Seren tracking

 Chamberlayne Elementary. Short grass, but mostly covered concrete sidewalks. 85 degrees, 75% humidity, 8mph wind. High, thin clouds, most of track in shade. Track laid @ 8:45 & aged 30min. Sidewalk portion sprayed & food every 20 Start between playground & electrical box, on grass with fabric article, 30 yd straight onto covered sidewalk with building on the left, then 50yd more to left turn. Leg 2 110 yd, all covered concrete, building 1st on left, then right, then left. Clear plastic soap dish @50. Ended in right turn. Leg 3 covered sidewalk with building on the left, 50 yd to right turn onto open grass. Leg 4 25yd to leather article. Very good, bordering on excellent! Great start & all 3 articles (even our nemesis the soap dish). Overshot 1st turn by 3 feet, went around post to come back to track, so I just let go of line & picked it back up as she came back past me. 2nd turn dead on. Overshot 3rd one by 10 feet as I let out line, came back on the grass ...

 Library. Short grass & woods without a lot of underbrush. 74degrees, minimal wind, sunny. Track laid @8:15 & aged 25 min. 1-3 food drops per leg Leg 1 70yd on grass, then left turn. Leg 2 into woods after ~10 yds. Had to maneuver over a downed pine branch & later a fallen log. Right turn after 45yd. Leg 3 60 yd, metal article @15. Leg 4 25yds, out of woods, to right turn in the open grass. Leg 5 on grass 50 yds to left turn. Leg 6 on grass 30yd, plastic article @15, then left turn. Leg 7 went back into woods, right turn after 20yds. Leg 8 30 yds in woods to right turn. Leg 9 15 yds out of woods to end article. Pretty good. Nice start. Good indication of metal article, but we both missed the plastic one on leg 6 - walked right over it. Did some fringing in the woods, but didn’t appear to be screwing around with other scents. Turns not as precise as I would like in the woods I think next session we’ll do some VST stuff on the covered sidewalks at the elementary school...

 Klehr Field. Short grass, lite dew, Small amt bare dirt, gravel, & asphalt sidewalk.Sunny with some shade. 74 degrees, 6mph wind. Track laid 8:10 & aged 45 min. This track had some scent challenges but not a lot of age. Leg 1 on grass, 125 yd, food at 60, left turn. Leg 2 125 yd, food @ 25, 70, &100, skirted asphalt parking lot, went down moderate slope with some bare dirt, to picnic table with metal article on bench, & right turn. Leg 3 crossed asphalt sidewalk (food @10), went down gravel steps (food @15) 25yds to right turn. Leg 4 immediately went thru gate in chainlink fence, then 75yd on grass with plastic article @50 to left turn. Leg 5 75yd to end article, food @ 25. Interesting results. Very good start but Seren made a left turn at ~75 yards that sure looked like tracking, only she wasn’t tracking me. Went all the way to end of line before I stopped her. She just stood, so I called her back & she picked up the actual track easily & went on. Obviousl...

 Hanover Court House. Sunny with shade in areas. 74degrees, lite wind. Semi-blind track laid by Valerie, aged 35min. Grass, asphalt, concrete. 3 left turns, plastic article on leg 2. NV sprayed, 1 food drop per leg. See video for more detail I was very pleased with Seren. Great start @ all 3 articles excellent. Good attitude. Had some trouble with 3rd turn but worked it out. I have difficulty being certain that she is actually on the track with only 10’ of line - need more practice with that Link to video: https://youtu.be/uFFsOiy5cOQ?feature=shared

 Library. Sunny, 72degrees, 5mph. Track laying started @8:15. Did 4 start tracks, all with 1 acute (~45 degrees) angle turn. All tracks had fabric start & leather end articles Track 1 & 2 on short wet grass, aged 40 min. #1 - leg 1 75yd, food @35, right acute to 25yd leg 2. #2 - leg 1 80yd, food @50,left acute to 25yd leg 2. Track 3&4 mostly asphalt with small amount of concrete. Sprayed & food q 10-15. Aged 15 min. #3 65 yd, acute left, 25 yd.  #4 same with acute right Quite good! Good starts & articles. No problem with turns. Stayed on task except to eat some fresh bunny poop on #1. #3 was particularly impressive as a student driver chose that time to come into the otherwise empty parking lot to practice turns & parking, ran over our track a couple of times, but Seren was only minimally distracted by the car.

 Klehr Field.Short grass wet with dew. 68 degrees, 7mph wind, sunny. Turns scuffed, asphalt portions sprayed. Track layed @9:15 & aged 20min Intent with this track was to get improved attitude with minimal aging & increased enhancements. Leg 1 started on grass with fabric article, went 50 yd (food @ 35), ended with right turn. Leg 2 60 yd (food @40), then right turn. Leg 3 100 yd (food @50), crossed to asphalt with a curb @70, food @ 75&90, ended with left turn. Leg 4 50 yd, crossing mulch islands @5&20, food @10, 20, & 40, ended with left turn. Leg 5 100yd with metal article @20, food @30 where crossed back onto grass & again @ 45, ending with right turn. Leg 6 45yd (food@15), to leather article. Seren did much better with this than our last couple of sessions. Excellent start & articles, nice precise turns. Missed several food drops. There was some ‘wobbling’ on the asphalt & she went off the track once to sniff a nearby tree but came back to work ...

 Chamberlayne Elementary school. Short grass & open woods, wet. When track run 77degrees, 5mph wind, partly cloudy. Track mostly in shade. Track laid @9:00 & aged 2 hrs. 3 articles - fabric, metal, leather. Left Seren at home while I laid track & let it age Leg 1 50yd on grass (food @35), then left turn. Leg 2 10yd before entering woods, then food @20, metal article @50, food @70, & right turn after 100 yd. Leg 350yd (food @25), then left turn. Leg 4 60yd (food @20), coming out of woods onto grass before reaching end article. Seemed more motivated than last 2 sessions, but quite a bit of side excursions. Missed metal article in the woods but good indication on the other two

 Library. Short grass, wet with dew. track laid @8:45, aged 1 hour. Overcast, humid, 79degrees, 12mph wind when run Two start tracks. #1: 115yd (food@50), right turn, 60yd (food@20). Wrapped around building, but not real close, woods off to the left. #2:  100yd (food@30), left turn 35yd, (food@20). Ended ~15 feet from hedgerow. Excellent start & articles both tracks. Had a short ‘moment of Zen’ 1st track, middle of 2nd leg. Also midway down 1st leg of track 2. Both turns good. Had some difficulty finding end article on track  2 - began searching when around 10 feet away. Suspect some odd wind currents around nearby tree & hedgerow.I could easily see article when Seren started searching for it. Seren did not want water on the track, when we got back to the car, or when we got home. Next session I will try leaving Seren at home while I lay track & let it age, to see if that is a factor.

 Hanover county courthouse. Short freshly mowed grass. Track laid @7:35, when it was 71degrees, overcast, 5mph wind, lite dew. Track aged 3hr 15 min. 79degrees when run, fairly humid This was a simple track, meant to work on increased age. Leg 1 75yd, food @40, ending in right turn. Leg 2 60yd, plastic article @25, ending in left turn. Leg 3 80yd, food @35, ending in right turn. Leg 4 55yd, ending in leather article. Seren seemed to have no difficulty finding & following the track, but her motivation was severely lacking. She was more distracted by passing cars (quite a few) than she has been in a long time. She would be tracking along & then just stop to look around, after which it was difficult to get her back on the job. But once she decided to go, she had no trouble. All 3 article indications were great, & she even made one up along the way - nothing there that I could see. I think next session I’ll do a couple of short start tracks.