Riva to the rescue!

We went to do a bit of search training yesterday with Päivikki and Tanhu. We did reaction excercises, puppy scale, to encourage them to use their noses in airscenting mode to find humans. One of us would circle around the practice area so as not to leave tracks on the area and lay down in the bush downwind to be the victim. Then the handler and puppy would come to the area and start walking crosswind on a line 3 to 5 meters downwind from the victim. It was so fun watching how Riva got the scent, I could see his little stump of a tail starting to go a mile a minute and, after a fraction of a second consideration, he raced to the victim and of course got his reward, best treats. We could do this with him already at this stage because he has not shown any signs of shyness or reserve towards people, he approaches them very openly and confidently. We will, however, continue also regular socialization excercises to make sure he has a solid foundation for his search motivation. Tanhu did very well too, she had a little longer distances as she has had a few more training sessions before.

The dog-dog relations are also improving, Riva and Karma have started to play a bit, eventhough she is a bit rough. Yesterday I also had all three dogs together out in the yard, before this it has been one-on-one with Riva and one of the big dogs. Everything went well eventhough Riva was run over once when Jambi and Karma started to play rough and he was in the way.