1-27-25

 Crump Park. Short grass, sunny. Track laid @8:05 & aged 2 hours. 45 degrees, 5mph, 54% humidity when run.  Track 1 had some tire ruts in it about 2/3 of the way down. Track 2 had a lot of frozen goose poop. Both had multiple human & dog cross tracks.I thought the park would be sparsely populated in the early morning cold, but I was wrong.

Seren had a good start on #1 but struggled a bit a short way down the track. Got back on the track on her own. Very interested in the tire ruts - didn’t try to follow them, but stopped & sniffed for a long time, to the point I reminded her to get back to work. No difficulty at the turn. #2 seemed easier for her in spite of all the goose droppings. Again no issue with the turn. All 4 article indications were good. I’m not sure she got any of the food drops, as most of the (off lead) dogs who ran over her tracks were Labradors😂

I’ll try to use a quieter area for the 2,3,4,5 hour old exercise.



Dylan did a 15min. old 2 turn track with S5, W12, F, W12, S5…. At turns, scuff 5 in & out, food in the middle of the each scuffed area. Each leg was about 50 yd long. Track laid @ 8:25, sunny, 35degrees, 3mph, 71% humidity when run. I used a start article for the 2nd time - indicated that & end article nicely.

He did not seem bothered by the track contamination, but as we turned onto last leg the flock of geese landed in front of us, ~40 yards away & I thought game over. But though Dylan stopped frequently to lift his head & look at the birds, he did not try to go after them & returned to tracking unprompted. I was amazed. I only saw him pick up 1 food drop (though several goose poopcicles)

I plan to increase his track age by 10 min. next session



Question for Judi from Saturday’s class: On a blind track I have a hard time telling if Seren is essentially paralleling her track & I should move over behind her or if she is diverging off the track & I should increase the line pressure but continue straight, or just stop, or what. Don’t know if I’m being clear here.




Comments

  1. Anne (Mila)January 27, 2025 at 7:02 PM

    Glad you got out with both pups again - super impressed with Dylan's work ethic in light of the flock of geese!
    I'm curious to hear Judi's and MAM's answers to your question because I think this is something we all struggle with - when is it the right time to step behind vs line pressure on the track? I generally default to stepping behind but that's in part because if I get too demanding with line pressure Mila's confidence can drop, but this may not always be best.

    I do have a follow up to your question though...you're asking for a blind track, so I'm assuming you wouldn't know where the track is and thus would be following behind - you'd only really know to increase line pressure if she's not showing tracking behavior, right? So, I'd think it was more a factor when you've put your own track in...hopefully that makes sense :).

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  2. JudiJanuary 28, 2025 at 1:21 PM

    Totally clear. On a blind track (testing not training) you won’t know. So in training you follow to see if she is well enough trained to come back to the track. It’s likely, once she’s given you a straight line, that you will feel her veering off, and even on a blind track you can ask (with line pressure) for her to communicate to you.

    So in training….if it’s a small veer, I may follow to see if she corrects. If not, I’ll stop and wait for her to correct. If it’s a big veer, IN TRAINING I will stop and ask her to be more clear. Because the line between veer and open angle turn is pretty fine—you want your dog to dig in and say “come on” if it’s an open, and correct if it’s a veer. So your job is to make sure on an open that you ask her to commit as you would on a veer. Does that help?

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    Replies
    1. Seren trackingJanuary 28, 2025 at 1:48 PM

      I understand in the training context, but as you say, it’s a fine line between a veer & an open turn, so I’m not sure I’ll know what to do if the occasion arises in a test

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