I think I might would pair more of them for now? Summer right now doesn't really pick up on non-paired hides well at all. I've continued pairing them and it seems to be helping. I know people have different opinions about how long to keep them on food vs odor.
Oh, I don't expect on him finding just the odor. They are kind of like a bonus. We will scatter one or two just odor along with four-five paired. It's super cool when he picks them up and tends to get a jackpot!
Another thing we do is if the dog is getting discouraged we will move the hide and make it easier. Or we will put our hand up to the hide with a cookie and hold it there till the dog finds it. I always want to end on success.
I think it's also important not to do too much or too long of a search. With Summer we generally do 5 or 6 searches. Mia routinely does 12+. Mia just has a lot more endurance but Summer checks out quicker. If she rests between them that will help too. So i will work summer a handful of times, put her up and work Mia a lot then pull Summer back out.
We had trouble with this in our class. It would run too long with too many hides, and by the last set he was done. When we do it at home, I do like 4-5 and leave him wanting more. It seems to get him more excited about it when I bring him out next time and he sees me get everything out.
My dogs are weird, LOL. At home Summer is super lazy and Mia is wilder. Out and about though Summer comes across as a lot more hyper than Mia. Summer's just so outgoing and not so much a thinker. Mia thinks too much. If we go to the store, Summer is the one trying to climb shelves and who is bouncing up and down like a pogo stick. Mia sticks close to me and behaves. No one ever believes me when I say Summer is lazy and that Mia is the bad one. Also everyone pegs Summer as the younger dog. I think it's mostly because Summer is so outgoing and her personality is 'YAY HAPPY!' All the time. Mia is moody.
I would have never expected that based on the stories I hear about Mia! Lol!
Yay! You should! More people should get into nosework.
I took a video of Summer last night but she was so spastic that I had to zip it around to try to film and it's all shaky. Maybe I can get a better one.
Do it! I wanna see Summer vs Mia.