Finally the rain stopped, just in time for Carlin’s Detective searches at the Cascade English Cocker Spaniel Fanciers scent work trials held in Lacey, Washington, on March 22, 2021.
There were two Detective searches. The first one was really fun. But we failed, just like every other team. It was a toughie: The smallish interior space had six hides inside cabinets, up on shelves, under a lawn mower, etc. One of the outdoor hides was up in a tree; and other outside hides were in a water-filled planter pot, a very distracting dog house, and up in a faucet. We missed one of the interior hides (up under a step stool placed on top a cabinet in a corner) and one of the outdoor hides (the one in the planter pot).
The second search was equally fun, but this one we passed, along with four other teams. This one had seven hides: six inside and one outside. Two of them were at thresholds: one upon entering the search (marked “1” in red) and at the door to the outside (marked “2” in red). And one was high: up on top of some folding tables, stacked long-way up and down (marked “7” in red). At 8:35.07 minutes, Carlin and I earned a 3rd place.
As I often have to do, I called Carlin back as he blasted through the the start line. I needed him to check the threshold. Thresholds are a challenge for him, and I know that. So, he found that hide (#1 in red).
Then he zoomed down the ramp, straight into the #2 threshold hide. Bingo. #3 was under one of the trash can lids, and #4 was under the hand railing at the top of the other ramp. As we headed toward hide #5, he stopped and searched the vertically stacked tables, going up and down and up and down all the edges. He didn’t commit, though, so we moved on and found hide #5, which was in the middle of a stack of horizontally stacked tables.
Then we did a bit of wandering, looking at boxes in the far corner, circling some stacks of chairs, sniffing at some light switches on the wall. Nothing.
At that point, he went back to the vertically stacked tables and searched again, but still didn’t commit, so I suggested we go outside. Which we did, going through the second threshold again. This time he found a hide and indicated from the outside of the building, but I guessed it was the same hide as #2, so I told him “Yes! you found that one.”
Fortunately, a light breeze was blowing from the one outside hide (#6) right toward us. He found that one in short order. I had him search the rest of the area, just in case, including all the cracks in the asphalt. But he showed no interest.
So, then went back indoors to take another sniff at those vertical tables. Again, he searched up and down, jumping up and crouching down. At one point, he tried getting at it by jumping on some nearby stacked folding chairs, which promptly crashed down. He ignored those, though, and went back to the tables. Finally, in front of the tables, he sat and looked at me. He was telling me, “It’s here!”
But where exactly? That’s what I was worried about. What if the judge asked me “Where?” I’d have to point to a relatively small area of all those tables. But, I took a gamble, and said, “Alert.” The judge said, “Yes.” And then I paused for a micro-second before saying, “Finish.” And the judge said “Yes!” with a big sigh. Turns out she’d been worried, too, that I’d call alert on the crashing chairs instead of the tables.
And so we passed our first Detective search. Carlin and I have attempted four Detective searches, and this was our first pass. Since the pass rate is (I’ve been told different numbers by different judges) about 5-10%, I’m quite happy with our 1 for 4.
Now, since a dog needs 10 passes for the Detective title, all we need is 9 more!
The Cooper Project 