Seren tracking

 Dorey Park Seren: 8 turn stairstep, age 4 hr Arrived back at Seren’s track to find mowing going on over it. Decided to give it a go but to be prepared to quit at any point. She did remarkably well. Some of the food drops (very lightweight freeze dried liver) had been scattered. She tried to find what she could but didn’t get far off the track. Article on leg 3 (yellow sock) so she just indicated the next piece of trash she came upon. Article on leg 7 was all chopped up but she indicated a piece of it. End article was gone, so I threw out my ‘spare’ This track was far from perfect, but I was very proud of my dog https://youtube.com/watch?v=cNQNlI7vXzw&feature=shared Dylan: 4 one turn starts, ages 1.5, 2, 2.5, & 3hr. Turns not flagged He had a hard time with #1 as other dog walkers appeared in the distance from opposite directions just as we were starting. When he was able to disregard the distractions he had no trouble following the track. one of the dog/human pairs walked ...

 Kelly’s farm Seren:  track re-acquisition practice. 4 turn track, age 1 hour. 2 of the turns were acute, one of the right angle turns had an article on it. She had some trouble with the 2nd turn, I believe because it was too close to the end article & the scent from that confused her. (a problem with using ground markers). Other turns were good, tho, as was start & articles https://youtu.be/kL4Q6Gjbg-k?feature=shared Dylan:  simple 3 turn track to work on increasing age. Turns not flagged. Age 2.5 hours. Overshot all turns, especially 2nd, but figured them out. was very attracted to the light post, but did not lift his leg on it. https://youtu.be/wTDlvZEfoIM?feature=shared

 Taylor Park Seren:  road crossing obstacle track. Age 3 hr, 1 intermediate article Not bad. She was affected by the wind somewhat, but groundskeepers working right on her track & the warm temperature did not seem to be a problem. Interesting- several times recently she has downed as soon as she catches the scent from of the next article. I don’t know what to make of that   https://youtu.be/ybpnBsk-O60?feature=shared Dylan: 8 turn stairstep, 6 turns flagged, 2 with clothespin as ground markers. Age 1 hour. Loose dog with person had been all over at least the 1st part of the track about 15 min before it was run, & shelter dogs being, walked provided significant distractions while we were running track. However, no article were  missing & all food drops appeared to be in place. Fairly mediocre performance. Had some issues with turns 2&3, I think not so much that he didn’t know where track was, but more that he had difficulty keeping his mind on the task...

 Trevvett School Article tracks for both dogs. Article every 25 paces, food 10 paces past article. Seren’s track had a couple of articles tossed off to the side. Seren’s track aged 1 hour, Dylan’s 45min. Seren did well except missed soap dish article, which has always been difficult for her. Dylan needed  verbal cue to down at 50% of articles Seren video    https://youtu.be/0wQqd0-tCYM?feature=shared Dylan video     https://youtu.be/ANvB2grHDNs?feature=shared  

 Dylan:  young, short track with significant cover changes, 2 intermediate articles. Articles sucked today, but tracking itself was quite good. Cover changes did not appear to be an issue. Space & time considerations will determine whether we do an article track or a stairstep next https://youtu.be/5_XU8AiM6Cc?feature=shared

 Surry Parks & Rec Seren:  Long distance track, incorporating some woods, age 35 min, 3 turns, 4 intermediate articles. I saw no evidence that the distance was a problem. She had a little difficulty around the tractor just after the 2nd  turn but worked it out. There was a strong petroleum odor around there when we ran the track, which of course I didn’t notice during tracklaying. She did get blown off some by the wind at times, most notably at the end when she lay down about 15 feet downwind from the article. The sun was in my eyes when we came out of the woods & I didn’t perceive that she was that far off the actual track.  Will work on off-track articles more - both dogs could use this. https://youtu.be/SEZmCxt8HjQ?feature=shared