Meliora Drents

Allow me to set the scene:

The morning of this trial, we took the dogs for a walk and started the complete demolition of our kitchen. The dogs rested in their crates in the back of the house behind a closed door for the dust, but the noise was constant and disruptive.

Around noon I wiped off the dust and threw myself and Iris in the car. We grabbed a quick lunch and rolled up to the Obedience Club of San Diego County (OCSDC) Scentwork trial in El Cajon, where it was nearly 90 degrees. It was another “half size” trial to complement the HVOC Scentwork trial back in May, offering only the Interior and Buried elements.

I didn’t expect to be second in the run order – so we had only twenty minutes to check in, get settled, potty, acclimate, and do the warmup boxes before it was our turn to run.

First was Excellent Interior – three hides across two rooms, but we needed to clear the first room before moving on to the second, and the first room could contain either one or two hides. Iris found the first hide in the first room relatively easily. My search plan was to let her continue to search until she found a second hide, or I felt totally confident there was nothing else for her to find, or until I had ten seconds left, whichever came first. So she finds the first hide, and I give her our “keep searching” cue, “find another”.

She ends up showing some interest in the opposite corner of the room to the first hide – and what happens here is a super interesting behavior. She alerts by laying down, on a dog bowl. Now I knew the dog bowl was an intentional distraction – and the rules state a hide can never be placed on a distraction. So my brain quickly runs through this thought process; first wondering if she’s alerting on something nearby the bowl, but no, she’s right on top of the bowl and her sourcing is very accurate. So I realize – I had told her to find another. 98 times out of 100, when I ask her to find another, there IS another hide – but there was nothing else there – so she tried to give me SOMETHING, and alerted on the next highest value thing she could find – the food bowl. So I correctly call “finish” to clear the area.

The second room was a LARGE children’s play area, with two hides that Iris found in less than a minute. I was concerned about the size and complexity of the area, but she covered it efficiently and effectively. Out of 21 dogs competing in Excellent Interior, only 9 got qualifying scores, and Iris was 5th best time.

Then we immediately moved on to Excellent Buried, a u-formation of 12 sand or water-filled buckets. Iris checked each systematically, and alerted swiftly, knocking out all three hides in less than 30 seconds – placing her FIRST out of the 5 dogs who qualified from the 19 who ran.

This trial did not formally offer a “High in Trial” award, but if they had, Iris would have been High in Trial Excellent. She was one of only two dogs to qualify in both searches, and had the better combined time.

Listen – the EASE with which she performed. Like it was a normal day, like these were easy searches – even though it was neither of those things. Her genetics, training, and maturity just keep coming together better and better. Every time I think I couldn’t be more impressed by her, she finds a way to show me she’s even better.

I am SO grateful to be her handler. Credit as always to her breeder, Two Gun Kennels, for the quality genetics (and so much more) and Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and OCSDC for the quality training to get us here.