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11/29/25 - Woods bounce-offs and parallels

After her strong interest to go into vs away from woods last class day, I asked Mary Ann to lay a track that parallels woods and does bounce-offs from woods. Mary Ann nailed the assignment (and shout out to Kelley who co-laid and was MVP for double lineups!). We ran the track at 1hr 15min old. Notes - what went well: Great start and 1st turn on the rails! Her article indications were really nice today.  I think our slowed down routine at articles is slowing her down and keeping energy / excitement from running wild. She feels more measured at restarts now. Turns - She was really clear to read on all with the exception of the last turn. In reviewing video, she gave a head turn at the final turn before going forward a little and then looking at woods.  Line work was good today - getting back up the line quickly + a behind the back line work on the final turn - felt like I supported her well when she committed.  She drank well before start and at articles Notes - To work on:...
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Tracking - Week 1 (Oct 22-Oct 28)

 


HW Updates:

(10/23): Scoped out a few places nearby (North Midlothian / Robious Corridor) for practice and future track-laying. Found nice fields at James River Park (less crowded by West shelter / playground), Huguenot Park, and Robious Athletic Fields. Taught the kiddo (7) about double-ups and practiced with her for a bit. Good fun on a fall day :) Also - acorns are a plenty right now for practice kibble drops at the park! I also worked on in-stride article collection and leash handling.

Questions I Have:

-Track-laying in future - If we are doing a training session with 3 tracks, is it good to lay all 3 tracks then bring dog out or lay 1, run 1, lay 2, run 2, etc? I'm thinking of building momentum like in our Foundations class may be helpful rather than re-crating, etc but results in aging of tracks while others are run which is not consistent...

- Articles - Evie is obsessed with tennis balls and scents them out in the yard. I was thinking this would be her ultimate reward at the end of a track as an article, but wonder if the tennis ball scent vs. track scent may throw off the concept we're training. I know if she sees it, she'll 100/100 times pick it up and that may be nice in terms of training article indication/retrieve. 


Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 26, 2022 at 12:30 PM

    Great questions, as usual. Yup, put all 3 tracks in, get the dog, and run them sequentially. If possible, put them all in a straight line, so you can play with her from the end of one to the start of the next. And yes, use tennis balls for your article. Over time we will move them into the article, but for now, bury them a bit in the grass, and when she finds them, let a vigorous game of fetch begin!

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