Here's the clips of Grafton's searches...
Clearly he was distracted by the intensity of the dog smell there. No big surprise, since we know he's environmentally sensitive. There's a difference I'm sure between casual passing dog smells and been-there-all-day smells. It seemed to work well to tap the wall and distract him from the sniff-fest.
Still distracted, but faster... We need to explore ways to get him to off the environmental sniffing and back to work. Kissy noises, thigh slaps (yours), gentle touch to him (stroke him on the hips)...
This one is faster still... He tends to stall when you aren't moving... we'll see a difference when you move in with him and keep moving.
I saw him come in the room and then go back where you were and then he just stopped and stood with you - trying to be a good boy. He is sensitive enough that he may always need supportive movement.
Again I see him standing and waiting for you to do something... its like he thought you were not ready. When you recued him... he dropped his nose right on it - so he already had to have known it was there. I'm pondering whether he takes that first cue seriously without you moving - maybe he thinks the cue is two part... verbal and your movement...
I don't think I'd move his butt manually - it was subtle and hard to see on the camera, but it looked to me like he wasn't "comfortable" with it. Not afraid or anxious... just kinda not understanding why/what. Instead move in a circle, keeping him on the outside to get him facing in. I don't think it affected his searching and he did well... its just something I generally see dogs not "liking", so I almost always recommend against it. BTW you moved in on your own this time and it seemed to work well... the tight spacing made it hard/impossible to keep moving though.
Watch him and you can see he's looking down at where the odor is before he even crossed the threshold. Nice job! Hardly worth pushing the record button for...
I'm curious what you were waiting for. You held him at the start line for about 25 seconds before giving him the cue. BTW I have to read the rules, but I don't think we can touch the environment in a trial - i.e. no tapping on the wall... Yes, we do it in training, but I think you'll need another strategy to redirect his attention. Still I'm not sure redirecting is the issue here... I think he was just stalling and waiting for you. We need to try some of the things I mentioned above and see how they work. I once watched a woman work with her dog and, while she totally over-managed her dog's searching, her way of directing him was to move her hand as if she was flinging some treats where she wanted him to check... So that's another option.
I'd swear he remembered where it was... or had caught a drift of it as you moved out the door to turn around for the start. He didn't wait for you to move in.
I'm sure he knew where this one was. He didn't even look at it before dropping his nose to it...
And now, the dreaded containers...
You are fortunate that he's not
as drawn by food distractions as Gimme and Tucker. He notices them, but doesn't fixate.
Most of the time when he's on distraction, his tail stops and then he starts to wag it on his own (as opposed to the way it moves when he's relaxed). But this isn't a constant. In this search, he wasn't really indicating the odor - since we knew where it was, it was clear when he knew where it was. But he's too willing to leave it... like what I said about Tucker... I think we have to find a way to make odor so valuable because of the reward he gets, that he's unwilling to leave it. This may take some experimentation. We might want to try/use some of the same things we talked about for recalls... making it a big exciting deal until he's wondering why you are so crazy and how to make it happen again.
Did you see how absolutely he ignored the blank bag? Not even wasting a second sniff in its direction. I do think the key for him (and probably for Tucker) is to keep them moving and not let them have the self-rewarding pleasure of sniffing distractions.
We can also play with treat delivery for both of these guys. For instance... for many dogs "getting a gobble" is more exciting than being handed a treat or multiple treats. I used to do a thing with Michael where, while I always had treats when we were practicing agility, when he did an especially good job... I'd say with great excitement, "WOO HOOOOOO!!!" and dash over to where I had the good stuff - a paperbag full of popcorn. It wasn't the popcorn that was important as I often had popcorn in the bag around my waist... it was the fact that he got to stick his head in the paper bag and gobble all he wanted.
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