Seren tracking

 Windsor Business Park. Unmown green lawn grass, asphalt, & concrete. 60 degrees, partly cloudy, 4mph wind. Track laid @ 9:10& aged 40min. Asphalt & concrete were sprayed the whole way, with food every 10, except concrete stairs had food on every step. Started in grass & went 90yd, food @40, to a left turn. 2nd leg crossed onto asphalt @5, went up concrete stairway @25, then back onto asphalt. Right turn after 65yd total. 3rd leg entirely on asphalt, article @30, for 68yd total, ending @ right turn. Passed right beside a vegetated curb area ~2yd before turn. 4th leg 60yd total, going back down stairs @25, ending at a left turn in the asphalt. 5th leg 80yd, crossing back onto grass ~5yd before end article. Biggest challenge here was for klutzy tracklayer to go down stairs with a gallon of water on her back, putting food on every step, without poking an eye out with the end flag. Seren had a nice start, good article indication throughout. At the 3rd turn, she had to c...

 RP&P Park. 45degrees, cloudy, lite mist, 3mph wind. Short, brown grass, asphalt, & a little bit of concrete. Asphalt portion sprayed & had food every 5-10 steps. Track laid @7:50& aged 1 hour Leg 1 started on grass, crossed sidewalk @12, ended with right turn after 55 yd. Leg 2 continued on grass before crossing onto asphalt @28 yd, then 15 yd on asphalt to left turn. Leg3 120 yd with article @75, then left turn. Leg4 25yd, then right turn. Leg 5 35yd to glove. We went for a walk while track was aging, as park was not very busy. Returned to find a group of crows picnicking on my food drops & just in time to see maintenance guy pick up article from 3rd leg - he thought it was trash (which it was), but parked close to me so I was able to ask for it back. Hoping that Seren wouldn’t be ruined for life, we went ahead with running the track. Indication at start article excellent, but start itself was a little sloppy. Cut the corner at the 1st turn. Transition to asph...

 Cricket field. Track laid @ 8:55& aged ~10min. Short, green grass, wet with dew. 40degrees, sunny, 5mph wind 8 article straight line track. Articles = 2 fabric, 2 leather, 2 metal, 2 plastic. Articles 25yd apart, food 10yd beyond article. First pass had verbal cue to down (even tho it wasn’t needed) & food toss. Second pass just food toss as drop was immediate. At one point Seren even thought it might be a good idea to crawl to the next article 🤣.  Quite a splendid performance. I’m very pleased that it didn’t take many repetitions to sharpen her article indication skills. Will continue to use extra articles on most tracks from now on, staying alert for weakening indications. Plan for tomorrow is to work on turns on pavement

 Klehr Field. 40degrees, cloudy, 6mph wind, mostly short grass. Track laid @8:30& aged 1 hour. This was an obstacle (mild physical & more challenging scent) track. 1st leg started on patchy grass quite close to 2 small buildings. Went across asphalt sidewalk @30, then down dirt & wood stairs @40, back to grass. Total 80yd, food @30 & on every other step of stairs. Right turn to 2nd leg, on thick but dry grass, for 110 yards. Metal article (can opener) @70, food @60, 80, & 100. Left turn to 3rd leg, between 2 sets of bleachers @80, across asphalt walkway, then next to park bench @105, where I placed leather glove on the bench. Across mulch-covered playground back to grass. Crossed small stream @140. Total length 3rd leg 160, food @50, 80, 115, &135. Left turn to 4th leg, through open gate in chain link fence. After going thru gate, I had Seren lie down & wait while I latched the gate, then we continued for a total of 90yd to final article a leather scrap....

 Ginter Park Library/Azalea Garden Center. Sunny, 38 degrees, 10mph wind. Unmown lawn & deteriorated asphalt. Today was for building VST skills & working articles. Track started on grass, went 75yd, then crossed onto asphalt. Went another 120yd, then turned right. 2nd leg 50yd to left turn, then another 50 yd to end. Asphalt was sprayed & had food q10. Track laid @9:00 & aged 1 hour. Seren did an excellent job here - no complaints. While that track was aging, I laid a straight line article track in the grass. Used 8 articles - 1 plastic, 2 fabric, 2 metal, 3 leather. Articles were 25 yds apart, with food 10 yds after each article. Had planned on 3 passes down the line. On the 1st, I told her to down as she got to the article, didn’t give her any time to think about it. When she downed, I threw food to the article & her face (with surprisingly good aim🙂), then asked her to continue, leaving the article in place. I was 10 feet back. While we were doing this pass,...

 First, just in case anyone else ever looks at this, the post right before this one should have been dated 3-16-24 Now, for today, Chamberlayne Elementary school. 56degrees, cloudy, 6mph wind. Track laid @8:45& aged 45min. This track was a hodgepodge, taking advantage of features available. First leg 100yd, starting on grass which quickly transitioned to bare dirt covered with pine needles, then back to grass. Crossed over bluestone running track before ending in a right turn. 2nd leg 135 yd, crossing over running track again, then entering very open woods for the last 55yds, food @ 115yd, then another right turn in the woods. 3rd leg had article @30, food @40&80. Exited woods, briefly on grass, then onto asphalt @130, then 30yd to raised 6ft wide concrete walkway in middle of parking lot. Turned left in center of concrete strip, went 30 yd on the concrete, then onto grass for 2 yd to final article. Asphalt & concrete surfaces were sprayed & had food every 5 steps. ...

 Windsor Business Park. Manicured lawn & rough cut weeds. Track laid @8:30 & aged 3 hours. 56 degrees, sunny, 5mph wind when track run Simple 2 turn track to work on increasing age. First leg on lawn for 75yd, food @ 40. Then right turn to 2nd leg which went into the weeds after 5 yds. Article @25, food @35. After 95 yd, left turn to 100yd 3rd leg, food @20&80. Scuffed start & both turns. Nice article indication & start. 2nd 2 articles not great. Overshot both turns slightly, & made several small side excursions from the track - there were lots of very fresh deer tracks all over, so that may be what she was checking out. I only had to tell her to get back to work once. I won’t increase age beyond 3 hours until Seren is steadier on the track at that age, & will continue to work on articles