Winter 2016 Saber Tails 37
Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Club of America
Anise and Clove, as these are not commonly found in our
daily lives. So, we started pairing Pinot’s treats with the
Birch odor and in no time Pinot realized the new rules of
the game. Every time Pinot found the odor, he was in-
stantly rewarded.
A
fter a few months of practicing with Birch, we were
ready for our first Odor Recognition Test (ORT). An
ORT is proof that a dog is familiar with the odor and is re-
quired before any dog can enter a trial. To compete at a
Nose Work Level 1 trial, you first need to pass the Birch
ORT (Anise – for level 2 and Clove – for Level 3 and be-
yond). After registering Pinot with the NACSW and get-
ting his official dog registration number and score book,
we were able to enter him in his first ORT.
S
howing up at our first ORT for the first
time was nerve-wracking. But all the
people that run the ORT were wonder-
ful explaining everything and helping us.
When it was Pinot’s turn, we walked into
a room that had 12 boxes lined up in 2
rows. We walked up to the blue tape indi-
cating the start line and after giving Pinot
a second or two to orient himself, I then
told him to “FIND IT” and off he went surg-
ing ahead to play his favorite game. What
felt like forever, was only 12 seconds from
the moment we crossed the start line, to
the time I called “ALERT,” indicating that he
found the correct box with odor.
A
s we progressed in our training, class-
es began to become ever more chal-
lenging, with hides being placed on walls,
shelves, under tables, on cars/trucks,
and outside. All of these scenarios were
designed to prepare us for our first trial,
NW1 (Nose Work 1).
A
t all trial levels, dogs are searching
in 4 distinct environments: Interiors,
exteriors, containers and vehicles. At the
Level 1 trial, the dogs have to find one
odor – Birch. Our NW1 was held in a Sum-
mer Camp in Massachusetts. At the start
of the trial, there is a walk-through of the
search areas, and exhibitors are given the
opportunity to ask questions and are re-
minded of the rules. The Interior search
was a cabin used by kids during camp.
The container search was located in a dining hall and
consisted of 20 or so boxes. The external search encom-
passed a camp fire area with trees and logs as benches for
kids to sit on (Great! So many things for a naughty male
PBGV to mark, which would automatically fail him for that
element). And the vehicle search consisted of 3 cars. Af-
ter a long and stressful (for me) and fun (for Pinot) day of
calling out 4 “ALERTs” and hearing back 4 “YESs”, we had
our very own NW1 title.
O
nward and upward, over the following months Pinot
was introduced to his next odor - Anise. The hides
became more complex with two odors to find. But that
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