Christina and Mischa - a new team to beat at field trials

We wrote about Mischa before. We liked Mischa a lot, but for a variety of reasons we decided last fall not to use her in our breeding program. We did not actively look for a new home for her, but in the middle of November an interesting e-mail came Christina Wahl from Ithaca, NY. Christina was looking for a wirehaired dachshund puppy out of European bloodlines. She and her husband used to own smooth dachshunds and were familiar with the breed. She also met some nice wires in Germany and decided that this is the breed and type she would like to own. While we did not have a puppy for Christina, we wrote to her about Mischa. A week later Christina and her husband Ellis picked Mischa up. It was a good match!

I was really happy to see Christina and Mischa at field trials in Batavia on May 28-30. Mischa went to a number of field trials while she lived with us, and she needed just few points to finish her field championship. This was a first trial for Christina, and she seemed to enjoy the whole experience. Conditions were tough as part of the grounds were flooded and we had to go multiple times through some thick mud and pretty deep water.

On Saturday Mischa placed 1st in an open stake of 18 females, and this way she became a Field Champion. Next day she was entered for the first time a a field champion stake. And on Monday she won the stake of 31 field champions, and then went to win the Absolute run too. What a great weekend it was for Mischa and her handler/owner Christina!

Saturday results - Mischa was 1st in the OAAB stake, and she was also Best of Open stakes.

At the Batavia trials - Christina Wahl with Mischa

Mischa was unstoppable on Monday.

Mischa won the FC stake on May 30 and she was also the Absolute Winner of the trial.

Christina and Mischa collected their ribbons at the end of the trial. Laurel Whistance-Smith and Sherry Ruggieri were the judges of the brace for the Absolute win.

On Tuesday we got a nice e-mail from Christina: "I cannot thank you enough for the fun you have given me by letting me take Mischa home. Not only is she affectionate and easygoing, but look how well she did at those trials, even with me as handler!! Wow. I enjoyed tromping around outside with a bunch of strangers (except for the mud and swamp, I wasn't prepared for that part)."

But there was more to come. Now I should say that Christina Wahl is an Associate Professor of Biology at Wells College and the field trials gave her some food for thought. Christina, thank you for sharing them with us!

"Hi Jolanta,
As you know, I went to the St. Lawrence this weekend to tend my garden and my bees. Turns out, I caught a swarm in my "bait hive" and because it was so big I had to immediately hive it, so not much gardening happened, since I had to prepare hive bodies and frames for the new bees...

But on another topic, you might enjoy this story. My Mom and I were in the garden chatting, where I had let Mischa off-leash for a bit of fun, since there is a small wood near us where she enjoys running around looking for critturs. I was bragging about Mischa's amazing field trial day, when she yipped and we knew she'd found a rabbit. Sure enough, the rabbit came barreling out of the woods, right past us, with Mischa in hot pursuit. The rabbit made a sudden left check...Mischa was about 15 feet behind it...the rabbit was in plain view when it turned...and Mischa KEPT GOING straight ahead for another 20 yards, totally missing that rabbit!! We laughed and laughed. So much for keen nose and disciplined dog!
 
Now my Ph.D. is in sensory physiology, and I have been doing a lot of thinking since the field trials. I was so impressed with the way the dogs are able to scent rabbits based on the faintest of molecular trails, even to the extent of knowing which direction the animal was moving in. Mischa did one spectacular run on Monday where she raced at top speed and made a flawless check without even a pause, exactly where that rabbit had turned. How is that possible? The dog has to breathe in and out, and it is only on the intake that it can sense olfactory cues.
 
That means if it is breathing out as it passes a check on a dead run, it will miss it. Mischa got lucky there...she must have breathed in at exactly the right second.
 
Linda Buck and Richard Axel won the Nobel Prize a few years ago for figuring out that for every odorant there is just one olfactory neuron. That's great work towards understanding the sensory aspects of olfaction, but it doesn't tell us how olfactory PERCEPTION works.
 
Every animal has a set of sensory modalities, these senses allow the brain to perceive the environment. We know a few things about perception:
1. For a given sense, perception is usually better than predicted given the known parameters of the sensory system;
2. Most animals use more than one sense at a time to locate objects in their surroundings;
3. Input from one sense can distract/overwhelm input from another sense to the extent that the animal fails to utilize that information (and then makes mistakes).
4. Alertness and focus make a big difference to perception and thus, performance. Drive (motivation) is also important.

Because you spent time with Mischa, she had developed an interest in following rabbit trails, and her natural drive (instinct) to hunt kicked in. Then, for some reason, during the field trials her motivation was elevated and she became highly alert and focused. That situation, plus luck (breathing in at the right moment) allowed her to excel.

So, in addition to the drive you trained her for (she thanks you!) she had to be motivated, alert, and focused. Since we don't really understand how the senses work together, we have to try to keep the dogs from being distracted so that they optimize their mental ability to use the inputs from several senses at once. I suppose in the wild they are able to do that because their survival depends on it...surely that is THE great motivator! Living with humans, there will always be another meal, so they need to get their motivation from another source. I think Mischa wanted to beat the other dogs and that gave her an edge. What gave her that desire to beat them, I don't know."

I am sure that we will be writing more about Christina and Mischa's adventures in the field. I am looking very much forward to seeing them at field trials this fall.