Seren tracking

 Atlee HS. 65degrees, short grass, light wind. Track laid @9:45& aged 3 hr 2 start tracks, concentrating on increasing age. However, many other significant challenges, mostly a lot of foot traffic across the tracks. End article on 1st track was right beside bleachers where a non-English speaking man was sitting & calling to Seren as we approached. Each leg ~100yd, #1 had a right turn & #2 had an open left. Food about every 30. Not spectacular performances, but Seren thought through some difficult problems & worked them out. At the end of #1, she dropped & crawled the last 10-15 feet. Hard to say if she indicated the article 😂 link to video for #1:  https://youtu.be/hGW6Ktf49A8?feature=shared link to video for #2:   https://youtu.be/WQCfAQ-EHg8?feature=shared Baby track for Dylan (10 weeks old) - link to video:  https://youtu.be/qcrirGr94OU?feature=shared

 Chamberlayne ES. Sunny, but most of track in shade. 70degrees, 8mph wind, 50% humidity. Track laid @9:25 & aged 3hr. Two start tracks to work on increasing age. All legs ~50yd. Both tracks started on grass & quickly moved onto covered walkway. #1 had left turn, #2 right turn. On NV, spray 10, dry 30 with 2 food drops in dry areas. Start articles fabric, end plastic. Track 2 was excellent in all regards. #1 had some issues. Seren took a few seconds to find the start as it was in pine needles, but she figured it out. At the turn, which was at a sidewalk intersection, she checked all directions before deciding on (the correct) one. Just as she committed to that direction, someone kicked a soccer ball ~100 yds away & Seren thought we should therefore go home. Luckily it was just one kick & it only took a couple of treat tosses to get her going again. After we were done with the tracks the folks on the playground were kind enough to give me a training opportunity & ...

 Surry P&R. 58degrees, 2mph, 85% humidity.  Track laid @8:30& aged 1hr. Very foggy when track laid, fog lifting by the time it was run. Short grass & relatively open woods Intended to be a fairly easy track to practice turns in the woods. Leg 1 in grass 95yd to left turn. Leg 2 into woods & under a small downed tree. 83 yd to left turn & plastic article @70. Leg 3 45yd to rt. turn & metal article @28. Leg4 90yd to left turn, metal article @40. Leg 5 75yd, out of woods, to end article. Plan worked out successfully. Nice start, good precision. Seren went around the downed tree instead of under - ~4ft off track. She was reluctant to lie down at the articles in the woods, needed verbal cue for one of them

 Link to video for today’s track:    https://youtu.be/XuDCGpDuMqA?feature=shared Hanover Courthouse. Semi-blind track laid by Valerie @ 8:05&age 2.5 hours. Sunny, 60 degrees, 3mph wind, low humidity. Meant to be a motivational track with food every 10yd. Leg 1 65yd to left turn. Leg 2 86yd, across road, to rt. turn. Leg 3 30yd to left turn, metal article in middle. Leg 4 100 yd to right turn. Leg 5 73 yd to end, plastic article in middle. While better than on 10-18, still not that great. Much better attitude, but accuracy left a lot to be desired. Overshot 1st turn significantly, turns 2&3 were good. Tried to cut turn 4 badly, causing her to miss plastic article. All other article indications good, start good. Plan - continue to increase age with temporarily increased enhancements

 Soccer fields. Sunny, 62 degrees, 47% humidity. Track laid @8:55$ aged 3hr This was intended to work on increasing age. Laid a ‘textbook’ turn track except leg 5 had a metal article in addition to food. Results: This was the worst session we have had in many months. I strongly suspect something went on while we were away letting the track age since one of the benches on the field had been turned over. In addition, some kids were practicing soccer 2 fields away when we got back. I could barely hear the balls being kicked, but Seren is very sensitive to that sound. She had trouble starting & with all the turns. I considered quitting but got her down the track by tossing food on it ahead of us. On the positive side, her article indications were excellent. After that ordeal was over, I took her to the edge of the place where she started getting squirrelly & just fed her treats. Then did the same with Dylan. Guess we need to repeat this exercise with LOTS of food & see how ...

 Hanover High School. Sunny, 65degrees, 10mph wind. Track laid @9:35&aged 1hr Working on gradually reducing amt. of water spray on non-veg surfaces. Judi laid track totally on asphalt with 10yd sprayed, 30yd dry, article &/or food midway thru dry portion. First leg was long, going to rt. turn with shorter second leg. Seren had some moments of confusion or distraction, but in general did pretty well. We’ll keep working at this level of enhancement for a while, then increase the dry area. Link to video for today:  https://youtu.be/kyNH0d08Br0?feature=shared

 Windsor Business Park. Short grass & pavement. Sunny, 70 degrees, 3mph wind, 58% humidity. Non-veg portion spray 10, dry 20 Track laid @ 9:30 & aged 2.5 hr Working on increasing age. Start on grass, 83yd to left turn, food @ 40. Leg 2 onto pavement 70yd to grass & rt. turn. Articles @30&65, short flight of stairs (up) in middle. Multiple food drops. Leg 3 75yd on grass btwn sidewalk & bldg, article @30, food @40. Ended in rt turn back onto pavement. Leg 4 mostly paved for 70, lots of food, stairs (down) in middle. End article back on grass Excellent start & articles. Wanted to cut 1st turn by ~25 ft. Took a few seconds to find 2nd turn. Overshot 3rd turn by ~5 ft but found it quickly. No issues with stairs either up or down  Younger track next session (maybe xtracks or fading water spray further) but the next time we do age maybe a turn track on grass at 2.5-3 hours

 Surry Parks & Rec. Sunny, short wet grass. 55degrees, 3mph wind, 87% humidity.Track laid @8:25&aged 1hr This was intended to be an easy, motivational track. Leg 1 100 yds to right turn, food @45. Leg 2 75yd to left turn, metal article @30, food @40. Leg 3 110yd to right turn, food@70. Leg4 65yd to end article. (Had meant to have plastic article on leg 3 but it had fallen out of my pocket at the car & I didnt notice) Results: pretty much flawless. Next session aim for around 2.5hr. age

 Chamberlayne Elementary. Short grass & woods, overcast, 73 degrees, 7mph wind, 82% humidity when run. Track laid @ 8:25&run @10:30 Start in grass, went 80yd to woods, total length 110 to right turn, food @40&90. 2nd leg completely in woods, plastic article @30 behind a tree, elongated pile of wood chips/sawdust @60, food @ 40&75. Total length 90 to left turn. 3rd leg 70yd to end article, still in woods. Food @40. Start & all article indications were good. Third leg a bit shaky, off track by ~10 feet towards the end but article drew her back to the track. Increased age did not seem to be an issue, so next session I plan to do ~1 hr. age, then 2.5 hrs