Nov 20 - Tucker Park

Location: Tucker Park @ 11am, short dry grass (some mud at article for T2/start for T3. Ground definitely soft as I could see my scuff steps at times.

Weather:  41* with 14 mph NE wind, full sun

Plan: Since we were starting a new pattern and at a new location, I laid 1 track and ran it immediately at a very comfortable distance for her before deciding whether to lengthen next tracks or not. Final track map below - Each track below has a marker on the start with N to top of image. 

• T1 - S10W3F@2 x 4 running mostly West. (Orange track)
• She did this well. A little "bouncy" and air scenting but I'm chalking that up to weather conditions. She always went back to work. Excellent start, great drive, and assisted down at end. Accidentally ran this one on her collar (didn't switch leash to harness) - made sure to fix that error for other tracks.
• Video:
  
  
  
  

I then decided to do the following with the pattern - 6 units, 8 units, and 10 units of S10W3F@2. Knowing the last 2 were much longer than she's ever run, I was prepared with treat bag and extra articles to throw but had a feeling she'd run the lengths just fine. Tracks all laid by me and run ~ 20 min after laid.

• T2 - S10W3F@2 x 6 running mostly Northward (Pink Track)
• While I was laying the tracks, the dog park (just East of T2) went from empty to full. I was a little worried about distractions and it did play out. After a glitchy start 2 steps in, I took the 2 steps back and re-laid flag treats and was able to get her to work by tossing some treats ahead on trail. Not optimal but an ok track - she improved down the length of the track as we got some distance from dog run.
• T3 - S10W3F@2 x 8 running SW (Blue Track)
• Excellent start and drive. A few yards from the start, she HAD to check out a blowing leaf but came back to track (~0:15 on video). At ~1:10 on video she found something on track that she had to munch on for a bit but I told her to go back to work and she finally left it. The wind was blowing pretty consistently across the track and she stayed ~3 feet left of the track throughout with some meandering/bouncing back to the line. Since we were working with wind, a new pattern, and adding distance (probably too many things at once), I didn't correct the tightness on the line since she was working and stayed pretty consistent w/in this range. A good bit of bouncing around off the line and not as tight as I would want. 
• Glitchy video with some composition difficulties at times given wind-chilled child:
  
  
  
  
• T4 - S10W3F@2 x 10 running N (Yellow Track). Laid this one with plan to abort if T3 was too challenging for today.
• My videographer got cold and quit on me and man do I wish I had a video of THIS ONE! She did SO SO good!!  
• Excellent start and drive like in T3 but stayed much tighter to the line. She ran ~1 ft right of the line (in direction of wind going across track) but corrected herself much more. Very strong drive to the end. By Google maps, the distance of Yellow Track is ~400-450 feet. She did not pause or seem confused by how long this track was. Assisted down at end. Calm walk back to car on collar lead. 

Questions/Dissection:

• Given the high winds today and how "bouncy" she was when running cross wind tracks, I'll set her up better next time so tracks are run into the headwind.
• In a game time call, I decided not to hold her to the line tightly given conditions since I wanted to see her work the new pattern. In future, should I hold my position more if she's 2-3' off line or will we tighten this up more later? 
• She only picked up a few pieces of food and definitely whipped back to scent some and use it to reassure her of track but left and forged ahead.
• The S10W3F@2 was no issue today, even with the monster straight track - she would swing and find track and pull hard ahead (my back is achy from pulling/holding on!). Next time out, do a repeat of today's distance and pattern again to build foundation here before incrementing up or should I move to S10W5F@2 in a similar distance pattern (4, 6, 8, 10 units) ?