It was 1:45 old, slight breeze, about 40ยบ, with wet ground and pavement. The track started in the parking lot with a sock, crossed into the grass and meandered around some big rocks and a tree. The first turn went right in the open grass, crossing mulch to go down a sidewalk between two buildings, with a plastic article two-thirds along it. This article disappeared between laying it and running the track - someone likely thought it was trash. Then the track turned right up three steps and immediately left down a covered breezeway between two classrooms. I had to step around a picnic table, then cross onto grass for a short bit. The next right turn went down the center of a long deep gravel driveway, before returning to the blacktop parking lot. There was an article almost at the end of the gravel strip. Another right turn angled across the parking lot to a bit of landscaping where the final article was tucked under a small tree.
The track starts on the lower left (ignore the apparent line along the bottom of the picture - it's shadow from the fence).
Gimme took a couple of minutes to get started, she kept going toward the road about 30' away. I recall this once before (at the old Ford dealership), I think the swish of traffic pulls the scent toward the road. I just held her back until she sorted it out. Once she made a decision, she did a nice job driving across the parking lot and didn't hesitate to pass between two parked cars. She tracked to the left side of the rocks; I had passed to the right. She overran the corner, but as I asked her "Is this the good track?" she peeled off to the right and circled a couple of times before picking up the turn. She didn't hesitate to leave the grass, passing over the mulch onto the pavement. I know there had to be at least 20 people walk on the sidewalk from the building on our left, as the service was let out and Sunday school ended. It would have been just 10-15 before we tracked and she didn't seem to notice.
She cut both corners getting up into the breezeway, making more of a serpentine out of it, with no hesitation. She moved around the picnic table without a pause.
She overran the next turn, wanting to follow a track along the fence. I'm sure there was some scent gathered there, but she came back on her own and checked until she found where the track turned onto the gravel. She took a couple of steps onto the gravel before moving out to track along the grass edge. About halfway she angled toward the center of the gravel where the track was and was rewarded with an article.
She struggled a little bit with the last turn. Given the number of cars that were leaving, moving scent and possibly driving over our track, I think this is understandable. Once she picked up the line of the track, she practically pulled me off my feet to get to the article.
This is the oldest track she's ever done on pavement. She has crossed sidewalks and roads this old, but never actually tracked out in the middle and made a moment-of-truth turn at this age. So I am over-the-moon pleased with her efforts.
I think I also made a breakthrough in understanding. In the past I have tended to wait for her to line out exactly on the track. This time I let her work the edge between the gravel and the grass and she moved to the center of the gravel where the track was on her own. I think maybe I need to let her work it her own way more often.
Way cool.
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