Comments for

Comment on Letting Go by Jen

Jen — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:30:54 +0000

Thank you all for your very kind words of comfort and support. It’s been a rough day and a half. I know it’s going to take time for the sadness to mitigate and there will be a lot of ups and downs. I’m so very thankful we had 9 wonderful years with spunky, sometimes punky Kona. His beautiful spirit will always be us and that gives me some sense of peace.

Comment on Letting Go by annmckaybryson

annmckaybryson — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:43:05 +0000

I’m so sorry for your loss, Jen. I know you loved Kona very much and that you made each other really happy for a long time. My heart is with you.

Comment on Letting Go by Jenn Burkholder

Jenn Burkholder — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:43:53 +0000

That was a very nice tribute Jen. It looks as though you and Steve have some very memories.

Comment on Letting Go by Miss Peg

Miss Peg — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:01:35 +0000

It made me smile to look at these photos tonight, to see Kona in healthier days and get a sense of your lives together. I am so sorry for the pain of this loss.

Comment on Letting Go by Sue Emmons

Sue Emmons — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:07:50 +0000

My heart goes out to you guys!!! You are in my heart and in my thoughts!!!

Comment on Letting Go by Douglas Buchanan

Douglas Buchanan — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:43:48 +0000

Sorry about your cat. Loosing a pet/member of the family sucks!

Comment on Back In The Game by Ximena

Ximena — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:46:21 +0000

Yes, it definitely did! Thank you very much. I only asked because my dog has been taught to discriminate objects, directions and opposite behaviors. It would be so awesome if I trained Birch/Anise/Clove the same way, but seeing as the process is quite tedious, I’m glad any correct alert is a correct alert.

Thanks again!

Comment on Back In The Game by Jen

Jen — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:37:09 +0000

It is fun to watch him-he’s so serious about his “job”. We haven’t competed in anything yet. The sport is pretty new in Alaska but is really starting to take off. We had a mock trial last Summer, which was great practice. We’ve also had an official Odor Recognition Test (ORT) so that when we have our trial in May, it can be a real trial. We hope to some day travel down to the Lower 48 to do some trials.

I’d be happy to try and answer some of your questions but please understand I am no expert. :+) The National Association of Canine Scent Work is a great place to find a lot of good information: http://www.funnosework.com/. Nose work training starts out with the dog finding hidden treats. You then move on to pairing a treat with the scent, which in Nose Work I is the Birch scent. Once the dogs have the pairing down, you remove the treats and are now solely finding the Birch Scent. All the finds are hidden before the dog enters the room. It’s amazing how they know exactly what scent to look for.

Nose Work II is where you may start to introduce Anise. Anise is a much strong scent and I find Pongo hits on Anise pretty quickly. There may be a mixture of hides that are either Birch or Anise but they all count if the dog finds it. You will not have to tell the dog which scent to find. A find is a find whether it’s Birch or Anise or Clove (Nose Work III includes Clove. We haven’t introduced or worked Pongo on Clove). This sport is making sure that the dog is successful. Even if you/dog “alerts” in the wrong area, you always take the dog to the true hide and give them a treat.

I hope this answered some of your questions. :+)

Comment on Back In The Game by Ximena

Ximena — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:34:27 +0000

Pongo’s awesome at this game! I loved watching him work. I also noticed you’re into competition nosework and was wondering if you could answer a question for me: Are the dogs just supposed to recognize the odor upon given the Go Find cue (and trained to generalize the cue — environmental/among different odors, etc) or are they presented with the scented article and it’s then hidden for them to find/identify?

What if there are multiple odors and the dog is supposed to locate/identify only one of them? How do you tell him which one you want him to find?

Comment on Workin’ Out by Jen

Jen — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:42:38 +0000

He spends 75% of his time “on” the treadmill that way. I’m worried he’s going to bulk up in the shoulders so much that he ends up looking like Hector the dog from Looney Tunes!