Seren tracking

 Well, I had wanted to do a track in the rain since we haven’t done much of that, but the best we got was a drizzle. Capitol Park Soccer(&cricket) Field. 47 degrees, short, wet grass, no wind, overcast. Track laid @ 9:40 & aged 40 minutes. This was a duration track, total yardage 650. Went close to soccer goals, flags, sand bags, crumpled up tarps & a little bit of trash. First leg 180yd, article @ 140, food @ 160. Left turn, 2nd leg 165 yd, article @ 100, food @ 120. Right turn, 3rd leg 305yd, food @ 100. Approached start from the right, nice down & start, chugged down the track in her usual manner, except tended to be 2-4 feet to the right. This continued for a large portion of the track. Because things tend to look alike on soccer fields, I became convinced that Seren had overshot the 1st turn, so I just went slower & slower before coming to a complete stop. Seren stopped as well, 20ft in front of me, & just stood there, no casting for scent whatever. Eve...

 Chamberlayne Elem. School. Clear, no wind, short, dewey grass, 65 degrees. Track laid @ 8:50 & aged 25 minutes. Two more start tracks, with the goal of making the start itself more challenging. Starts were scuffed (which I almost always do anyway) but not the turns Track 1 - start under a pine tree with a 25 yd diameter bed of pine needles around it. First leg 65 yds, with food drop at edge of the pine needles. Then right turn to 55 yd 2nd leg, which crossed over bluestone running track at ~20 yds, food drop right after crossing. Approach to start flag was straight on, since we don’t often do that. Nice start after down at article, didn’t seem concerned about the pine needles. Very good turn, track crossing, & end article Track 2 - start right at edge of running track, immediately crossing over it, food on far side of it. Continued 75yds, crossing running track again before left turn to go another 88 yds. Great start from straight on approach, perfect turn & article in...

 Closed church. Clear, 66 degrees, short dewey grass, 8mph wind. Tracks laid 10am & aged 30 min. Intent was to work start tracks (only room for 2 at this site) with each turn to be what I thought would be challenging for Seren. Resisting the urge to test rather than train, I scuffed 10 steps into & out of both turns, & also had 2 food drops on first & 1 on second leg of each track. Track 1 was in alley behind church with building on left & hedgerow on right. Wind was to our back for 1st leg, which was 85 yards long. Turned left at corner of building in a large bare dirt patch under a tree to 50 yard 2nd leg. Approached start from the left, she indicated start article nicely & had lovely start as soon as I picked up the article.  About halfway down the leg she veered off to the right to investigate a pile of poop, left it immediately & went back to track when I told her to leave it (surprize!) Made turn perfectly, then smelled more poop off to the le...

 Closed church near home. 55degrees, 15mph wind, clear sky but track ~1/2 in shade. Track laid 9:50 & aged 25 minutes. Short damp grass with an area of broken asphalt with lots of grass growing in it. Track put in 10 yard wide alley between back of church building & a brushy, viney hedgerow. Goal was to sharpen Seren’s down at article skills. Followed outline as listed in the training exercises section. Used 4 fabric, 2 leather, 2 plastic, & 2 metal articles. I fed after each down (while still down), which I don’t normally do. First pass down the line she was down almost before I could get the word out, except for one that she missed due to catching scent of some yummy poop in the hedgerow. I also missed that one due to sort-kinda forgetting about it while trying to get her out of the poop, which appeared to have come from a Great Dane. On the second pass she decided that some of the articles were more fun to play with than my treats were fun to eat & after the down...

 Crump Park, 7:30am. 48degrees, short, wet grass, no wind. Clear sky but track entirely in the shade. Age 45 minutes. Classic stairstep w/ 50yd legs except article instead of food on legs 2, 4, & 6. Result:  not perfect but still quite good. Casted at some of the turns but never tried to go the wrong way. Drop at one of the articles wasn’t quite as brisk as I would like, so that still needs some brushing up.

 7:45am. Foggy, no wind, short, wet, sparse grass. Age 40 minutes. Closed church in walking distance from home. After 2 failed attempts at laying/running a stairstep track, I decided we weren’t meant to do a stairstep this week, so I thought some of the track recovery exercises might be fun to try. The available space was not ideal, but you use what you have sometimes. First exercise was the overshoot the turn exercise. Went straight 50 yards, then 5 more yards past where I wanted a right turn to be, turned around, came back, made the turn & went 30 yards with food drop at 15 yards. Crossed concrete sidewalk on both legs.  First leg was towards a moderately busy road, & Seren was quite interested in the cars until we got to the start flag, where she put her head down & followed the track, past the turn. When she lost the scent, she lifted her head, & became mesmerized by the cars, much closer now. After a minute or two of car gazing, I called her back to me ...

 Cool Water. Sunny, minimal wind, medium tall wet grass, ~70 degrees. Tracklayer = Ralph Age 50 minutes. One food drop per leg. 2 turns, 1st leg 115 yards, left turn, 2nd leg 50 yards crossing into lawn-type grass, right turn in shorter grass crossing back into taller grass to article after 60 yards. Start & 1st turn lovely. Some difficulty with 2nd turn in shorter grass but did well once she figured it out was quite good. Excellent article indications Need more work in taller grass & transition between tall, short & back again