12-18-24

 Surry P&R. Short, wet grass. See map for details.

Seren did great! Lovely start, needed verbal cue for start article, not for middle or end one.


I felt like I’m getting better at quickly perceiving her loss of scent indication & reacting appropriately. She overshot both turns by 5-6 feet, I followed, she corrected her course herself. Line varied  between 8 & 15 feet. 

Dylan’s tracks run fresh. Scuff into & out of turns 10 steps, with food every 3 scuffs. Very accurate with his turns. Gave verbal cue for down 1st track, did it on his own 2nd & 3rd

Comments

  1. Anne (Mila)December 18, 2024 at 4:43 PM

    Just logging a comment to let you know I saw this one. Sounds like things are progressing well with both partners! :)

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  2. JudiDecember 18, 2024 at 6:59 PM

    Excellent. Seren is now giving a very weak LOS, which morphs into a stronger one much later (as we saw Saturday). I love that you are now seeing the earlier LOS..as you responding to that (dog drives your behavior), will make her tighter, which of course you want! Dylan clearly loves this game! And given his puzzle solving skills, I think he’s brighter than the standard BC.

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    Replies
    1. Jack's JourneyDecember 18, 2024 at 8:59 PM

      hmmmm. 'now giving a very weak LOS, which morphs into a stronger one much later'
      my question for judi is 'the LOS is weak and morphs to a stronger more readable LOS of scent why? is it confidence? is it that betty has gotten better at seeing it and reading it? talk me through that. and what is 'much later' in terms of getting stronger. are we talking by the second turn in a five turn track or months later? i'm trying to wrap my head around this.

      Delete
    2. JudiDecember 19, 2024 at 5:28 AM

      If Betty stops when the dog gives her drifting LOS, and moves when Seren finds the new leg, I am hoping that the movement is the reinforcement. If we assume she wants to move (most dogs do), she should look for the path to reinforcement (movement) and thus we should see a stronger ‘search-go’ pattern. Betty has been letting line run at turns without a clear LOS, so she’s been taking responsibility for the next leg—which allows Seren to check out the world (kinda like Ralph is doing). Dogs (and people) do what works…so if what ‘works’ is casting as soon as Seren notices LOS she refinds and gets to move…that behavior should get stronger. Ideally Betty will place food along that next leg to reinforce Seren’s decision….which I should have put in my post and failed to do so. Does that help? We are essentially taking a small behavior (drift) and reinforcing that. Reinforcement drives behavior, so the behavior will get stronger and hopefully more obvious. If Betty waits until big LOS indication 30 yards past the turn, and then backs up and goes with her, all of that is reinforced by both the movement and the next food/article. And that’s not the behavior we want to reinforce.

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