Urban Tracking (40)

I laid the track when I arrived at my Mom's and we ran it right before leaving, 90 minutes later. It got a LOT hotter and was about 90º when we ran it. I was prepared to toss a glove in front of her and call it quits, but even though we haven't tracked in really hot weather before, Gimme did fine with it. About half the track was in the shade and it was a very short track, so these two factors made a difference.

We started at the leftmost blue star (articles) at the start sock. The ground there was rocky and vegetation was sparse. She had short starting distance and then came upon an 8 yard blacktop crossing. She really struggled with the crossing, but finally went across and found the track on the far side. The lime green is also sparse grass, but more than the rocky ground where we started (is mowed). The two light blue-green rectangles are buildings. When we got behind the building where the first article was supposed to be (white star), it was gone. Gimme briefly looked for it then continued on. The textured avocado colored shape is an area of woods, where the ground is just solid pine needles. I really thought Gimme would struggle with this, but she zipped through it, making both turns as if she'd been tracking on pine needles all along.

The track came out of the little woods onto more rocky ground with sparse vegetation. She made the next turn nicely and found the second article 20 yards from the turn. The transition onto mossy grass was no problem. The track proceeded right beside a tree (about 4' away) and then turned left alongside of the other building. I see I actually drew this wrong, she could have gone straight there. I'd read in Sil's manuscript about turns very close to trees being a challenge, so I wanted Gimme to experience one. She did pause to check out the tree, which should not be a pee-marked tree. Then left it on her own, made the turn and got to the article. What isn't shown is the distraction of my mother sitting in a lawn chair 10 yards past the final article. Gimme was thinking of going to her, but stopped to tell me about the article. Good girl.

There really was so much to love about this track and her efforts. In hindsight I should have just started the track on the blacktop. I was very happy with her multiple transitions from one type of cover to another. She did so well on the pine needles - making both turns without hesitation. I really expected this to be a bigger challenge. And most exciting, she did so well despite how hot it was.

Good girl Gimme, best dog ever...