This was Iona’s search from her recent NW3.  Since there are an unknown number of hides and the max number is three, finding three is such a relief.  This was a really solid search from Iona and I was really proud of her.  You can see her first catch odor at 0:24. However, she does not source it.  Rather, she makes a few big loops around the room.  This is pretty normal for her as she likes to move and I find that it is best to let her swing wide to pick up odor instead of trying to restrain her to the search area.  You can see a sharp COB around 0:54, when she hits on the trash can.  Watch how I start to back up as she sources.  This is important because it takes the pressure off her and gives her space to source.  The judges reported that the third hide gave dogs the hardest time because it was in a transition zone where dogs were not really searching.  I felt that these hides (and all of the hides in the trial) were more than fair.  They were all nose height or below.

 Originally, I felt that the scent cones in this search were not overlapping, however after watching these videos a few times, I think I figured out why Iona left the first hide and why so many dogs had difficulty with the third hide.  This is a big converging odor puzzle!!!  Iona leaves the first hide because she catches strong odor from the trash can hide on the far side of the room!  Watch her pull me hard as I barely make it around the rocking chair! (0:39).  Although her loop looks random, she is really just rounding up odor to source it!  Next, she immediately returns to the startline and finishes up where she left off, quickly sourcing the threshold hide.  Now the third hide is being overshadowed by the powerful trashcan hide which she passed several times without picking up.  She is only able to find it after excluding the other two hides!  As a result, a dog that has not practiced searching through converging odor and keeps returning to previously found hides might have a hard time with this last one.