Rogue - a long time in the waiting!

[Vectis Hamstery]

This is scentworking. It was initially taught to us as a way to calm Rogue's anxieties - if he's sniffing it calms him and distracts him from scary stuff. Now he's trained to a specific scent (cheese!) and we attend workshops to develop our skills and practice. We do active not passive indications (ie eating the cheese rather than standing still and staring at it, like police and customs sniffer dogs). It's all kept fun and not competitive, and we both love it. It's a bit addictive. I'm forever finding new things that could be used to search, like the purple jewellery pouches. I just used the cage as it's a new item to search and is awaiting mending so has no-one in it

He's no good at tracking escaped hamsters, but sniffing out and playing with hamsters is something I don't want to teach him!

[Pebbles82]

Lol! Good point. It sounds great. I can see it would distract him and he gets bonus cheese too

[Vectis Hamstery]

Rogue's had a busy time of it recently. We've carried on our scentwork practice with some extra afternoon sessions which a trainer is running locally. He's kept cool in the garden rather than having too many long walks recently.
P1200025 by Vectis Hamstery, on Flickr

It was Rogue's 3rd birthday yesterday and he enjoyed the presents and a steak dinner!
P1200167 by Vectis Hamstery, on Flickr

Today we went to our first rally obedience trial which was fun. We got a non-qualifying score this morning (i.e. were disqualified), but did better in the afternoon when we'd both settled into things. We got 161/200 this afternoon which was much better than I'd expected. Rogue got a 'special' rosette for trying his little socks off today.
P1200265 by Vectis Hamstery, on Flickr

[Coco61]

Rogue is certainly special. Very well deserved and Happy Birthday!

[freyashamsters]

Aww well done Rogue, very well-deserved rosette

[Vectis Hamstery]

Rogue's been busy since I last updated the thread. We've been practicing our scentwork at some weekend sessions, and are all booked on another workshop where we will get to search a fire station! He likes his puzzle toys when we're not doing formal scentwork.
IMG_4288 by Vectis Hamstery, on Flickr

We went on holiday last month and he had some great fun running on the beach.
IMG_4305 by Vectis Hamstery, on Flickr

We've now been to four rally trials and he's doing really well. He's working at Level 1, and needed 4 scores over 170 to gain his title - which he achieved yesterday! He's now officially "Rogue TDR1" He also got a score of 188 in the afternoon which is his first step towards a Level 1 Championship (he needs a total of 6 scores over 180 for that). Here he is posing with his rosettes from yesterday:
Rogue TDR1 by Vectis Hamstery, on Flickr

And this is him at work in the ring:
14361276_1158087164248584_8740608835953312470_o by Vectis Hamstery, on Flickr

[Nancy's Hamsters]

Go Rogue go,
It is so wonderful to see how far the little guy has come. From unwanted, to rescued, to so scared, to confident and now to a Rally title level 1. Of course he doesn't get all the credit as it takes a great human partner to place well in Rally. I used to love Rally with my Cardigan Corgis but also know how much work is involved for this wonderful achievement.
Go Team Rogue woo hoo.

[velma]

Go Rogue. He's doing so well. Absolutely no clue what the levels and Rally trials are. I have zero knowledge of dog training. But as Nancy said, to see him go from scared rescue pup to rosette winning wonder dog is ace. Plus he's adorable with his puzzle board.

[barley]

Aw he's adorable

[Vectis Hamstery]

Rogue says thanks for the compliments
He's enjoying having me home more - especially the long walks in the autumnal woods. It's my favourite time of year and the walks aren't too muddy yet.
IMG_4420 by Vectis Hamstery, on Flickr
IMG_4418 by Vectis Hamstery, on Flickr

There's nothing like a good curl up after a woodland walk in the cold:
fullsizeoutput_81c by Vectis Hamstery, on Flickr

We're still practicing for 2017's rally trials, and have found a lovely local monthly class. We've also been doing some searches, and had a great time at our 'super sleuth' session last month which was Halloween themed. Rogue dressed as a witch at a local fun dog show's fancy dress class. I had fun making the coat and tutu!
Halloween woof by Vectis Hamstery, on Flickr

Sadly he got accosted rather a lot by off-lead children at the fun dog show so I'm going to rethink taking him to that sort of fun dog show. I've also started muzzle training with him for his own safety in those situations. We're taking it slow and making it fun - he's learning that 'muzzle' means treats. Lots of treats. He begs for the muzzle to come out!
fullsizeoutput_86c by Vectis Hamstery, on Flickr