Seren tracking

 Dorey Park. Short, wet grass, overcast with occasional drizzle, 68 degrees, 5mph wind, 95% humidity. Track laid @8:05&aged 1hour This was a duration track - total length ended up being 1245yd. Leg 1 300 yd, ending in left turn. Plastic article @75, food @85&185. Leg 2 205yd, ending in left turn. Leather article @115, food @125. Leg 3 260yd, ending in right turn, metal article @65, food @25, 75, &175. Leg 4 200yd to right turn, metal article @100, food@110. Leg 5 210yd to left turn. Plastic article @90, food @25, 100, 175. Leg 6 70yd to leather glove, food @40. Seren did well. Good start, excellent articles. She got less precise shortly before 3rd turn & on 4th leg. I thought she was getting tired, but it may have been just a lot of scent distraction in that area, because she tightened up again on last 2 legs. I offered her water 3 times on the track & when we got back to the car, she refused it each time.

 link to video for today’s track:    https://youtu.be/5-PKPMDdaJA?feature=shared

 Hanover Courthouse. Short wet grass, overcast, 70degrees, 3mph wind, 90% humidity. Track laid @ 8:10, XT @ 9:30, run @ 9:45 Crosstrack training, with turns. First leg 200yd, crosstracks laid by Valerie & Judi @ 50 (R to L relative to main track) & 100 (L to R) Food drop 20yd past 1st XT, metal article 20 yd past 2nd one, with food 20yd past article.. 1st leg ended with rt. turn. 2nd leg 60yd with R to L crosstrack @ 40. Main track scuffed before & after crosstracks. Results mixed. Good start, articles, & turn. Seren always wanted to investigate the crosstracks, always checking right 1st. Next time we do this exercise, use a left turn & have article after every XT

 Windsor business park. All on pavement - spray 10, 20 dry with food in the middle of dry part. Overcast, 68 degrees, 8 mph wind, 88% humidity. Track laid @ 8:45 & aged 45 min. Two turn tracks with MOT-type turns (not sure if totally met the criteria, good thing I’m not a judge). No flag at start. Track 1 went 100 yd to right turn, then 40 to end article. Track 2 went 60yd to left turn, then 100yd to end. WOW! Made me think we could be ready for RDOC’s test this winter. On track 1 I had to remind Seren to down at start article, from then on she was dead on the track. On track 2 she went off by a couple of feet in either direction several times, but came right back to the track. Difference between 1&2 probably had to do with wind direction. Other 3 articles were fine. Depending on weather, next session might have a bit more age - 1 1/2 to 2 hours

 Library. Short grass & woods. Sunny, 65degrees,3mph wind, 75%humidity. Track laid @7:30&aged 90 min. Woods practice, increasing age a bit. 1st leg on grass, 70yd to left turn. 2nd leg 20yd on grass, into woods, food@30, right turn after 45 total. 3rd leg 35yd total, plastic article @20, food @15&30. right turn. 4th leg 130yd total, then left turn, out of woods @20, food @15, 45, 120. 5th leg 20yd total, back into woods, leather end article at base of pine tree. This went well. Never more than a couple of feet off the track in the woods, dead on in the grass. Articles good, even the ones in the woods. Good start

 Chamberlayne ES. Start on short grass but track mostly on concrete sidewalks, covered & uncovered, around buildings. 58degrees, 6mph wind, 69% humidity. Track laid @8:30 & aged 75min Sidewalks sprayed 10, dry 20 with food in the middle. Leg 1 125yd to right turn. Leg 2 110yd to left turn. Leg 3 60yd to right turn, plastic article @20. Leg 4 75yd to right turn. Leg 5 45yd to leather glove. Very good, though a bit slow to indicate middle article. As usual, she needed to investigate all possibilities at the intersection of sidewalks. I’m getting better at reading ‘on track’ behavior at only 10 feet, & at remembering not to look in the direction the track goes. Plan to continue fading the spraying. Maybe try the turntrack exercise on just pavement sometime soon. Continue increasing age as the cooler weather allows. Next time out, work in some woods

 Atlee High School. Short grass with the normal stuff you would see on a school property. 68 degrees k 5mph wind, 87% humidity, overcast. Track laid @ 8:25& aged 30min Intent was to check on distance skills, & I put in an 800yd track. Leg 1 was 250yd with metal article @100, food @110 & 200. Ended in left turn. Leg 2 100yd with leather article @60, food @70. Another left turn. Leg 3 150 yd, plastic article @100, food @110, then right turn. Leg 4 200yd with metal article @50, food @60&125, then left turn. Leg 4 100yd with food @20, 50, &75. Leather glove at end. Seren did well. Start & all articles excellent, even the one that fell out of my pocket which she found when we went back to pick up flags. I offered her water twice, but she didn’t want it. One weird thing - on the 3rd leg, track came very close to the end of a chain link fence. On the other side of the fence was a fist-sized chunk of concrete which Seren decided she wanted, to the point of trying to...

 HCH. Sunny with thin clouds, 76 degrees, 86% humidity, 5mph wind. Unmown lawn grass, wet with dew. Track laid @8:50 & aged 45 min. Short 3 turn track with one small challenge. Leg 1 100yd to left turn. Leg 2 100yd with metal article @45& food @55, also ending in left turn. Leg 3 25yd, going over wooden picnic table @12, ending in right turn. Leg 4 125yd, food @50, ending with leather glove. Nicely done, though I had to remind Seren to down @ start article - other articles were fine. I was curious to see how she would handle the picnic table obstacle  — over, under, or around. She ended up going around to the right. Video link for today:   https://youtu.be/BjM1FmFekvo?feature=shared