# Whoops. I broke our articles.



## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

So, Quiz has been a hot mess on articles the few times we've managed to sneak in some training the past week or so. I mean a hot, steamy mess .... looking like a dog who had no clue what he was doing, so he just went into retrieve mode ... every time. 

I finally realized ... I started taking a combo of five vitamins/supplements to build my immune system and boost my energy so I can get through my now insanely busy schedule of working + grad school + still trying to train and show my dog. Doing so has changed my body chemistry, which is no doubt having an effect on my scent. :doh:

Gahhhhhh!

And of course, we're entered this weekend. :doh:

So, this morning I went back to kindergarten on articles and I'll see how much progress I can make in the next two days and use the show more like a match.

I'm going to have so little time to train and show now that I'm in school, I'm bummed to have accidentally created this, even though I really had no choice ... I'd not make it through the days/week w/o better supplementation.

Oh well. Like I always say ... if we fail, he'll still look wicked cute doing it!


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Been there, done that! My dogs cannot do articles correctly if I've been on Mucinex. And unfortunately, sometimes that's the only medicine that works for me. Since it's not something I'm on all the time on a daily basis, I always make the choice of either training articles or taking the medicine. It should be easier for you if you plan on staying on the supplements.


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

Oh crap! I never thought about that!!! I am scheduled to be spayed (soon I hope) and will surely be placed on some kind of hormone therapy, which undoubtledly throw off my smell. Yikes, maybe I should not plan on progressing any further with our articles until it's all said and done.

Hopefully Quiz will figure it out in time for the show. And yes, he is a cutie for sure!


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Quiz will always be wicked cute no matter what he does!


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## Angelina (Aug 11, 2011)

OK, Gotta ask...what are you all talking about??!!!?


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

The utility exercise of scent discrimination. Your dog finds an article with your scent out of a pile of articles with someone elses scent on it.

Oh, and the fact that Quizzler is a super cute pup!


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## Angelina (Aug 11, 2011)

Ok, thanks...I should have guessed! Sounds like fun! I've done a little scent training with my Cannella but not that advanced. She did show me this morning she can find her ball flung high up the hill in pitch darkness...she must be using her nose for that one! Very cool and now back to your scheduled conversation.....

And yes, I love the pictures off all your pups!


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

I'm pleased to report that our article rehab is going well. I squeeze in two sessions last night where it was a smaller pile and we were sitting right in front of it (to take the speed and feeling of distance retrieve out) and I clicked for nose-over-the-right-one for probably 10 trials.

By this morning, we're back to a full trial-size pile at distance and we're getting good success.

Phew! My dog still knows what I smell like! ;-)


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I've always been told that the dog is supposed to look for the "hot" (most recent) scent, so it doesn't really matter if your scent changes a bit. I tend to believe that's true, because if a dog really understands articles anyone can do them with the dog, not just you. I"ve had others do articles with Tito (my set) and he's fine with it. I have friends who ask other people to take their dogs in the utility ring, at the last minute, and the dogs are okay with it.
Trust Quiz. He knows what to do. He'll be fine!


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I think it depends on how you train your dog. I don't think the time between when the steward's scent the other articles and you scent your own articles is enough time seperation for the dog to find "most recent" So in your exaples, the dog is probably finding the most heavily scented article, not the one done most recently. For those people who just very briefly touch the article, I don't think that theory would work at all, and the dog is truly going off simply their person's scent.


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

Yes, but usually you scent the articles much heavier than the steward does. 

**By the way, I found notes on the Around the Clock method and created my own visual placement notes in Power Point if anyone is interested. Thanks to my friend Penny who Googled looking for the same thing and saw my GRF thread! Small world!


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

It depends, I find a lot of people in tracking tend to just very briefly touch the article and that is all the scent they use.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I"ve never done tracking....but typically here, the steward just grabs the bar of the article when laying them down. I scent medium heavy, not real heavy, but my scent will still be the most recent.
Even if my scent is way off that day, it will still be the only one that is different, so maybe he is looking for the one that is different from the others. That would explain why anyone else can do articles with him, too.
They are amazing with their capability to use their noses!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

just thinking out loud here...I've used the same set of articles twice in a day, just threw the "used" one back in the bag, used a different number the second time around a couple hours later, and he had no problem with it.


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

Glad Quiz is back on track, but I am not surprised. 
I know the various meds I am on were an issue at times for Lucy when we were in pursuit of her UDX. There was a lot of adjusting and changing of meds and it definitely confused her. An old time exhibitor told me one way to help counteract this was to consume a good deal of sugar the morning of the trial. Not sure if it was that or she just worked out what my new scent was but she was no longer confused when I did this. And for me an increase in my sugar was simply add more sugar to my coffee and eat two glazed donuts for breakfast. 
I understand the "hot" scent premise but if the dog does not recognize and of the scents I think it is an issue. The "hot" scent theory in my mind is that the can tell the difference between my scent for 5 minutes ago vs. that of 12 hours ago. When I go away for a multi day trial I usually take just one set of articles (unless there is two trials in the same day.) They all get tossed in together and are good to go for the next day.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Conner will pick out yesterday's article if it is in the pile. I'm sure it wouldn't be that big of a deal to teach him otherwise, but since articles are all about confidence, I don't feel like it's worth it to change his ideas if all it takes is having some extra articles.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I think Hank has a good point, maybe it depends on the dog's level of competence with the articles. For a dog just starting out, perhaps they need to identify "your" scent because that's what they've been trained to identify. As they get more secure and confident, they can tell your scent from 5 minutes ago versus from 12 hours ago. Makes sense to me, pardon the pun.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

I haven't shown yet in Utility but I've kind of like the thought that you just touch them and put them down. No vigorous rubbing or anything like that. I've heard if you overscent the article when you put it down the scent can fall on the other articles and mess up the dog--or something like that. I am probably not explaining it that well, but Scout has little if any trouble with articles so far.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

You're right, Lisa, if you overscent the articles and the steward puts them real close together supposedly the scent will drift onto the other articles and make it harder on the dog. For that reason most people only scent the bar, not the ends of the articles. 
That said, I've seen some excellent OTCH handlers scent the articles like crazy, scent the ends, barely touch them, and all variations in between.


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## wakemup (Feb 6, 2011)

This is an interesting thread. With my dogs I have found that I need to scent the correct article LESS heavily once the dog is more seasoned. Griff as a new Utility Dog needed me to build a small fire with the article, but later needed it to be much less. In fact I had to be careful NOT to make the scent too hot as he got older, or he grabbed the closest article to the correct one. Same thing with River and Tate. All three of them were quite capable, as experienced dogs, of working articles for someone other than me. I believe I must be teaching my dogs to take the "hottest" scent. Danger still needs the correct article to be pretty heavily scented, and sometimes I also have to wear my lucky socks and OTCH necklace. Now I think I will also have donuts the morning of the trial as well. Couldn't hurt.


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## Casey and Samson's Mom (Sep 24, 2011)

Dogs are so different with their sensitivity to the scent on the articles. you really have to experiment a bit with your own dog. I discovered that Casey was having trouble because I was scenting way too much. I now count...4 rubs for leather and wood, 6 for metal. He has no trouble at all now. When it is cold you need to scent more on metal.


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