Gimme did a great job on this track. The beginning was a serpentine with three articles. Then across an open stretch to the first turn. The whole of the second leg was full of trash, where the windstorm the day before had blown it against the curb. Gimme easily found her article amid the trash. When the curb turned right for the bit of inset parking, Gimme went straight with the track and found another article. She spent a minute deciding where the second turn was before committing to it.
She was solid on the first half of the third leg, up to the sidewalk with the parking barriers. Nadine had placed an article there (light blue dot), but the cinema employee picking up trash must've gotten it. Gimme knew it should be there and spent a couple minutes looking for it. She finally gave up and went on. The next article was in front of a car - which Nadine had tracked around and the article was in front of the right front tire. Gimme did nice cartoon corners around the car to the article. From there to the end was easy peasy.
On Saturday, January 12th, I laid a track for Gimme at the old Ford dealership. It was a cold 36º, wet surfaces and no breeze. I wanted to work two things: 1) tracking down a set of stairs and 2) tracking near the road. The last time we tracked there, our track started where this one ended and Gimme was really drawn toward Pacific Avenue, a high traffic road. I wasn't sure if she was just doing her typical serpentine on the first leg or if it was some affect from the fast moving cars (it seemed like more than the usual first-leg serpentine), so I wanted to track the same area at the end of the track. I didn't intend it, but this track was aged 2:10 before we got back to it. This is officially Gimme's oldest urban track.
I started the track along side the building (top left), then turned right along the front of the building, then after 15 feet turned left down a set of 4 steps. Gimme was steady until she got to the stairs, where it took her a little bit to decide to go down them. Once she decided she was right on it, readily made the right turn and was soon rewarded with an article. The next article was rubber and mixed into some gravel. She acted as if she thought there was something there, but wasn't highly committed to finding it. I held her back and she did sort it out.She did a good job on the next turn (the 4th, if you count the stairs for 2 turns). She was really fast on the next leg. I think I left an article there (light blue), but she didn't even hesitate and I never saw it. She made the next turn easily and moved quickly down the next leg, finding the article at the edge between the grass and pavement. She made the moment-of-truth (MOT) turn, sort of. The turn wasn't quite a 90º, but she opened it up to more like a 45º turn. She ended up along the bushes (next to the road), following them to the last article.
I think the fast moving cars on the road must create an air current, drawing scent toward the road. In this case scent pooled against the bushes, so it was logical for her to follow this pooling scent. She was solid on the final article. I need to get back in the habit of drawing a diagram so I can be more certain where I leave articles.
On Sunday, January 13th, I laid a track for Gimme at Temple Baptist Church, which is next door to my church. It was 40º and very foggy, no breeze and damp ground. The track was aged 1:40.
Gimme was solid on this first leg and first turn, but then we ran into difficulty. She was highly distracted toward the woods. She found the first article without too much trouble, but then was back to the woods on all sides of this small field (fine red-dotted line). This desire to go into the woods isn't normally an issue for us and I don't know what made these woods so special. She did find the second turn, but then continued with the woods-distraction. Even though I kept helping her back to the third leg of the track, she wasn't inclined to stick with it and missed the article. She did find the third turn and went with it, being rewarded by an article near the building.
She had some difficulty with the fourth turn. Instead of turning right with the track, she was inclined toward the playground to our left. The building to our right was the main sanctuary, so between the time I laid the track and when we ran it, there had probably been 100 people walking across it. It took some effort for her to discern the track direction and when she did, she followed it nicely, tracking stronger the further she went. She didn't even notice the angled fifth turn, going right with it and drove right to the last article.Overall I thought she did well. However, if I hadn't known where the track was, we would have failed.
After a bit of a break I took her out into the field where she missed the article, coming from directly behind the sanctuary. I didn't let her get too close to the woods and just moved her around in the general area until she found the missing article.
It occurs to me I am probably getting lazy in treating her for articles. I give her the same amount of treats, but I'm really just dropping a clump of them. I need to go back to dropping them one-by-one, which makes the period of reward last longer. I certainly want to keep her article-love as strong as I possibly can.
She's still the BEST.
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