The purple line is the sidewalk most people use to walk their dogs, often using flexi-leads so the dogs potty 15-20' on either side. I wanted to make a quick pass through the potty zone close to the start. Since this was so much longer, it took Gimme a long time to get through it, marking all the way. She did make it, but it really was a challenge for her. When she got to the place where the track crossed the sidewalk she really went for it. Probably relieved to get away from all the potty stuff and find an article. Turning up to stonehenge she did a great job and went fast. The big yellow dot in stonehenge is a container full of food. My intent was for it to be a distraction, but I didn't think it through. Since Nadine's scent was on it, it was effectively an article, so Gimme got to have the ham inside. Next time I will prepare it and give it to Nadine in a clean poop bag. Then when she places it, she can use the poop bag like a glove - so it never gets her smell on it. There was another article right after stonehenge, so included the botched distraction, Gimme got two articles one right after the other. She really likes this system.
After stonehenge I intended for Nadine to go straight across the sidewalk into the open field. Instead she turned a bit right and set the track paralleling part of the sidewalk, which was more potty zone, though not as contaminated as the first area. So it took Gimme a bit to do that area and again she was quick to cross the path. Before long she found another article.
I had picked up the wrong tree as my sight picture and kept steady pressure on Gimme, pulling left. To her credit, she was firm about taking me down the track to the correct tree. I'd love to see her show this level of commitment more often, eh...
The next leg was really long and had two articles on it, then crossed the path. It turned and went across the base of a tree with lots of pine needles. Gimme kind of skirted the edge of the pine needles, so when she rejoined the last leg of the track, she was coming at it from an angle. Thus, when she picked up very fresh tire tracks (Nadine said they weren't there when she laid the track) Gimme was aligned to go with the tire tracks off to the right of the track and down the hill into the little amphitheater. She did turn off the tire tracks toward the concrete barriers; I think she might have picked up the scent of the last article. But it wasn't not enough to get there before Nadine called us back to redo where the tire tracks crossed our track.
It will be awhile before we do this again and when we do, I'll make sure Nadine understands the amount of difficulty I want. I don't think this bothered Gimme - it just wasn't the gentle introduction I wanted. To start I want her to get through the marking area fast, so she doesn't have time to get bogged down in it or do a bunch of marking. Then I'll gradually increase the distance.
No comments:
Post a Comment