest across the road, and I wanted her to make the refind, and bark at me, and take me back in.

She did all three....and especially the part about ignoring the bunny nest that she KNOWS is across the road. She went to that area immediately and was snuffling around in the alfalfa, and then all of a sudden the head went up and the tail wagged and she honed in on her victim. It was simply super. She came back right away ( I still have to call her back at this point) but when she got to me , she sat, and she BARKED, and then we went in together....

cheers cheers and more cheers...

see ya soon!