November 27, 2024 (Wednesday) - VGL

 

Nov 27, 2024

 

Great location (permission only) - substrate was a mix of green and brown grass medium length.

 

Goal - long, straight track - highly reinforcing;  try something slightly different w/ articles

Articles (food=*) -  S-mask*; 2-suede glove; 3-glass case*; E-wallet

 

~280 yrds total

TL: 8:55am/9:15am - 38oF, H:82%, DP:33o

TR: 10:00am (10:12am) - part cloud with diffuse bright sun coming through.

 

Very still and quiet - so could really hear dogs barking, leaf blowers, etc in distance - she handled those well w/out preoccupation. 

Intentionally laid track on a somewhat higher "flatter" portion of open field. Kept it away from too much downhill sloping/woods to keep scent from drifting much. I wanted this one to present as much focus on track as possible. 

 

Mainly - W20FD@20,21 or did scuff @ 20.

 

Water

1. Drank @ car ~ 30 min before track

2. Offered @ article 3, denied

3. Drank very readily after done but still at the end of the track

4. Offered back @ car, denied (note, we walked for a while - in and out of woods - after the track so I was a bit surprised she didn't drink, but I think at that point she was a bit tired) 

 

So pleased with how she did and how much she "enjoyed" herself on this one. And, although she denied water after article 3, her restart was enthusiastic...even trotted down the track a bit.

 

Okay - article observations/changes

1. Continued to add food to some - upped the food ante with even better "food" - I had some leftover salmon cakes so I used pieces of that - she thought that was the bomb. I typically try to use a better treat for article reinforcement than what's on the track.
2. I added small scent pads under each articles (except for start) - Judi/Mary Ann - what do y'all think about that? How long can I use them? If I continue, should I very them (so sometime the article has a scent pad and sometimes it doesn't)? It definitely seemed to help get her to 'stay' at the articles longer, which will help w/ #3.
3. Indication change - I want to move away from down as her indication. She will do down readily during article games but just does not seem to "want" to do it while tracking. In part because she's a bit precious about substrates she will deign to down on readily, but also I think there's something else going on that is a doggie mystery. Sooo, I'm trying to get a longer standing at the article. This has had mixed results before as this is somewhat unreliable in terms of how long she'd stand - she'll frequently pause but if I'm not quick enough in noting it (and frankly sometimes her pause is minuscule). But, that's because I'd be unclear because I'd do article games, etc with the down. For this track, I used 'wait'...which is a cue she knows; however, I'd like to quickly transition this old cue with a new one. Question - ultimately, I'd like the stand to be coupled with her looking at me to make it even more clear. My inclination is to have her come to my hand - "looking" at me for the treat and then treat again on the article itself. Judi/Mary Ann - Thoughts on that or any of this?

November 24, 2024 (Sunday) - Very Good Location

Nov 24, 2024

 

Great location (permission only) - substrate was a mix of green and brown grass medium length plus hardwood forest.

 

Goal - cross "thresholds" into and out of woods and track in woods

Articles - started adding food(*) back to some: S - mask; 2-bandana; 3-umbrella holder*; E - change purse*

 

~350 yrds total

TL: 9:12am/9:47am - 47oF

TR: 10:30am -  51oF, H: 67% - sunny, bright, warm

 

Mainly - W15FD@15,16 or did scuff. After articles 2 & 3 walked 3-5 and did short scuff to help reinforce restart.

 

Water

1. Drank @ car before track

2. Offered @ article 3, denied

3. Drank just after woods exit

4. Drank @ car upon return 

 

All-in-all super happy with every thing - articles are still a quandary, but I have an idea to try next time. 

 

Entering woods - smelled around my entry point...even headed in a bit and then returned to edge and did a search to left and right (not far) and then returned and entered. I had to stand for a bit at the entry point and move a little to side to move a larger limb, so not surprised there was some searching here. First article about 20 steps into the woods. Used a bandana which in itself is usually fairly high on the article preference list for her. She did a nice standing acknowledgement for this one - gave treats on article. At the the point where I had to meander around the brush, she first when very nicely where the track went then suddenly stopped and searched and perhaps questioned herself (maybe the scuff after article caused a lot of scent to waft downhill - not sure?). Anyway, I called her to me, took about 3 steps back and that was all the reset she needed to nicely continue. 

 

Passed turn 1 a bit and wanted to go sniff something she found interesting. Returned and took turn - again acknowledged the article (this one w/ food) - if it didn't have food, I'm not sure how strong this would have been. Continued down track...went right to the spot on the large log that I hauled my ass over 😂...needed a little encouragement to jump the log...I did a scuff after the log and then a larger number of food drops about 15 steps beyond that to reward the log jump. 

 

Took turn nicely. Continued down track - oddly enough, when I have to meander around something like a brush pile she seems to want to keep going straight...however, she has no problems choosing to meander around something she doesn't "like" when I have walked straight through it - I find that interesting... She does better if my "meander" is more open turn, short straight line (like a mini leg - even if just five steps), with open turn either back to the same path or on a new straight path vs the meander that is a momentary curve around the issue and return to straight path. Judi/Mary Ann - something tells me that's typical and y'all will have insights on this.

 

At woods exit, my original path would have taken me straight into a thorny patch (right at her face level) and I realized too late that I had removed the pruners from my vest!! (Bad handler!) so I meandered to the left of a big poplar tree - to the right would have been more in line with the direction my track was going. She wanted to go the direction the track would have gone if not for the thorny patch...in fact she attempted to go that way and I would have let her but it was too much in her face so I called her back and redirected her slightly to go to the left. Once we got out of the woods, she continued and then we hit sort a transition area of shorter grass and she did a bit of right/left searching. I let her have a bit more line to investigate...her body language suggested a little stress here (nothing alarming) and I suspected she had used all her brain juices and needed water. I called her to me, gave her a drink and that was all she needed. Last article - again, similar to the prior article, her body language suggested that she would have only done a mere courtesy acknowledgement and attempted to continue tracking if food had not been in the article.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 23, 2024 (Saturday) - Emmanuel

Nov 23, 2024 - semi-new location this was our second time here - Permission-based location. 

There's a church and other buildings close by - several vans were getting washed by car washers near the buildings. There's a play ground (luckily no kids) and in the larger field there's a big garden plot. Except for the car washers, there wasn't a lot of noise distractions.

61oF, part sun, windy, H:34%

Two tracks - 

Track 1 was a shorter version of the article track - I ended up only having room for 6 articles. W25FD,W15A,W10FD,W15A, etc

• Goal - Articles
  
• Aged about an hour.  
• I tried one of those chest mounted cameras and found that far too distracting so will work with that later.
• Indication seems to be fading.  This is not a new problem.  I have to be careful not to make an issue over the downing as it becomes aversive and she will start to "shun" the articles...
  

Track 2 

• Goal - was more to try out a different area with what I had hoped would be a reinforcing track with mixed cover of short grass, dirt patches, exposed roots. 
• Aged a little over an hour. 
• Mostly good, but the turn seemed to have more questions than I anticipated. I had placed an article about 20 steps after the turn for reinforcement.
  

 

November 16, 2024 (Saturday)

First Class @ Cool Water - Instructor:
Judi

This was Mila‘s second track of the season and the first one in class. Was really pleased with how she did! Sometimes she can find the new locations with people watching a little distracting. Really gained helpful information from re-watching the video (thanks Andrea!) and wish I had someone following me along when I’m practicing for videoing😁. 

November 11, 2024 (Friday) - Emmanuel - Just get started already

 I have been a truant blogger...I did outings last winter and spring, but didn't manage to get them posted. At some point I will try to do...I have all the maps in my tracking binder thing.  

Regardless, since had not done anything (other than a few article games around the house), I decided I needed to just get out there and do a quick, easy track to get our feet wet again so to speak.  Plus, I had gotten permission to use a new site and I wanted to try it out.

S5W15*9/10 - * was either two food drops, an article (no food in article), or more scuffs

 Cover - wet, green grass & pine needles

 55degrees, partly sunny/cloudy; H: 88%

TL: 3:30pm TR: 4:15pm

 

This was a brand new site, w/ kids playing on the playground about 100 yards away and a fair bit of traffic noise.  Since we hadn't been out in a while, I kept this young and short to increase success.  Initial start forward-going, then did some smellploration.  After that, kept a moderate tracking pace. "Ignored" food drop on leg 2. Did okay with articles (had to verbal cue the down). Started strong after article on leg three.  I did not like my handling...too much guidance with my body. 

January 2, 2024 (Tuesday) - Adair's Farm - Brushing the dust off - Part II

Decided to give the new hip a try and put in a short (~120yrds total), young track for Mila to see where things stand after another long break.  My hip did okay overall and Mila did great (though we both need to build our fitness back up)!

So an underlying theme for all my tracks is going to be trying to identify how arousal states influence Mila's tracking and figuring out ways to maintain the arousal state that drives, drive rather than suffocates it 😁.  This ought to be interesting...

Mila typically comes out of the car gangbusters and excited to track and then sometimes, something happens along the way to snuff this out and she shuts down a bit (or a lot).  After thinking this through and from some discussion's in Judi's Foundations classes and that podcast about arousal (can't remember the name), it started to seem like her checking out was from overstimulation/too much arousal.  This is worth exploring.  So, I want to try and keep the energy up but channeled - this is the part that will take some learning for me for sure.

Out of the car (she was amped) so to focus her a bit, I did 10 smallest possible loops (which helped). Then we went to the start flag and about 10 yrds from the start, I put the harness on and did 5 SPLs.  She started (and maintained being) super focused and no smellsploration at the start...the only meandering was at one of the tall tufts of grass next to the track that she wanted to smell the calling card some other critter had left behind, but she went back to it in short order. LOS at turn 1, but relatively limited - overshot turn, checked left with head only, then looped back to leg 2.  Found the article that was about 12 yrds from the turn and did the Mila special indication (standing) - briefly offered water (refused).  We took a moment to play with the article (during which she downed and maintained article interest).  She nailed T2 (I actually anticipated LOS here because it was on a downhill slope) and stayed focused down the last leg to the article (same Mila special followed by article play - again she downed during this). Offered and drank water. I switched clip from back to collar, did a few more reps of SPLs then removed harness.

It's difficult to see my scrawl so my pattern was S5W15*9/10 with * being food drop, article, or 5 scuffs. I wanted each leg to have at least one food drop OR one article with the rest of the reinforcement being scuff. Start (canvas glove) and End (wallet) article did not have food; with article (bandana) on leg 2 having food. T1 was scuff in/out and T2 was scuff in/walk out.  I benefited from observing class on Sat so worked on keeping the line at 6 to 10ish feet.

September 16, 2023 (Saturday) - Old Field - Brushing the dust off

 

We have had a big break from tracking so for this outing I mainly wanted to just get out and track something simple and remind myself of what strategies I need to keep working on. I sort of picked up with things from the last tracking outing (even went to same location).

Two short, young tracks (~30min/ea). I had planned to age them longer, but then I started to get worried that kids would show up for soccer league games plus it was starting to warm up quite a bit w/ the sun coming out (had been overcast till then).

Track 1 (all scuffed, no food) - started strong (not distracted by dog & person at far end of the field though I could tell she was aware of their presence).  Overshot turn w/ a quick loop back to leg 2.  Unfortunately 'saw' both the article on leg 1 and the end article.

Track 2 (food+scent pad or article (NF) + scent pad) - start not quite as strong, but the dog & person was more in her line of sight. Still wasn't too distracted by them, more that it pulled at her attention a bit more. Slight distraction at the movable soccer goal, but quick return. Found both the article on the track and the end article w/ nose rather than seeing them. Very strong restart after the article on the track. Some shifting to left due to wind blowing right to left, but w/ quick returns to track. 

She definitely needs to rebuild fitness - unfortunately had been too hot for me to start her hardcore fitness walks so I could see her get tired (more from the heat). I need to work back in the reinforcement strategies (like TT at end of track or when she returns to track after difficult/worrisome distractions).