Seren tracking

 Pole Green Park soccer field. 35degrees, overcast, lite wind, dry grass. Track laid @ 7:40 & aged 50min. Stairstep track, run backward (i.e. 1st turn to the left). 6 turns with scuffing as in training exercises. 50yd legs except last one was 75yd to go thru treeline up a moderately steep slope with end article almost to the top of the slope. Only food was large jackpot in middle of 4th leg. No significant distractions. Seren did fine, even lying down at end article on the hillside (I was in ‘let’s see what she does with this’ mode when I did that)

I have regained enough of my sense of humor to document this adventure. 1-28-24 Durham Kennel Club TD test. Cedar Creek Farm, Hillsborough, NC. My dear friend Valerie gave up a good night’s sleep to drive me down there in plenty of time for the draw. Lovely test site - short pasture type fields. Temp in the 40’s?,overcast, no wind. Had rained hard during the night & the soil there did not drain well, so there were areas with 2-3” of standing water in large portions of the field & the rest was quite wet. Except for all the standing water, pretty much ideal tracking conditions. For whatever reason, I was very nervous going to the start flag, but Seren indicated the start article & immediately began down a gentle slope on the track. Sniffed around the 30yd flag quite a bit, then continued on. At the bottom of the slope, there was a lot of water, but she confidently made a left turn in it. I let out a lot of line before following along, heading toward a wooded area a ways off. ...

 Soccer complex. Short, wet grass. 68degrees, partly cloudy, 10mph wind with much stronger gusts. Started laying tracks @9:05, aged 90 minutes Four start tracks.#1: 85 yd to left turn, then 100yd (food @20) to end.  #2: 75yd (food@40) to left turn, then 50yd to end. #3: 100yd to right turn, then 60yd (food @35) to end. #4: 65yd (food @45) to right turn, then 30 yd to end. Not Seren’s finest performance. Construction vehicle beeping not too far away and strong wind gusts were factors. But, she got better as we went along & we got through them all

 Klehr field. Short brown grass with damp ground beneath. 50 degrees, no wind, overcast. Track laid @ 9:15 & run @10:30. This was a TD type track that went past benches, chainlink fence, goal post, walking path,& who knows what sort of foot traffic across it. I normally flag my turns when putting in my own track to make it easier to watch my dog but there were such good environmental markers at this site that I left a couple unflagged. I don’t think Seren is influenced by the flags, but it doesn’t hurt to check it out occasionally. First leg 130 yd to right turn. Second leg 90 yd (food@25) to left turn. Third leg 75 yd to left turn. Fourth leg 110 yd (food @35) to left turn. Fifth leg 125 yd to end glove. Seren did a fine job. Interestingly, she did not check out what I would consider urine marking sites the way she had on Monday, although she did eat a couple things on the track that I didn’t put there. About 25 yds from the end, she made a left turn at what I guess was so...

 Courthouse Park. Sunny, 10mph wind, ground frozen. Short weedy farm field transitioning to soccer field on 1st leg then back to farm field on 4th leg. Came close to tall grass, hedge row, light posts & soccer goals. Track laid at 10:05 & aged 30min This was a duration track. Leg 1 235yd to 90degree left turn. Leg 2 85yd with 1 food drop to open angle left turn. Leg 3 375yd with3 food drops to 90degree right turn. Leg 4 140yd with 1 food drop to the glove. Total length 835 Overall I was pleased. Seren spent more time than I would have preferred investigating what I assume were urine markings at grass clumps & lamp posts on the 1st 2 legs, but got back to work with minimal prompting. She got blown off by wind gusts several times on the soccer field portion but self-corrected. When we were toward the end of the 3rd leg, at the point closest to the road, a garbage truck came by & she briefly considered leaving but ultimately decided it wasn’t necessary.👏progress! Luck...

 Soccer fields near home. Short, green grass, ground frozen. 27 degrees, 12mph wind. Sunny. Repeat of the ‘overshoot the turn’ exercise as on 1-4-24. Track 1: 1st leg 75yd with food @ 40, then tight turn & 2nd leg 50yd. Track 2: 1st leg 80yd w/ food @50, then left turn & 2nd leg 50. Seren was more attuned to car traffic today than she has been for a while, even though we weren’t all that close to the road. But, the cars were moving very slowly due to speed bumps - was that a factor?  Track 1: On the 1st leg, she checked out a soccer ball ~20 ft off the track & later a wadded up tarp, came back to the track without prompting. Overshot the turn by maybe 5ft & looped back to it easily. Track 2: No distractions on this one. Appeared to go all the way to the turnaround point, showed loss of scent, looped to the left & went behind me all the way to the end of the line to pick up the 2nd leg. In fact, the line slid all the way through my frozen hands but at Seren ...

 Crump Park, in the pasture between the farm & the baseball fields. 16 degrees, sunny, no wind. Patchy, crusty snow that had not started to melt today, even in the areas in full sun. Track laid @ 8:10 & aged 1 hr. This was a stairstep track with 50yd legs & 6 turns. Large frozen puddle on 1st leg. Food drops at center of legs 2,3,5, &6. Due to faulty plotting on Google Earth, the 6th turn ended up needing to be an open right rather than 90 degrees. Seren did great. I didn’t expect any issues with the snow, but she also chugged right across the frozen puddle. The 5th leg went straight toward a wooded area & the 5th turn was about 10 yards from the edge of the woods, to the left. She was drawn toward the woods & overshot the turn by ~10 ft. Then she cast to the right & went completely around behind me to pick up the left turn. I didn’t even need to let out any extra line.

 In class today did a blind TD track Link to video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=nmVDvCY2bn8&feature=shared

 Soccer fields near home. 50 degrees, partly cloudy, gusty wind @ 15-40mph. Short green grass, ground soggy, with ~1inch standing water in places, which was not visible through the grass unless you were right on top of it. Track laid @9:10 & aged 35min. Finally got to work in wind! 1st leg 50yd to left turn. 2nd leg 80 yd with a fairly gentle ~4ft uphill embankment in the middle, ending at right turn to 50yd 3rd leg. Total length 180yd. One food drop at top of embankment on 2nd leg. Seren made up for her mediocre performance of 1-11 today, doing an excellent job. She did occasionally get blown off by wind gusts, but corrected herself. Was not bothered by any of the noises related to the high winds.

 Klehr field. Clear, 45degrees, no wind, short brown grass, ground soggy. Track laid @ 10:25 & aged 45min. This was an article track, similar to the one on 12-2-23, but with a different array of articles & both turns were to the left instead of to the right. The 3rd article was tossed off the track to the left & the 8th one tossed to the right. This was not Seren’s finest performance, but I could hear a garbage truck working several blocks away, so I was pleased that she was willing to work, even if not enthusiastically. She missed 2 out of 3 metal articles plus a plastic hotel key card. As on 12-2, she had trouble with the first ‘off the track’ article, but not the second one. This suggests to me that she will get better at solving that problem as she gains experience. When I went to her to praise & to pick up the article I stayed there & she easily picked up the track again. Articles on turns were not a problem. I plan to keep working on all the exercises we h...

 Klehr Field. Overcast, 45degrees, 13mph wind, short brown grass, dirt moist. Track laid 11:15 & aged 30 minutes Did 2 one-turn tracks, one right & one left. First leg 50yd with food @25, 2nd leg 30 yd. Deliberately overshot each turn by ~10yd, then came back & actually made the turn. First one to the left, 2nd to the right. On the 1st track, Seren stopped when she ran out of scent, then cast to the left but didn’t go far enough to catch the 2nd leg, tho I was willing to give her more line. Got distracted by some noise in nearby woods. I encouraged her to track with little effect, then re-scented her with the start article & that did the trick. I had backed up almost to the turn by this point, so she easily picked up the scent & went with it. On the 2nd track she first casted to the right when she lost the scent. Didn’t work all the way back to the 2nd leg until I backed up a bit, but then picked it up readily. Question for me to ponder & test when circumsta...

 Crump Park. 26 degrees, clear, no wind, short frosty grass. Track laid @7:30& aged 30 minutes  Track started near horseshoe pits, went between high-voltage powerline supports & 2 holly trees for 100 yards. Then open angle right turn between 2 hedgerows, ~10 ft apart. Food @ 20, then 40 yds more to open left turn towards woods. After 90 yds, at edge of woods, open right turn to go 100 yards parallel to wood’s edge, with food @30&60. Went over a small downed tree right before food drop at 30. At the 100 yard mark, made 90degree right turn to go between 2 groundhog holes ~30yd from woods. Food @ ~10yds beyond holes. Leg ended after 50 yards. Total length 400 yd. Seren ignored the groundhog holes - apparently she had investigated them enough when we 1st discovered them 2 weeks ago. Good articles at both ends. Slightly distracted by barking dog in yard adjacent to field, more distracted by feeling the need to mark multiple places along hedgerows & woods, so that ne...

 Klehr Field. Very short brown grass, sparse in places. Ground saturated. 45 degrees, no wind, overcast. Track laid @9:40&aged 2 hr. Two turn track. First leg 85yd, food @50, then left turn. Second leg 65yd, no food, then right turn. Third leg 80yd, food @50. Seren ran it like it was 15 minutes old, so another item checked off my list. Next we’ll do a 30 minute track & try to incorporate the groundhog hole I found a couple of weeks ago