Week 1 - Practice 1

We had an uncharacteristically busy beginning of our week that got in the way but now we are back to it.

Today I practiced 3 separate sessions.

Each track was a close spaced trail of Chicken with No Articles.

We have been playing the Article Games outside of these tracking sessions.

Session 1:

• 9:15 AM - Weather: 42F, 50% Humidity, Partially Cloudy, Wind WSW 12 mph.

• Located in my Back Yard.

• Each Track laid and ran in quick succession, no aging.

  • Track One was 5 yd on damp grass

  • Track Two was 5 yd on damp grass

  • Track Three was 7 yd on damp grass

    
    

Session 2:

• 12:30 PM - Weather: 46F, 38% Humidity, Sunny, Wind W 12 mph.

• Located in parking lot at Colum 15 Coffee/Food Lion

• Each Track laid and ran in quick succession, no aging.

  • Track One was 5 yd on wood mulch

  • Track Two was 7 yd on wood mulch

  • Track Three was 7 yd on wood mulch

    
    

Session 3: (The only track I recorded this time) The dog whining sounds in the background are not Wren.

• 3:38 PM - Weather: 47F, 46% Humidity, Cloudy, Wind W 14 mph.

• Located in my Front Yard

• Each Track laid and ran in quick succession, no aging.

  • Track One was 5 yd on grass

GOAL FOR THE TRACK: (Same Goal for these Three Sessions today)

• To foster engagement with track, and encourage Wren to focus on following the 'trail of delicious chicken' instead of veering off and getting distracted.

How did it feel?

• Felt pretty good. Only a minor moment of alertness/unease shown by Wren during Track 2 of Session 2.

  • While Wren is used to visiting that parking lot, an extra rowdy group of kids were running around about 20 yards away and this made her little baby Belgian instincts kick in to softly 'boof' bark at the kids screaming/running around. She didn't move from the track though and after watching a minute, she went back to finishing her little track.

• Wren was also distracted in Session 3 as a neighbor left their house, but there was no alert barking/overly worried behavior. It did take her a few tries to get back to the chicken trail though.

  
  

List three things the dog did well:

1. Keeping a straight back over the track.

2. Re finding the track after distractions without me stepping in to point it out directly.

3. Keeping her nose to the ground.

   
   

List three things you’d like to improve:

1. Me getting her more engaged and ready to find her 'start'.

2. Me being more consistent with the ritual of establishing a pattern for harness on/harness off. (Ha! Defiantly would help in fixing the 1 in this list..) I caught myself putting the harness on at the start of one track, and then putting the harness on and walking her up to the start verses staying consistent.

3. Me keeping even pressure as she speeds up and slows down.

   
   

Goal for next track:

• For this silly handler to BE CONSISTENT when handling my pup!

• To encourage Wren to lean into the harness a little more, and stay engaged with the chicken tracks.