Week 61

1/14/2026

Today, I wanted to be very mindful of my handling, and really watching my dog instead of trying to keep her perfectly on the track.

• Track 1

  • Located at short grass field running towards wood line. Lots of human and dog cross tracks.

    • Single laid. Straight Article Track

      • Short cut grass.

      • Aged: 25 Minutes

      • 40 yds total.

      • Articles: Start Article: None, Articles on Track.

      • Food Drop Pattern: Food at start instead of article. Food between article drops.

• Track 2

  • Located at short grass field running parallel to the wood line. Lots of human and dog cross tracks.

    • Single laid. Straight Article Track

      • Short cut grass.

      • Aged: 30 Minutes

      • 40 yds total.

      • Articles: Start Article: None, Articles on Track.

      • Food Drop Pattern: Food at start instead of article. Food between article drops.

      • Extra food drops to encourage not turning towards the woods with critters rustling in it.

• Track 3

  • Located at open field with Disc Golf. Human, Dog, and Ravens.

    • Single laid. 3 Turns: Right, Right, Left.

      • Short cut grass.

      • Aged: 120 Minutes

      • 280 yds total.

      • Articles: Start Article: Leather Glove, End Article: Leather Wallet

      • Food Drop Pattern: Shuffle 5 steps -->Walk 20 Paces--> Food Drop -->Walk 20 Paces-->Scuff 5-->Walk 20 Paces--> Food Drop -->Walk 20 --> Scuff 5--> Repeat. 

      • Scent Pad w/Food at 20 Yards from start.

      • Turns: Scuff 5 out of turn--> walk 5--> Scent Pad W/ Food.

GOAL FOR THE TRACK:

• Articles for the shorter tracks in general, but also for me to really focus on my handling. No more dragging her back like an anchor to get her to pop back onto a track if she drifts. Trying to also stop her less unless she is veering after a scent/leaving track.

  • Trying to be more mindful of setting good habits to trust my dog on blind tracks.

    
    

How did it feel?

• The article tracks felt good. I could tell she wanted to inspect the woods, but she tracked just a step to the left of the articles and came to find each on her own. I'm very happy with her, since most the summer and all last class, I had to stop her for articles and cue them every time.

• The 3rd Track, longer one.

  • Felt pretty good too. Of course, the Ravens found my food drops within a few minutes of me bringing Wren out. I felt bad because she seemed frustrated she could smell a lot more food drops than she found. Almost every time she circled around back on a track, that is a spot a food had been taken from by the birds. I had augmented a few specific spots of mud/dog poo/etc on the track, but those tiny rewards were gone by the time we ran it.

  • She also normally ignores people while tracking, but this fella came out the woods towards the end and I think that was a little extra 'Tervuren suspicion activated'. I am happy that after our little reset/rescent, she immediately popped right back onto her track like she knew where it was the whole time.

    
    

List three things the dog did well:

1. Finding Articles instead of blowing past them, even when I let her track a step to the side to see if she would return to the track for them.

2. Staying consistent in her behaviors showing tracking vs not.

3. Finishing her track despite the lack of goodies

   
   

List things you’d like to improve:

1. Continue fixing my line handling.

2. Should I stop and halt her movements as much as I do, or am I doing that too much to make up for not slowing her way down? The puppy training habit I am working on breaking.

3. Be a better partner to support her. I feel like in Team Wren, I am slowing our progress in the game.

   
   

   https://youtu.be/M9zYsKlhgnY?si=m57qKdStrELl-ulb