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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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Dec 29 - Going the distance

Headed out to Tucker Park since it’s been almost a week since that pre Christmas rain. I wanted to do some longer tracks there with L turns and varied lengths.

Location: Tucker Park

Field: Dead short grass, ground was sight/muddy with an ice layer just under grass roots that crunched when we walked the field. As temp rose, could hear the ice layer cracking and thawing. Definitely an interesting day to lay and run tracks!

Temp: 50* with some SW breezes at 6mph. Temp nearly 60* when finished and warm sun!

Time: Tracks laid at 11:30, ran at 12pm, finished at 12:25pm

Track layer= me 

Track maps:



Plan: Today’s plan was to copy yesterday's session but with left turns. I wanted to do T1 and T3 as open L turns and T2 as 90* left turn. T1 was a short/long, T2 was a long/short, and T3 was a short/loooong - each with different lengths. Kept scent pad at S15 after the turn. Added second leash (10’ together).

Notes: 

  • No videos today again but another great session! 
  • Like yesterday, she pulled less but kept good tension on the line with good nose down behavior. 
  • Again, I mapped things more carefully and reviewed exact spacing from turn flag to corner prior to running each track and she was on rails today - we both got it today!
  • I tried the option posted about clipping two leashes together to start working a slightly longer but manageable line. The two together were about 10'. I reeled it in before the turn flag so she'd have a smaller radius and a few random times in straight legs so that reeling her in wouldn't indicate a turn. Also, anytime she cast wide and was investigating, I made sure to gather the line shorter. Overall, it was a very easy change to manage for me. When she was on the line (I could see my scuff steps in mud), I let her have the full 10' often.
  • When we encountered some mud pits, she was definitely challenged but always moved forward in the right path.
  • On T2, a few funny things happened. First, she went potty at the start flag and that just threw the start completely off. She kept wanting to come scent at the flag and was put off. I just took a few steps down the track and let her restart from there without any issues. Second, the article was at the brush line and then I walked L to where I started plotting the third track. She got to the brush and then turned left but came back after a few steps to the article. Couldn't fault her too bad because she's never had an article at the edge of a field, she actually followed my track to the left, and she came back to article on her own.
  • On T3, I definitely saw more casting, heard more panting, and she paused more than normal. The field was getting pretty warm with full sun and she ended up downing a lot of water after running T3. I also noticed about 10 yards after the turn, she circled 2 times around the track and headed back towards me to verify the turn. Turns out I hadn't placed the scent pad on T3! But she definitely was checking her turn and getting confirmation for herself and then confidently went down a long long Leg 2.





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