The Searchers

Nevis' Search & Scent class wasn't on today, so we heldd our own in the fields, searching for either his favourite plastic hoop or Mrs Bs glove.

He is getting really good at this, but likes to cheat, so one of us has to cover his eyes while the other hides the object. On one search I hid the hoop invisibly in a hedge, taking a long looping route back so we would know if he followed my scent trail.

I don't know whether it was by instinct, training, or luck that he took off sprinting at right-angles to the breeze - the best way to pick up an air-scent quickly. After 5 or 6 seconds he turned ninety degrees left into the wind and headed directly in a straight line for the hoop, still 30 or 40m away. He slowed a little, oscillating his nose in the air to hold the scent, but unwaveringly holding the line towards the hoop. He followed his nose all the way in, then found it, flicked it in the air and ran back in one of his big circling skipping runs.

Wonder dog.