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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Article tracks (Nov 18)
Goal: Article indication w novel articles
Weather: Mostly sunny, 64*, steady winds N 14mph
Time: 3pm
Age: We ran track immediately x 3 with play between so 1st run was ~5 min and last run was ~25 min
Track layer: Daphne!
I had Daphne round up a sack of potential articles from her spaces in the house and had her rub them on her well. She picked some great articles and put top of the hamper stinky socks as the first two so Evie would get the best scent first as she put it. I didn’t see what else she had gathered and laid the track with but there ended up being dirty washcloths, a deflated mini beach ball, and a scrunchie - all great picks.
Pattern: S5W15 between articles. About 8-10 articles total
Notes:
The first run, Evie wanted to bypass the start article and track so I held her there and you could see the light bulb moment where she realized what this game was when we got to the 2nd article.
I held her at the articles a little and made her wait for a restart cue (looking ahead to TDX/VST and also hopefully minimizing a chance she poorly indicates the TD article and keeps going). She seems a little put off about this on the first run but was offering it very consistently on the 2nd and 3rd runs.
We took a tennis ball and rewarded her with a short round of catch. I had tried this last season and she didn’t seem to engage with it but this time around, she started to play more. I liked this engagement reward for her at the end of the track and think it will be fun for her as food drops become more sporadic.
How I’d grade the tracks: 1st run = B+ (had a little trouble on start and one article), 2nd and 3rd run= A- to A
She wanted to gallop ahead to next article instead of tracking to it a few times so I held her until her nose was down (she protested a bit but listened)
Daphne filmed the first two runs and given how well the 2nd run was, we skipped recording #3 but it was similar
Video of 2nd run: Her walkup and downs were so much cleaner 😍
Overall, I was really pleased with what she showed today and especially with a track of 100% novel articles, some of which were a type she had never seen!
Up next: I plan to head to Tucker Park on Monday to do a regulation length track followed by 1 or 2 straight 250yd tracks to work on endurance. I've planned a 500 yd dog head track in the main field at Tucker Park and will run at ~1hr. I can't find a 600 yard length anywhere to do an endurance track so instead will plot 2x straight 250 yd tracks in the back field at Tucker and will run one or both depending on how she's doing with a treat magnet between the straight tracks.
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