Seren tracking

Judi’s woods & hayfield Seren had a 3 turn track entirely in the woods. Five articles + start & end, all with food in them. I was very happy with this track. The combination of food in articles & random lie downs in the woods seems to be working as she downed for every article on her own. We’ll see how it goes when I start to decrease the number of articles with food in them video: https://youtu.be/dAPfu-as8Rk?feature=shared Dylan did a 3 turn tracks in the hayfield, utilizing the bowl area. He needed a verbal cue for start article, but other 2 were automatic. Very nice start & turns. https://youtu.be/DX8JJ- WdqDc?feature=shared

 Hanover Courthouse  Dylan only today. Four starts  - 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes age. Mix of familiar & unfamiliar articles. More interested than usual in this location with cars going by, I hink the noise of tires on wet roads was a factor. No video for #2 - I didn’t forget this time, but it was pouring rain then & my finger stuttered on the button, causing me to turn it back off as soon as I turned it on🤷‍♂️ I was pleased with his articles, didn’t seem to care about rain, age did not appear to be a factor  video #1 # https://youtu.be/2vbTPVln_hA?feature=shared video #3  https://youtu.be/EdmA2iPFpqk?feature=shared video #4  https://youtu.be/msFWUOPfWqw?feature=shared

 Capitol Park Soccer/Cricket field, Wilder Middle School baseball Both dogs had simple 2 turn tracks designed mainly to push age a bit.  Seren - 3 hours old. At least one unplanned crosstrack near 1st turn. She had trouble getting started, but after 1st leg not too bad. Perhaps the track contamination was more extensive than I thought. Next track I plan for 2.5 hour age https://youtu.be/kEDFTwoFo8M?feature=shared Dylan had unfamiliar article at start, end article ~3ft to left of the track. Age 1 hour 15 min He did well. This age did not appear to be an issue for him. Had to hunt for end article, but he found it after a few seconds. Needed verbal cue to indicate start article. https://youtu.be/4JlHzYyeGs8?feature=shared

 Taylor Park Seren’s theme was ‘fun with obstacles’. Had one article with food in it in the woods & one out in the open in addition to start & end She did great with the obstacles & I think had fun doing them. She was very proud of figuring out the fence & wanted to play with passer-by dog, which she never does. Article in woods with food in it is better than food leading up to it, but still needs work. The leg next to the woods was difficult with the slope, but she handled it well. Checked but discarded an opening in the woods prior to the correct one. I liked her attitude  g video:  https://youtu.be/NJXuCSGX9mk?feature=shared Dylan had a classic stairstep, with novel articles at start & legs 3 & 5, familiar one at end. Age 45 min Start not great - was distracted by dog park & shelter across the street, but didn’t take him long to get to work. Still doesn’t down automatically at unfamiliar articles, but does so readily with verbal cue. Turns g...

 Chamberlayne Elementary  Seren had a 2 turn track in the woods. Two extra articles with food leading up to all but start article, as next step for better indications in the woods. This didn’t seem to be a good plan for her - she was so enamored of rooting the food out of the leaves that she didn’t really notice the article. She didn’t resist the lie down cue, however. Other than that, pretty nice tracking, I thought. video:   https://youtu.be/PoAp1681Aks?feature=shared  Dylan had a 2 turn track with unfamiliar articles at start & in middle, then his favorite article at the end Goal was to work on indications of unfamiliar articles. Don’t know why I wrote 8:20 as run time on map - it was really 11:20. Today he readily downs with verbal cue, not on his own with items he hasn’t seen before. Good start, stayed on track nicely. video:  Unfortunately, dumbass forgot to turn on camera

 Tracking class for Dylan at Holly Ridge. Two tracks. #1 laid by Maureen, 1 open angle turn, age 30 min video: https://youtu.be/Bsn49bbObdA?feature=shared #2 laid by me, 2 turns, age ?20 min video: Start & articles good, even the novel articles. Distracted by horse in neighboring field, but got over it. I need to move faster up the line after turns so that I can prevent him from getting off the track very far. I remembered (actually, was reminded) to take water & offer it after each article, except 1st one. https://youtu.be/1Yl_mz9hgMY?feature=shared

 Capitol Park Soccer Fields For Seren, stairstep with articles & food as marked on map. Age 2 hr. Wind had been mild until we started running the track, when it got quite gusty. This caused her to get blown off, as on Tuesday. Because I knew where the track was, I wouldn’t let her get very far off it & we muddled through. Her articles were good.  Question for the experts: On a blind track (i.e. test) if you suspect dog is getting blown downwind, stepping behind her doesn’t help her get back on, what do you do? Hope she comes to the edge of the scent bubble soon & when she gives LOS step upwind? Or is there a better strategy?  video:  https://youtu.be/fzteQSGg0_I?feature=shared For Dylan, 4 turn track with 1 intermediate article, incorporating going up small hill, down earthen stairs, & thru openings in fence. Age 1 hour The challenges I had planned for he handled well, perhaps because I used appropriate augmentation there. Unanticipated challenges/dis...

 Cool Water. Recently cut soybean field. Sunny, cold, windy. Seren had 3 start tracks, aged 1, 1.5, & 3.5 hours. She did pretty well, tho did get blown off by the wind a few times Video #1:   https://youtu.be/AUhV3WUsxKE?feature=shared Video #2:   https://youtu.be/bpAX51Y78JI?feature=shared Video #3:   https://youtu.be/cDirZHuziAU?feature=shared

 Hanover Courthouse Today I was aiming for fun with articles. Seren had a 5 turn track with 6 intermediate articles, 3 of which were on turns. Age 2 hours Nice start. Articles good except plastic eyeglasses, which she totally missed. Sidetracked by some lunch remnants & probable crosstracks - mom & 2 kids walking in area, didn’t see exactly where they went. Sometimes I remembered to turn away from direction of track at articles - didn’t seem to matter. She wanted to turn right immediately after the corner of the privacy fence, I believe because the end article was too close (bad track plotting). Then after we got to the real turn, she seemed reluctant to go right, perhaps because I wouldn’t let her go that way before After the track we did some lie down practice in brushy area. Got better as we went along. Need to work on planned crosstracks & lying down in the woods https://youtu.be/35FbjilEai4?feature=shared Dylan had 2 turns, each with an article we don’t often use o...

 Surry P&R I made Seren a 2 turn track totally in the woods, to work on article indication in the woods. Age 45 min.Two intermediate articles hidden behind fallen logs. There was lots of room for improvement here. She even walked right over the end article without any indication of noting it at all. This took me by surprise as I didn’t even see it until she was well past (it’s much more visible on the video). She just doesn’t like to lie down in the woods, so I’m going to work on that behavior totally separate from tracking. I think her lie down at articles in other places is fine - we’ll see if I am correct with that https://youtu.be/9iH7-ywHLsY?feature=shared Dylan also had a 2 turn track, age 15 minutes. There was an intermediate article, part of my plan to keep introducing unfamiliar items - that one was his best indication, go figure. I also did the ‘handler turns opposite way of new leg’ exercise, which he had no issue with. The 1st turn was to the right, but he checked l...

 Taylor Park For Seren, a 5 turn track, 2nd & 5th turns turnaways, 3rd turn a hangman. I forgot to bring food when I was putting in the track, so went back immediately & walked it again, dropping food as originally planned. Nice start (I was slow to turn on the camera) & articles. No issue with turns. On leg 3, she had some confusion around the walkway crossing -? Together we worked it out. She had no problems with the other 2 crossings of the walkway. video    https://youtu.be/MujbpQLZ4Ok?feature=shared For Dylan, a long, straight track with multiple articles. Given that many of these articles were new to him & that the field had been used for playing with a dog prior to my laying the track, I thought he did a good job. Downed without verbal cue for several articles. He got ‘sidetracked’ by different scent a few times, but he always knew where his track was & went back to it easily. I think he needs to generalize what ‘article’ means better, so I will...