Week 29 - Practice 1

6/2/2025

OOOOOOOOOOOoooooo BOY!!!!!! (Or oh girl?)

I have been a Baadddd human and not posting my blogs.. hehe

Well. HERE my glorious hounds and humans is my most recent track.

I will be making one mega catch all blog to old all my weeks of videos from before now as a single entry just so I can keep them for looking back later.

Anyways. ONWARDS!

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Session:

• Weather: 75F, 49% Humidity, Sunny, Wind NW 9mph.

• Located at open fields at a park with kids' playground, and dog parks.

• I am working mostly 5-10 feet down the line from Wren. More given at turn.

  • Track One - Double laid. Straight

    • Short cut field.

    • Laid: 12:53pm / Ran: 1:20pm

    • Aged: 27 Minutes

    • 30 yd

    • Just two treats on the track.

    • Cloth End Article, Beer Koozie

      
      

  • Track Two - Double laid. Two 90° Left turns

    • Short cut field.

    • Laid: 12:58pm / Cross Track 1: 1:11pm / Cross Track 2: 1:30pm

    • Ran: 1:40pm

    • Aged: 42 Minutes

    • 290 yd

    • Treats spaced spread out, see dots on map.

    • End Article is Leather Wallet

      
      

GOAL FOR THE TRACK:

• To lengthen track after we have been doing shorter runs (Wren recently finished her first heat cycle)

• We have been practicing in public spaces with cross tracks occurring naturally before and after my track is laid. However, I haven't had one with two crossing like this with 4 separate humans and 2 separate dogs. So that became an unplanned challenge to work through too!

How did it feel?

• Woohoo! Felt stinking great all the factors considered! Not our prettiest track, but I am heckin proud of my little spicy bird! It was warm, she 100% needed to go #2..but wouldn't go before the tracks.. there were dogs filling the dog park visible in the distance, an off lead dog far at the edge of the field, cross tracks, kids screaming in the distance. Wowza! If we have not already been consistently practicing those elements/distractions in smaller bites, I would had abandoned this track. However, I had an idea on how it would go and am glad we went for it. She really does such a fine job and I am so proud of her first 'longer' tracker after her 1st heat cycle.

  
  

List three things the dog did well:

1. Being mostly clear when she's tracking verses just sniffing something interesting.

2. Ignoring the distractions! With sights, sounds, AND the smells!

3. Finding that 2nd turn when she started to get a bit lost. I was about to throw down an article but she said 'eh, nevermind. I know where it is now.'

4. ARTICLES! This feels like a big big win for us. I know I am using the verbal cue like was suggested during a later class before.. so we haven't gotten away from it yet, but I am SO pleased with her actually stopping to get the darn article instead of a sniff and pass.

   (AND LOOK MA! No Food inside the articles!)

   Her article indication tanked while in heat. (Ya girl had the munchies and was focused on food) but look at it coming back!

   
   

List things you’d like to improve:

1. Providing better support in (visually) highly distraction environments.

2. Handling skills with supporting her tracking true to the line verses drifting with those air currents that kept whipping around on us.

3. I gave too much line a time or two. (hehe.. I did not see the class blog posts until afterwards..)

   
   
   
   

Goal for next track:

• Continue hyping up the article in puppy parties and get that value built.

• Providing better training support in turns she might overshoot.

• Continue stretching the food drop distance further along the tracks.

• Continue reading her loss of scent cue better.