Seren tracking

 Windsor Business Park. Unmown green lawn grass, asphalt, & concrete. 60 degrees, partly cloudy, 4mph wind. Track laid @ 9:10& aged 40min. Asphalt & concrete were sprayed the whole way, with food every 10, except concrete stairs had food on every step. Started in grass & went 90yd, food @40, to a left turn. 2nd leg crossed onto asphalt @5, went up concrete stairway @25, then back onto asphalt. Right turn after 65yd total. 3rd leg entirely on asphalt, article @30, for 68yd total, ending @ right turn. Passed right beside a vegetated curb area ~2yd before turn. 4th leg 60yd total, going back down stairs @25, ending at a left turn in the asphalt. 5th leg 80yd, crossing back onto grass ~5yd before end article. Biggest challenge here was for klutzy tracklayer to go down stairs with a gallon of water on her back, putting food on every step, without poking an eye out with the end flag. Seren had a nice start, good article indication throughout. At the 3rd turn, she had to c...

 RP&P Park. 45degrees, cloudy, lite mist, 3mph wind. Short, brown grass, asphalt, & a little bit of concrete. Asphalt portion sprayed & had food every 5-10 steps. Track laid @7:50& aged 1 hour Leg 1 started on grass, crossed sidewalk @12, ended with right turn after 55 yd. Leg 2 continued on grass before crossing onto asphalt @28 yd, then 15 yd on asphalt to left turn. Leg3 120 yd with article @75, then left turn. Leg4 25yd, then right turn. Leg 5 35yd to glove. We went for a walk while track was aging, as park was not very busy. Returned to find a group of crows picnicking on my food drops & just in time to see maintenance guy pick up article from 3rd leg - he thought it was trash (which it was), but parked close to me so I was able to ask for it back. Hoping that Seren wouldn’t be ruined for life, we went ahead with running the track. Indication at start article excellent, but start itself was a little sloppy. Cut the corner at the 1st turn. Transition to asph...

 Cricket field. Track laid @ 8:55& aged ~10min. Short, green grass, wet with dew. 40degrees, sunny, 5mph wind 8 article straight line track. Articles = 2 fabric, 2 leather, 2 metal, 2 plastic. Articles 25yd apart, food 10yd beyond article. First pass had verbal cue to down (even tho it wasn’t needed) & food toss. Second pass just food toss as drop was immediate. At one point Seren even thought it might be a good idea to crawl to the next article 🤣.  Quite a splendid performance. I’m very pleased that it didn’t take many repetitions to sharpen her article indication skills. Will continue to use extra articles on most tracks from now on, staying alert for weakening indications. Plan for tomorrow is to work on turns on pavement

 Klehr Field. 40degrees, cloudy, 6mph wind, mostly short grass. Track laid @8:30& aged 1 hour. This was an obstacle (mild physical & more challenging scent) track. 1st leg started on patchy grass quite close to 2 small buildings. Went across asphalt sidewalk @30, then down dirt & wood stairs @40, back to grass. Total 80yd, food @30 & on every other step of stairs. Right turn to 2nd leg, on thick but dry grass, for 110 yards. Metal article (can opener) @70, food @60, 80, & 100. Left turn to 3rd leg, between 2 sets of bleachers @80, across asphalt walkway, then next to park bench @105, where I placed leather glove on the bench. Across mulch-covered playground back to grass. Crossed small stream @140. Total length 3rd leg 160, food @50, 80, 115, &135. Left turn to 4th leg, through open gate in chain link fence. After going thru gate, I had Seren lie down & wait while I latched the gate, then we continued for a total of 90yd to final article a leather scrap....

 Ginter Park Library/Azalea Garden Center. Sunny, 38 degrees, 10mph wind. Unmown lawn & deteriorated asphalt. Today was for building VST skills & working articles. Track started on grass, went 75yd, then crossed onto asphalt. Went another 120yd, then turned right. 2nd leg 50yd to left turn, then another 50 yd to end. Asphalt was sprayed & had food q10. Track laid @9:00 & aged 1 hour. Seren did an excellent job here - no complaints. While that track was aging, I laid a straight line article track in the grass. Used 8 articles - 1 plastic, 2 fabric, 2 metal, 3 leather. Articles were 25 yds apart, with food 10 yds after each article. Had planned on 3 passes down the line. On the 1st, I told her to down as she got to the article, didn’t give her any time to think about it. When she downed, I threw food to the article & her face (with surprisingly good aim🙂), then asked her to continue, leaving the article in place. I was 10 feet back. While we were doing this pass,...

 First, just in case anyone else ever looks at this, the post right before this one should have been dated 3-16-24 Now, for today, Chamberlayne Elementary school. 56degrees, cloudy, 6mph wind. Track laid @8:45& aged 45min. This track was a hodgepodge, taking advantage of features available. First leg 100yd, starting on grass which quickly transitioned to bare dirt covered with pine needles, then back to grass. Crossed over bluestone running track before ending in a right turn. 2nd leg 135 yd, crossing over running track again, then entering very open woods for the last 55yds, food @ 115yd, then another right turn in the woods. 3rd leg had article @30, food @40&80. Exited woods, briefly on grass, then onto asphalt @130, then 30yd to raised 6ft wide concrete walkway in middle of parking lot. Turned left in center of concrete strip, went 30 yd on the concrete, then onto grass for 2 yd to final article. Asphalt & concrete surfaces were sprayed & had food every 5 steps. ...

 Windsor Business Park. Manicured lawn & rough cut weeds. Track laid @8:30 & aged 3 hours. 56 degrees, sunny, 5mph wind when track run Simple 2 turn track to work on increasing age. First leg on lawn for 75yd, food @ 40. Then right turn to 2nd leg which went into the weeds after 5 yds. Article @25, food @35. After 95 yd, left turn to 100yd 3rd leg, food @20&80. Scuffed start & both turns. Nice article indication & start. 2nd 2 articles not great. Overshot both turns slightly, & made several small side excursions from the track - there were lots of very fresh deer tracks all over, so that may be what she was checking out. I only had to tell her to get back to work once. I won’t increase age beyond 3 hours until Seren is steadier on the track at that age, & will continue to work on articles

 Surry P&R. Short dry grass, hazy sun, 71degrees, 13mph wind. Track laid @ 11:00 & aged 20 min This was a straight line article track, with 10 articles 25yd apart, food 10 yd beyond each article, except end one. 3 fabric, 3 plastic, 2 metal, & 2 leather. Track went directly into the wind. Result disappointing as far as articles go - Seren only downed unprompted for 3 of the 10 - 1 fabric, 1 metal, & 1 leather. So I’m going to try really hard to do an article track at least twice a week. I also plan to back up some toward my original exercise, where the same row was repeated 3 times, with food given at each article. The first run is automatically cued, 2nd I wait a beat to cue, 3rd I wait a couple of beats if all went well before. Will keep the 25yd distance & the food reward for restarting. I don’t really see any point in aging the track much for this exercise.

 Pole Green Park. Short grass, partly cloudy, minimal wind. 65 degrees when track run Track 1 - double checking Seren’s handling of more aged track, since no wind today. Track laid @8:15 & aged 2.5hr. When track was ~1.5 hours old, a man & dog walked across 1st leg very close to the start. There may have been other instances, but I didn’t see any other track fouling - didn’t watch the whole time, tho, as watching a track age is rather like watching paint dry. I just like to know what has happened as best I can at this stage of her training. First leg 165yd, with food at 50&125. Then open angle right turn to 80yd 2nd leg, food @ 50. 2nd leg ended in a left turn between woods edge & sand volleyball court. 3rd leg 75yd, food @ 30, ending at glove. Seren had a good start, but got muddled where track had been walked across. Re-scenting her got her back on track very quickly. Similar behavior at a suspected cross track ~100 yards further on, but this one she dealt with ni...

 Class at Judi’s. Sunny, lite wind. Track laid @9:05 & aged 90 min. This was an intro to tracking in the woods. Track started on patchy short grass before entering woods @40, went 70yd before left turn (food @ 25 & 60). Second leg had article @30, behind fallen log, followed by food @40. Right turn to last leg, food @15&30, glove @60. Total length 185.  Seren was awesome! I especially liked when she veered around a downed sapling & came right back to the track. I saw no difference in her tracking here than in the grass. I did need to verbally cue the down at the 1st 2 articles, so that needs work. Link to video:   https://youtu.be/tc5OUriahos?feature=shared

 Windsor Business Park. Rough cut weeds & some standing water. Sunny. When track laid, 49 degrees, 10mph wind. When run, 55 degrees & 20mph wind. Aged 2 1/2 hours Working on age today. Simple 2 turn track (right, then left) Scuffed start & out of turns. Food every 20 yds. 1st leg 60yds, 2nd 90, 3rd 130. Seren did pretty well. Was ~4 feet off the track when there was a crosswind (legs 1&3) & overshot 2nd turn by 10 feet or so. Checked right first, then swung back around to the left to pick up the 3rd leg. I think this was all due to the wind, but I’ll want to do this age again when there’s no wind before increasing age.

 Wilder Middle School bus parking lot. 51degrees, partly cloudy, lite wind. Tracks laid @ 8:55& aged 30 min. Two start tracks with turns on pavement. All asphalt surfaces sprayed & food every 5yds. All grass surfaces soggy #1: Start on grass, went 40yd close beside hedgerow before transition to asphalt. Then 40yd on pavement until right turn for another 40yd back toward hedgerow to glove. Good start. Took a few seconds to make transition to asphalt but then was right on. Overshot turn by 4-5 feet before coming back to 2nd leg. Did not indicate end article very well #2: Start on grass, 40yd to asphalt, then another 40 yd to left turn, then 35 yd to glove. Good start & articles. More confident at transition to pavement. Overshot turn as in #1 Next time I will aim for a simple track with a fair bit of age on it

 Klehr Field. Short grass, soggy ground, asphalt. Overcast with intermittent lite rain. 53 degrees. Track laid @7:50& aged 30min. This track was meant to be a (re) introduction to VST. 1st leg in grass, 100yd w/ food @50. Then right turn w/ food @30. At 50, transition to asphalt w/ water spray & food q5 for 35, then back to grass for 10yds to glove. Seren tended to wander on 1st leg. If I had remembered she had issues on this field the last time we worked here, I would have used more enhancements but… She did great on the 2nd leg, including the asphalt. So many possibilities of what to do next - turns on pavement, obstacles, age, - we’ll see.

 Seren earned her TD today in a beautifully (if I do say so myself) run track at Cool Water. Judges Ken Barna & Gretchen Stephenson, tracklayer Ralph Haddox. 460yd, 3 right turns & 1 left. Aged 30 min. Overcast, wet, no wind

 Klehr Field. Short brown grass, ground saturated. Sunny with thin clouds. 45degrees, 5mph wind. Two simple tracks, intended to be motivational. #1 Laid at 9:10 & aged 40 min. 1st leg 50yd to left turn, 2nd leg 70yd, with food at 15, to right turn. 3rd leg 75yd, food @20, to glove #2 laid @ 9:20 & aged 50min. 200 yd straight, with food @ 40&120, article @80 As usual, unanticipated challenges arose. While tracks were aging, construction began a good ways away - not visible but audible. Seren did much better with the truck noises than in the past, but it was apparent that her concentration was affected. On #1, in about the middle of the 2nd leg, she considered turning both right & left, but never actually committed to either direction. Nothing had crossed there while the track was aging, but who knows about before. Anyway, she got an enthusiastic verbal reward when she finally got back on the track. On #2, while we we running the track, a man & his (off lead but w...