Gimme was very fussy in the car on the ride to Auburn, so she had a rough start. She didn't really get focused on the track until the third article from the end. I assumed the lack of focus was because of her mental state. I've since discovered she is really struggling with the grass pollen. In one of our walks, I dropped treats for the last half mile before the turn around point so Gimme could find them on the way back. It's a fun thing we do and usually Gimme is great at it. This time Gimme had trouble finding the cheese pieces and would have missed a third of them if I hadn't helped her. She's still getting bee pollen, but bees don't collect grass pollen, so it's only a very little help for her. Bees only collect pollen from those plants that are pollinated by "winged vectors"; grass is pollinated by the wind. Clearly I won't sign up for any tracking test when grass pollen is prevalent.
On the second article rectangle Gimme did much better. I think by then her nose was more tuned to what she was looking for. I'd also given her coconut water after the first track, so her nasal passages were likely more hydrated, which surely helped. Gimme worked right through this, even despite the interruptions from a couple of cars driving through/over her track.On August 15th, we met at Game Farm Park. I again asked for article circles and for all absorbent articles. I'm keeping things simple until Gimme is through all this angst. The day before I had taken Gimme to the vet and started using his suggestions. Gimme was quieter and calmer in the car and I could see she was much more focused. Nadine laid one track and I laid another when I got there. I made sure Gimme was well hydrated before we started.
I ran her on my track first, for two reasons. One - it was fresher and would be a good warm up. Two - Nadine had already run one of her dogs on her track and I wanted Gimme to warm up on a track without another dog's smell on it. It took Gimme a couple of legs to get in gear on this track. She missed the first article altogether and I had to bring her back to it. She was challenged to find the second one, but after that she did great. She even found the extra article I'd dropped accidentally.
When we did Nadine's article circle, Gimme was already warmed up and did well on it. Nadine commented a couple of times "Cricket went there too." This is why I don't like reusing tracks, since you don't know if your dog is solving the puzzle in the same way as a prior dog, or if they have changed gears and are actually tracking the prior dog. So for the most part I avoid reusing tracks. Nadine is okay with reusing tracks, so she's fine with letting Gimme go first and letting her dogs follow. In seminars, Sil has us run article circles one after the other, so if it's good enough for him, I do bend this rule for article circles. They are about articles, not tracking.I was pleased with her efforts this day. The grass pollen levels are decreasing. They were supposed to go down to light last Friday, but I just checked and they are still considered moderate, but it's supposed to go down to mild in the next two days.
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