Field Tracking (69 & 70) and Urban (164)

I am a bit late in getting these tracking blogs done, but they are all very similar.  My plan was a capital "R" shaped track, where the section near the first leg is much closer than you would see at a tracking test.  I wanted to train to a more difficult level than we'll be tested on.

On Thursday, July 23rd, Nadine and I met at Flaming Geyser and did the first of our "R" tracks.  I didn't make the spacing clear, so Nadine laid a track where the legs were too far apart.  I was looking for something like 25-40 feet and this was more like 60 feet.  Gimme showed no sign she noticed the other leg in either part of the track.  She did enjoy the easy track in the 3' tall grass.

 

On Thursday, July 30th, Nadine and I met at Game Farm Park to repeat the "R" tracks under different conditions. I thought I was clear about the spacing I wanted for Gimme, but the legs were even farther apart.  It was about 75 feet.  Gimme definitely didn't notice the other leg in either part of the track.  It worked out okay though, since it was hot and dry and the pollen level was very high.

 

 

 

 

Today, Thursday, August 6th, we again met at Flaming Geyser and Gimme got her third "R" track.  (we did something different for Cricket and Sugar).  This time the legs were 20-25 feet and the close-together section was MUCH longer.  The shape was a bit different to make use of the space we had available, so it doesn't look much like an "R". Gimme definitely noticed the other leg in both directions.  The first time I helped her figure it out with just a little bit of line tension.  The other times, she'd explore in the direction of the other leg, but then leave it on her own.  While we were getting ready to lay tracks, a deer sauntered right across where Gimme's track was going to be laid, so she had an extra challenge.  She was very interested in where the deer had passed through, but then went back to work.

I was very pleased with her efforts today with both the intended and unintended challenges.  In a few weeks we'll do the "R" or something similar again. 

I did finally get some bee pollen today.  I'm not sure if it will do her any good, since I normally start giving it to her in late-March-early-April, and continue through early October.  Time will tell. 

Field Tracking (67 & 68) and Urban (163)

On Thursday, July 2nd, Nadine and I met at Flaming Geyser. I asked her to recreate the track from June 18th; the one where Gimme had some issues. The track she laid was very similar, but not exact. The temperature was about 65º and we only aged it for 60 minutes.

Gimme did a great job on it. She was slower to make the first turn and cross the road. From there she followed the track almost exactly. She did a great job on the second road crossing.

The track she had difficulty with was 75º and we aged it for 1 hour and 15 minutes. The other issue is pollen at this time of year. I've talked to my honey man and he is trying to get me some bee pollen. It won't be as good as what I've gotten from him, but it is regional and I hope it will help some.

On Saturday, July 4th, I laid a simple track for Gimme at my mother's house. It was 68º and aged for 1 hour. It was just a simple square around the house, with articles on every leg.

The main purpose for the track was to see how she would do with the distraction of all the firecrackers going off in the neighborhood. It sounded like downtown Chicago. Gimme has always been really solid on noisy stuff, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to track with all the popping noise. She was every bit as good as I expected. She was sitting in the car for an hour listening to it, so when she got to track, she paid no attention to it. She took her time getting started on a bit of gravel leading right across asphalt. Once she did, she was like a tracking machine to the end.

On Thursday, July 9th, we met at the Auburn Cinema. It was taped off (probably to prevent it from being used for illegal fireworks), so we used parking lots on the backside of the mall. They had been taped off, but the tape was down already and while we were tracking, mall personnel removed the remaining tape.

The track was mostly island serpentines, with a few short crossings. Gimme was not as skilled as she's been in the past. In her defense we haven't been practicing much urban tracking. It had drizzled the night before and early morning, so I hoped it would hold scent better and help with the pollen. If it helped, it wasn't evident. Gimme really had to work to solve this track.

We need to get back to including the parking lot tracks, but it may be awhile. The reason we left off was the potty issue. In the past here, I've been able to go to a nearby McDonalds to use their restroom (and buy a drink), but right now we can't. Likewise at Game Farm Park their restrooms are locked. Oddly the restrooms are open at Flaming Geyser, so I guess the China virus is not as great a risk at a state park, vs. a city park. Who knew?

Urban tracking (162) and Field tracking (65)

On Thursday, May 28th, Nadine and I met at Game Farm Park for tracking. It was cool and misty, with a very light breeze. Gimme's track was aged 1:10 - easy for her.

Her track followed around the bottom end of the two ball fields and Gimme did a great job at it. As we turned left, somewhat parallel to the ball field, Gimme stayed on the crest of the hillock. Partway down, the track bent to the left, but Gimme continued forward, bending slightly right (dotted black line). After we went about 2/3 of the way to where we would be parallel to the article, Nadine called us back to restart at the corner.

Gimme then turned a sharp right (red dotted line), crossed the paved path and went out into the field. She turned about 45º left until she got close to the wall, then turned 90º left again. It was on this leg where it became clear to me; I was being taken for a walk. So I took her back to the bent corner and encouraged her to sort it out. This time, while she still high on the hillock, she was a little bit down on the correct side of the crest. She bent stronger when she got close to the article and then turned the corner to go to the final article.

I think Gimme was originally following scent, possibly flowing up and over the crest. As is her way, she got highly perturbed when I pulled her off the track and took her back. So she says "Fine! You think you know so much..." and she takes me off on a walkabout. She's done this many times when she is unhappy with my handling. If we'd let her go, chances are she would have turned to the article when we got parallel to it. I may have Nadine lay this track again when we go back there. It may be awhile since their bathrooms are all locked up and we are there too long to do without facilities.

We skipped tracking on June 4th because Nadine had something come up.

On Thursday, June 11th, Nadine and I met back at Flaming Geyser. They still have areas set aside for migrating bird nesting, which limits what we can do, but at least there are toilets we can use.

Cricket missed the first article on her track, so I let Gimme recover it. She was perplexed to have such a short track, less than 100 yards with just one easy turn.

It was 61º and aged about an hour, with no breeze. Honestly, Gimme was so clean in her tracking, there is really nothing much to comment on. Perhaps recovering the missed article worked like a practice track.

She did serpentine briefly on the second leg, but once she got to the first article she was all business. I was particularly pleased at how quickly she decided to cross the road and how she instantly picked up the track on the other side.

All in all, it was a great track, nice and easy. I was glad she got to have a nice track after the annoyance of the prior track.

Urban Tracking (162)

On Thursday, May 21st, Nadine and I met at the far end of Flaming Geyser, in the park area. Gimme's track is in black and Nadine's is in red. The two white lines are where we parked. After we laid the track and while Nadine was tracking with Cricket and Sugar, 3 separate groups of people showed up to play with their dogs. Their cars are indicated with short orange lines. Where they walked and played with their dogs are shown with orange dots.

Gimme's track was 90 minutes old and 53º. There was a breeze coming off the river at the top of the picture. Gimme was only 35 yards into her track when she came upon the first dog contamination and their car was still there - right beside her track. The owner had been throwing a ball and the first throw put it right next to Gimme's first article. Gimme checked out the dog smells and then moved on, got across the road and was on the track, but would have missed her first article without my help.

She got a little further and then got stuck on Nadine's cross-track and/or the nearby dog contamination. Gimme needed to go between two picnic tables and past a grill, but it was a struggle. One pair of owners (three orange dots) were sitting at nearby tables with their off leash dog. Nadine walked over before we started and asked them to put their dog on leash, which they nicely did. This was probably the hardest part of the track, but Gimme did finally figure it out.
 
After these challenges, Gimme paid no attention to the contamination on the path near the river, even though it was all over her track for about 80 yards. When we got past the contamination, Gimme went so fast she almost missed an article. In her defense it was laying in a bunch of pine needles, so it may have been hard to smell.
 
She got through the multiple turns and then had a little struggle with dog contamination right as she needed to cross the road. She finally just crossed the road and then searched until she found the track on the other side, despite two cars parked there. From there to the end, she just aced it.
 
Clearly with all the contamination provided by other park users, we didn't really need to set cross-tracks. Gimme did a good job, despite the challenges.

Urban Tracking (160)

On Thursday, May 7th, Nadine and I met at Auburn Cinema. We again laid a pair of overlapping tracks. Gimme's track was close to an hour old. There was a breeze, but not as strong as it was the week before. The first and last cross tracks had Nadine and two of her dogs' scent; the second and third cross tracks had Nadine and her three dogs.

I laid Gimme's track (black) and Nadine laid a track for her girls (red). I printed up a diagram for Nadine, but it wasn't clear enough. Intended her to turn and pass through one of the landscape islands, which would have put the leg for the cross tracks about 30 feet from our start and end. Instead she thought it showed her going around the landscape island, which had her cross track 3 feet from our start and end (dotted red line).

Gimme had a really hard time with the start, but didn't appear to notice the crossing at the end or the two other crossings. It took Gimme awhile to sort it out. While I didn't intend such a hard challenge, it was a good experience for her. As luck would have it, a guy parked on her track (white dash) and was busy compounding his vehicle. I thought this would be hard for her, but she went around the car without hesitation. Fortunately she then got right to the first article and was well rewarded for her efforts.

As I said, there wasn't any sign of Gimme noticing the other three cross tracks. She just motored through her track like a pro.

Nadine pointed out last week how Gimme's tail wags the whole time she is tracking and even faster when she gets to an article. I've been watching for it and have also noticed she speeds up and/or gets "busier" when she's close to an article. It's nice to have this tell.

I know she is sure happy to be back to tracking.

Urban Tracking (159)

Nadine and I met at Auburn Cinema on Thursday, April 30th. This is our first time tracking in 5 weeks. All the girls were very eager to get back to it.

As we've been doing, we did a track overlapping a track. Gimme's track wasn't aged very long, about 40 minutes. Nadine ran Cricket and Sugar on the red track. The light blue arrow is the wind coming from the north. The white blob below the arrow is an 18-wheeler. It and the Wal-Mart store blocked much of the wind, but channeled it down the western side of our tracking layout.

Gimme struggled to get started. The crosstrack was only 10 feet from her start sock and the wind was channeled strongly there. Fortunately when she figured it out, she was rewarded by an article. There was no sign she even noticed the second cross track and she found the article next to the curb easily. She went about 6 feet past the first corner in the grass, then arced left and rejoined the track, quickly finding the next article. She did a great job with the other two turns on the grass, crossing the road and finding the next article. Again there was no sign she noticed the third cross track.

Gimme got stalled before the fourth cross track and was tending to go off to the left of the track. I'm sure this was from the wind channeled into this part of the track. She did finally figure it out and then got to the final article. Since she was working so hard to figure out the wind problem, I couldn't tell if the final cross track was an issue.

Overall she did a great job. The 18-wheeler-wind problem was a new one for us. Since she hadn't been tracking in 5 weeks, I was pleased with how she took up where she left off. Her tail wagged constantly and wagged faster when she found an article. All the extra walking and weekly nosework practices aren't enough for her. My brilliant girl needs to have opportunities to use her brain.

Urban Tracking (158)

On Thursday, March 19th, Nadine and I met at Auburn Cinema for tracking. The black track is what Nadine laid. At the same time I laid the blue track, creating 5 actual crosstracks and 1 slice at a corner. Nadine ran her track twice, with Cricket and then Sugar.

Then I ran it with Gimme at about 45 minutes. It was cool with a slight breeze. Gimme did a great job on all the crosstracks. The place where she had the most difficulty was at the corner slice, which was also where Nadine's girls were most challenged. Corner slices are a different deal, so they can easily prove difficult. It also could have been more challenging simply because Nadine's girls tracked in multiple directions trying to sort out the corner - so they were laying more contamination for Gimme to work through. She did work through it and I'm so proud of her.

Ideally next time we put down treats for Nadine's girls to keep them on the track. Of course that means I have to actually remember to do it. Since we haven't tracked since and don't know when we will track next... my memory may not be very reliable...

Urban Tracking (157)

On Thursday, February 6th, Nadine and I met at Game Farm Park. I had planned overlapping tracks to further Gimme's understanding of sticking with her track, no matter what doggie contamination there might be. The blue diamond track is an article-diamond laid by Nadine as I was laying our track. Gimme's track started on the left side (by the reddish square, going along the curb of the sidewalk then turning left for a straight shot through the potty zone, then a couple of turns with 6 crosstracks of Nadine and Cricket (doing their article diamond).

Nadine and Cricket did their article-diamond track and as soon as they finished, I brought Gimme up to do our track. It was aged less than 30 minutes when we ran it. To help her sort out getting through the potty-zone and to keep her closer to the track, I placed a treat on the track every 6-8 feet. I set an article across the path, right as she got through the potty-zone. Gimme did well with this and found all her cheese.

One thing I didn't understand at the time was the three pink marks at the beginning of the second leg, where she'd just stop and stare. I'd get her attention back on the track, she'd go a bit further and then did it again, twice. After the first article (orange) she dithered a little bit, but then went on and did a nice job. Nadine told me later, as we were running our first leg and the first bit of the second leg, there was a man throwing a ball for an off-leash dog right on our second leg (light pink lines just below the playground). We were still coming up the tiny hill, so Gimme and I couldn't see this, but she must've sensed it. The man and his dog moved off right before we topped the little hillock. Gimme was slightly distracted by their contamination, but not enough to need re-scenting.

Gimme paid no real attention to Nadine and Cricket's first crosstrack. She was pulled off by the second crosstrack, but then caught the smell of her next article on the corner, which brought her back to her track. From there the end she wasn't fooled again.

This was a great exercise and I'm sure we'll revisit it. The off-leash dog playing on her track was an extra layer of challenge I hadn't planned on, but Gimme did a great job with it. Actually she did a great job with the whole track - I was very pleased with her efforts. The cheese on the track in the potty zone worked well too. I think this is a plan we can make good headway with. I'm encouraged.

TDU Test

We failed at the TDU - didn't even get the first turn. It was frustrating, to say the least. The premium said the test would be held on Portland University, which is a nice dog-free site. Tracks 1 and 2 were at off campus satellite sights and we drew track 2.

I went along to track 1 and when the judges moved to track 2, the lead car lost me at a stop light and just kept going. I was able to get back to the track 1 site and found someone who was able to get me to our track location. When I arrived, the judges were waiting and concerned about getting behind schedule.

I didn't let Gimme pee before crossing the road because it was a residential area and we were parked along the front of houses.  I didn't seem appropriate to potty in someone's front yard or the grass strip next to the sidewalk right after getting out of my car. It would be different if I was walking down the sidewalk. So we crossed a paved road, the judge was right next to a tree about 10' from the curb and she pointed us to the start flag about 25' forward from where she stood. There wasn't really any time to let Gimme pee on the way to the flag - in hindsight I should have asked for a couple of minutes. When we train, our starts are always far enough away for Gimme to take care of business as we walk in.

Within a few steps after we crossed the start, one judge called out, "stop, you can't take your purse on the track". The "purse" was an over the shoulder bag I've been using for years (and used at her TD) to hold articles. My bag is so old and crummy, obviously not a "purse" that anyone would carry in public, so it didn't occur to me.  In the future I will be sure to ask the judges to check my equipment before we approach the start.

This interruption was very frustrating for Gimme and frustration is her Achilles' Heel. The judge said I could restart, but I didn't know what the parameters were for a restart and had already experienced the fun of asking questions of these two grumpy old ladies. So, I just encouraged Gimme to resume tracking.

Per Sil - Provided the dog has not passed the second flag, the handler may request permission from the judges for a restart. If approved by the judges, the handler may restart the dog, either from their present location or after returning to the starting flag. Only one restart is permitted. A restart allows you to point at the ground again, put the article back on the ground and hold your dog there, etc.

In any case, Gimme was very frustrated and annoyed and did very little tracking. She spent most of her time snooping around at the track and poop/pee sites, which she over-marked. There was a ton of dog poop, a pile about every 25 feet.  This is something we've never trained through - certainly not in that quantity.

Gimme missed the first turn. She passed it by 10 yards and then angled left about 45º and continued to snoop and over-mark. When I was sure she wasn't on the track, I organized her search to move back to where I thought the track was. She wasn't really into tracking and the first chance she got, she lined out pulling hard into her harness, going the wrong way. We got the whistle. Later I learned I hadn't gotten her back to where the turn was.

The judges wanted us to "finish the track", but didn't want to wait for Gimme to actually track. Instead their idea of "finish the track" was to tell me walk her this way, turn 45 degrees left, walk her forward toward the fire hydrant... I think they really just wanted me to bend over and pick up the articles.

It was a very discouraging experience, to say the least. It sure didn't help that the judges were so rude. Actually one judge was rude, repeatedly; the other never spoke while we were on site.

To prepare for our next try, I have some ideas for training. I think Gimme is generally a very strong tracker. I also think this was a horrid, grossly contaminated site. I have ideas to train to improve Gimme's ability to resist distraction. Thus, if we get another unfair test, we might have a chance to pass. Otherwise, she'll just be better and stronger than she needs to be. She'll enjoy the rewards in any case.

I am thinking about training the occasional (a few times spread over a year) interruption at the start. I wouldn't do it often since it would be frustrating and I wouldn't want to dampen her enthusiasm. I thought of letting her start, then stopping her after a few feet... dither a minute, then ask her to restart - so she will have experienced it other than at a test, where I can give her whatever support she needs to recover.

It also occurs to me I need to develop a consistent restart-plan, allowed according to the rules, for when we are interrupted mid-track. We get interruptions in our tracking at the park, from people and/or dogs. So if I had a restart-plan in mind, I could use it as/when these opportunities present themselves. Then Gimme would be familiar with what the sequence meant. I am basically thinking of re-scenting and then having her move around me to "search for it, search for your track". I'm sure I'm not consistent.

I think they planned the start location poorly. Think about it, people who walk their dogs, tend to walk a perimeter if there aren't paths (there were none there). So that's where all the tree/post marking and pooping will be. The judges placed our start right along a perimeter area and there was a line of trees 20' to our right and ball field backstop and benches 10' to our left. Thus, Gimme was exposed to overwhelming dog-potty smells before we even got started. I think she might have done better if the track had been reversed, because it ended in the open on one of the two ball fields, where I didn't see poop (though I sure wouldn't suggest children play there).

I realized when we track at Game Farm Park, we tend to start our tracks out in the open or away from the main dog-walking path. There are a lot of people who walk dogs through the park on Flexi-leads; walking the paved paths, with the dogs marking and pooping 15-20' on either side. While people here are much better about picking up after their dogs, there are still a lot of dog-potty smells along the strip. We have ended in the strip (100 yards long) and have crossed it mid-track, but I don't think we've ever started a track in the strip or close to it. So, every time she's passed through the strip, she's already well committed to the track.

I plan to reverse this from time to time. Starting Gimme in the contaminated area and ending in an easier area. The first time or two we could start close and just cross through the area. Later we could do a track starting close and then do a couple 45º turns crossing the path and zigzagging down it. This might simulate what we faced - no poop piles, but plenty of potty smells.

I also want to gear up on-the-ground distractions some of the time. Nadine could drop a filled poop bag next to the track. Gimme normally doesn't pay much attention to poop on the occasions we've found it and I think her reaction may have been exacerbated by the frustration at the start. But I thought it might be worthwhile to simulate it and cue "leave it" if she spends too much time studying the poop.

I also want to introduce other distractions. Such as a small container with something yummy in it. I could have Nadine stationed at an appropriate distance from our track or following us with one of her dogs. I can count on her to not do anything stupid, so this would be an opportunity to encourage Gimme to work through dog distractions.

I'm sure there is an unlimited number of distractions, contamination, environmental conditions and other interruptions to work through. I'll just have to keep plugging away at it. As long as she is well-rewarded for success, Gimme enjoys challenges. So it's my job to present them in a way were she is challenged in a reasonable progression and has fun overcoming them.

Urban Tracking (155)

My excuse for being so far behind in blogging is how busy the Christmas season is for me, both personally and on the job - which I'm sure is true for everyone. Account transitions carry on through the first week of January as we reset to Valentine.  Now it's all done and I can get the blog caught up.
 
On Thursday, December 19th, Nadine and I met at Game Farm Park. It was cold, breezy and damp.  I asked Nadine to create a TDU-like track, to prepare us for the test we entered for January 1st.   We aged the track 2 hours.
 
I was hopeful we'd do well, but this was not the reassuring track I wanted. Gimme started well, but when we approached the area of the first turn there were too-friendly women tramping all over the corner and a man passed nearby with his dog (pink squiggle, top of photo). This was very distracting for Gimme. Once they moved on she was able to make the turn. However, she tracked with a wide serpentine down the second leg (lime green). A woman walked her dog down the cement path to our left as we tracked (pink squiggle, right of track) and a man was playing with two young children to the right of our track (big pink squiggle, center of photo).
 
Gimme continued the serpentine down the length of the second leg and overran the corner. The overrun made it all the way to the cement path ahead of us - about 20 yards. Gimme didn't try to cross the path and started searching around. As we moved back toward where she'd been solid, she picked up the third leg and followed it.
 
She did a great job passing through the stonehenge rock formation and making the turn right afterward. The track actually passed through the wood chips of the playground, but Gimme stayed up on the cement path, moving around the playground and picking up the track where it exited. She was going a bit too fast and overran the last turn, then self-corrected, circled back, and picked up the turn. From there she crossed the cement path and went right to the final article hidden behind the exposed roots of a tree.
 
Overall Gimme did well. She had difficulty recovering from the distraction near the first corner, as well as ignoring distraction on the second leg. People and dogs are always "enticing" for her, so it's something we'll need to work on.

Nosework class (5/41)

Tonight we had 3 interior searches.  It is very cool to see how Gimme's indications have become so clear - and - unfortunately how bad I am at recognizing them.

Interior 1 video - I called alert because Gimme was showing so much interest and it was totally on me - she didn't look at me at all. She knew it wasn't a hide and moved on before Dorothy said "no". There were no hides and you can see Gimme's behavior reflects it, once we get past my personal bias. She was quite interested in the cart with the two trays of people cookies on it.

Interior 2 video - Note how different this was. Gimme is much more direct in her focus and when she is sure she has it, she starts toward me to make sure I've noticed. When she sees me coming toward her, note her movement back to the hide. Her indication was very clear.

Interior 3 video - For this last search there were 7 hides and Gimme found them all. I think her indications are becoming more clear all the time. At this point it's more about me restraining myself and waiting for her to do something to tell me "this is it". She sometimes baps or pushes around something, but it's not an indication until she gives me the-look or comes toward me to get me to come with her to the hide. I think once I get this clear in my head, we'll stop having false alerts.

We don't have class on the 24th or the 31st. Gimme will be so disappointed.

We got into a TDU test in Portland on Wednesday, January 1st. It's hosted by the Portland Dog Obedience Club. This is the same club where Gimme got her TD, so I think it would be great fun to get another tracking title there. I'm sure Gimme will do great, I just have to keep from messing her up. I'll take all the prayers I can get.

Urban Tracking (154)

I received a premium for the Portland Dog Obedience Club's upcoming TDU test (Jan 1st). We got our TD with PDOC, so it'd be nice to let them enjoy the fabulous Miss Gimme, Empress of the Cosmos, again. 

On Thursday, December 5th, we met at Auburn Cinema. I asked Nadine to set us a TDU-like track, so I can gauge whether Gimme is ready for a TDU test. This was more like a VST track. Even with Nadine's best efforts, it has a lot more hard-surface than Gimme would see at a TDU. It also occurred to me, we've never run a track this old (1½ hours) on this much pavement. It was cold, damp and only a slight breeze, but it proved a substantial challenge.

Gimme started well on the first leg, zigzagging along it and crossed the first road without hesitation. I'd asked Nadine to run the track up the stairs in case we got a track with stairs, which placed the track end too close to the first corner. Gimme overran the first corner; no doubt drawn in that direction because of the end. When I didn't go with her, Gimme came back and found the turn up the side of the building and had no trouble indicating the sock-article at the corner of the building.

She got to the sidewalk parallel to the back of the building and started into the parking lot, but then came back. She checked every possibility in the area of the red circle, before finally committing to cross the pavement. I was pretty sure the track went across the parking lot, but I wanted her to make the decision, instead of helping her. It took quite awhile.

She turned early for the next turn and followed parallel to the track (about 12' off), along the curb of the landscaping strip. We crossed one island and then she angled out until she rejoined the track and found the eye-glass-case-article just before the corner. She overran the corner a bit, but then came back to find the corner.

She had no trouble with the next turn on the edge of the sidewalk-grass. She did a lovely job following the track on the grass and bark. She sailed along and found the cloth-purse-article in the bushes.

She went out into the parking area and sniffed around, then came back and picked up the track along the curb. The actual track was right up next to the building, about 4' away. She made the next turn without issue and soon found the tiny glove hidden in the grass.

From there she followed the track down the sidewalk. The next turn was up the steps and she seemed to know it was there, but wanted to go around by way of vegetation. There were a dozen people waiting in line for tickets to the movie, including a couple of rowdy young children. She loves children, but in this situation I think she found them distracting and was trying to avoid them. I encouraged her and she went up the stairs and quickly followed along the metal pole railing.

At the end of railing she went straight, toward the building. She didn't find anything there and as she got back to the grass, she picked up the track and drove straight to the last article, a leather glove.

Gimme did well enough, especially considering all the challenges. It took her a half-hour to run this track. If this were a test, I am sure we would have failed - as much me as she. Clearly WE are not ready for a VST, but I still don't know if we are ready for a TDU.

Nadine and I planned to meet at Game Farm tomorrow to see if Gimme is ready for a track more like what we'd see at a TDU test. Unfortunately Nadine has strained her ankle. I'm sending in our entry anyway. We have until Saturday the 22nd to cancel if I want to. So I've "instructed" Nadine to get all better by next Thursday. Cross all the body parts you can spare.

Urban (153) & Field tracking (60)

On November 7th, Nadine and I met at Auburn Cinema for tracking.  It was cool and the ground was damp, with no real breeze.

I laid out an article circle. Gimme was a little slow to start, but then aced it through to the end. The second-to-the-last article was a plastic switch plate. Between the time Cricket ran the track and when Gimme ran it, someone ran over it and smashed it to pieces, spreading the pieces out. Gimme was only momentarily unsure about what to do, but then indicated the largest remaining piece. 






Nadine laid an elongated dog's head track for Gimme. In an aerial view it looks more like an anteater. When Gimme got to the nose where the track went forward the week before, she went across to check out the other side, but then came back and made the turn neatly. I don't know if she remembered or if she could still smell the old track a little. I do know when she was much younger she managed to find a pair of sunglasses on one of the Fort Lewis ranges, which had been out there for a couple of weeks, so I don't discount her smelling the old track a week later. In any case, from there to the end of the track she did a great job. She was very happy to find a toy as her last article - which she decided to keep.

On November 14th, we met at Flaming Geyser. Nadine wanted to try an exercise she'd done many years ago with Skookum. When she did it, she had a group of 8 friends follow her in a straight line from the start, then she turned 90º in one direction, while they all turned the opposite direction. The test was to see if the dog could still follow the original track.

For our track we both walked the first leg, me first, then Nadine. Then at the top and out in the open, I turned 90º right (red line) and she turned 90º left (green line). Cricket ran the exercise first and had no problem - she briefly checked a few feet down Nadine's leg, but then turned back and stuck with my track.

When Gimme ran it, she first tried to turn right. When I didn't go with her she continued to search around me in a circle and when she found the leg to the left with Nadine's scent she went with it - tracking to the end. Technically Gimme was correct to want to go to the right, since that track had newer-Nadine smell from when she ran Cricket on it.

We are going to do this exercise again, but will do two completely different track sets, so the dog doesn't get misleading training. I also think it might be a good idea to lay a track where the contamination layer joins the track a short distance after the tracklayer starts, so the dog has both the start article and a section of track to work from.

Field Tracking (59) & Urban (152)

On Thursday October 24th, Nadine and I met at Flaming Geyser. She laid this track and we let it age 1:40. It was about 40º, dry and no breeze to speak of.

Gimme started out well, barely noticed the road crossing and found the first article easily. She was a little less focused on the trail through the woods, but really couldn't go wrong. When she got to the foot of the trail, she went straight across the field on a walkabout, while the track turned right. Her head came up briefly before she started pulling hard. If I'd noticed the head-up moment, I might have slowed her down and then she might have taken the time to sleuth out the turn. Instead she didn't start telling me there was no more track until we got to the bigger road. When Nadine told me we were well off the track I took Gimme back to the foot of the trail - then she found the turn and tracked nicely to the end, finding the other two articles easily.

On Thursday, October 31st, Nadine and I met at Auburn Cinema. I was caught up in traffic and thus, 45 minutes late. Nadine had already laid out an article circle and a track for Gimme. We worked her two girls on the article circle and a track I laid for Cricket.

Gimme did well on the article circle, though she overran a couple of articles and then would have to circle back to find them. She loves article circles. More specifically she loves all the treats she gets.

When we started Gimme's track it was 2 hours old. The temperature was 35º, it was dry and there was very little breeze. She did a great job on the island serpentine, finding both articles. As we got to the last island, Gimme took off to the curb across from us (green line), until she ran out of line and I didn't go with her. When I reeled her in she dutifully took up a parallel line along the ends of the white striped (orange line). Turns out she was right, though cutting the corner, and was headed to an article when I misdirected her. Being in a false pregnancy she didn't stand her ground. She was trying to figure out the un-corner at the end of the orange line where it rejoined the track when Nadine called us back.

Once I stopped interfering she did a lovely job through to the end of the track. About 20' from the final article we came upon a truck straddling our track. Gimme just moved around it and then rejoined the track on the other side, right in time to find and indicate the final article.

She's a good girl. I'm a thickheaded and obtuse handler.

Urban Tracking (151)

On Thursday, October 17th, Nadine and I met at Auburn Cinema for urban tracking.

I laid the same track as last time for Cricket, but in reverse. She did well with it, except this one area where a bunch of cars parked around the track, but not on it. Ordinarily I don't think it would be an issue, but there was a pretty strong and variable-direction breeze. So I think the presence of the cars combined with the changing direction of the breeze did strange stuff with the scent. Unfortunately Cricket doesn't have a strong search-pattern, so Nadine couldn't do a search pattern to help her find it. With a search pattern she could have taken her back to the last place where she knew they were on track. However, Nadine later told me she didn't really know where it was.

The track she laid for Gimme was not terribly complicated, but the breeze made it more challenging than it would otherwise have been. The temperature was around 50º. It was very wet from all the recent rain, so the scent tended to hug the ground. Our track was 45 minutes old.

Gimme started out well, with a number of diversions into the landscaping islands for potty breaks. She did a bit of pulling out to the right before we got to the road. I think she was still figuring out the breeze, which at this point was blowing from left to right. When we got to the road she pulled me across and into the grass. From there she went into the parking lot on the other side, where the breeze now came from our right. Gimme went up the wrong side of the islands to start, so when we got adjacent to the article, she had to really work to find it. This now put her on the correct side of the islands, so she did the rest of the serpentine nicely. It only took her a moment to decide to turn left out into the open.

At this point the breeze was coming right into her face from the parking lot behind the theatre. Gimme was going fast with her nose right down on the track and did a really impressive full speed snap-back to the article within a foot of passing it. It was a wooden popsicle stick!  She did well with the next turn. The area of the next article proved challenging.  The breeze had been changing direction from time to time, but based on her behavior, it seemed to be swirling. She found the article and we got past this area.

Finding the last article (in the grass just past the tree) proved very challenging. The breeze was now coming from our right - from where I'd laid the track Cricket and Nadine had run just 20 minutes earlier (lime green line). So the breeze was bringing in much fresher Nadine smell. Gimme did finally sort it out and find the last glove - for which she got a LOT of cheese.

It was an interesting change, since we haven't had much breeze all summer. So, while the wetness made it easier, the breeze brought a new challenge. Fortunately Gimme loves a good challenge.

Urban Tracking (149) & Field (57)

On Saturday, September 14th, I laid a short track at Mom's. I usually lay them at Flaming Geyser park on Mom weekends, but it was raining hard when I got to the turn, so I headed straight to Mom's. When I got there the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out. There was no breeze and the temp was 69º. I aged the track for 90 minutes.

Gimme had no problem on the track and found all the articles readily. Mom's property is in a very rural area and there's often wildlife passing through. Recently a bobcat tried to take-out Mom's cat, just 4-feet from the house. Gimme showed no sign of noting or caring about any wildlife smells. The track through the dense woods was all on needles and very dark - Gimme breezed through and easily found the article there. After the wood was a turn on the blacktop and curve around some trees to the final article. I thought the track might be more challenging; clearly I thought wrong.

On Thursday, September 19th, Nadine and I met at Flaming Geyser. It was a cool day with no breeze. I asked her to lay a reverse of the last track, which she was already doing when I arrived. I went to the far end of the park and laid tracks for Cricket and Sugar in the picnic area, which is all mown grass. This area is also close to the river, so it presents some interesting challenges. 

The temp was 70º when we ran our track after 2-hours-15-minutes. Gimme had some difficulty with the first corner. It was in a low area and close to the river, so the scent was doing strange things and she had to work it out. From there she turned, found an article, crossed the road, turned, found an article, turned up the path through the woods - all without a hitch. When we came out of the woods she was determined to go straight ahead, instead of turning left. If I hadn't known the track turned left here, she might have sucked me into the field ahead and might not have gotten back. Once we did make the turn, she crossed another road and made the turn toward the end. Just as she had the last time we tracked here, Gimme was drawn out toward the field in the same area where the incoming road T'd against the other road. I'm not sure what the air is doing here, but her response was consistent with the last time, two weeks earlier. Once she got past this area, she drove quickly to the final article.

I'm so glad to be out of pollen time. I'm sure Gimme is happier too.

Urban Tracking (148)

On August 22nd, Nadine and I met at Auburn Cinema for tracking. We'd just come out of 2 days of rain in the area, so the air was about as clean of grass pollen as it could get. Also the ground was damp, making for better tracking. We did article circles again.

Nadine set an article circle, the reverse of what we did the prior week. The hardest part for Gimme was the start. The start sock was right up next to the curb and the first leg went 90º from the curb. It was awkward to align with the leg, plus a turning away from a curb is the hard. It took Gimme a little bit to solve it, but then she did pretty darn good. There were lots of interesting articles to find.  She found them all - only needing help with one.  She noted it, but didn't stop to indicate, so she didn't think it was really an article.

We went straight from the article circle to a short track. Together they made up the approximate length we'd need for a TDU test. Now we just have to get the age back.

The first leg was an island serpentine and Gimme just motored right along. From there she turned out into the open and then turned again to go back to where the cars were parked. She did a nice job with all of this. It's good to see her getting her nose back.

Later we had a follow-up appointment with her chiropractor, Dr. Powell. He checked her over thoroughly and only found minor things to adjust. One interesting thing was a slightly jammed toe. It was on the same foot as the other jammed toes were, but this was an outside toe. He thinks it may have been stressed when she was favoring the sore toe/toenail. It wasn't much of a jam though, since it popped back so easily, she didn't even notice. It was nice to have an appointment with no ouches.

It's been a hard summer and it's quite a relief to be getting back to our normal, eh...

Urban Tracking (146 & 147)

On August 8th, Nadine and I met at Auburn Cinema. Because of Gimme's mental state, I asked her to lay article circles again. She first laid an article-G in one lot and then an article rectangle in the other.

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.

Urban Tracking (145) and chiropractor

On Thursday, July 25th, Nadine and I met at Game Farm Park for tracking practice.  Gimme had been really over-sensitive lately and had a meltdown the night before, so I wanted her to have an easy track. Plus I'd already decided to do some article circles to increase the value for articles. So, I asked Nadine to lay an article circle for Gimme. 

Normally I prefer for Gimme to go first on these exercises when all the girls will be running it, because it's a cleaner track. But Nadine had already run one of her girls and was about to run another when I arrived (bad traffic made me late), so Gimme was third to run the track. The track started at the top of the picture, to the left. There was a missing article (light blue dot), which was probably picked up by someone.  Gimme did spend a bit of time looking for it when she got to the middle of the leg, so she clearly knew there was supposed to be something there. 

Gimme was so enthusiastic and having fun, so I asked Nadine to lay an article zig-zag on the way back to the car and we ran it when it was less than ten minutes old. Gimme really raced through it.

================

About ten days ago Gimme was lying on the couch beside me, then  squealed, ran out of the room and wouldn't come back. It happened twice. I had no explanation for why she was doing this, so I scheduled a chiropractic appointment. I planned to schedule one as a follow-up for the atlas vertebrae, so I just made the appointment earlier. By the time of our appointment, Gimme had two unexplained episodes of over-reaction during training. One was the time when she got upset during our RFE practice and the other was the meltdown the night before.

As it turned out, during the chiropractic treatment, Gimme screamed in pain when Dr. Powell extended her right shoulder. This has never been an issue before, so we were all taken by surprise. Gimme has a very long history with Doc; she gets a steady stream of peanut butter from her go toob the whole time he's working on her, so she's pretty certain he's the best person on the planet. Thus, she didn't hold it against him.  She was completely happy with his exam and treatment of the rest of her body. When he came back to the shoulder, her eyes got very big, but she was willing to let him do it. Fortunately the stuck shoulder had popped out during the stretch, so there was no more discomfort.

I made another appointment for next week, to recheck the shoulder, the atlas and the two toes. Sheesh - I've never seen her have stuff going on one right after another. She seemed fine on the shoulder up until today and now I notice her gait seems a little off. I'll see how it looks tomorrow, plus J'Anna will also be able to observe her. The chiropractor appointment isn't for another 8 days.

Anyway, this stuck shoulder certainly explains the phantom pains and her over-sensitivity lately. I hate this, since she doesn't know what causes it and so is afraid of the invisible boogey monster. I just want my girl to be comfortable, confident and happy again.

Urban (144) and Tracking (53)

On Friday, July 12th, Nadine and I met at Auburn Cinema. When I arrived she had a very large article circle set up using the entire south parking lot. Gimme was a little distracted to start but did well, especially since several cars drove through the area right before we started.

Then Nadine laid a simple track around the building for Gimme. We ran it when it was 45 minutes old. It was about 60º and no real breeze. Gimme started out well, crossed the road easily, but was completely distracted by the family of four that were coming to the theater and crossed her track right at the front of the building and just as we got there. Imagine a friendly wiggle-butt "Hello, I'm the Empress of the Cosmos." Once they passed she got back to work and did well around the rest of the front and side of the building. The corner at the back of the building (low right on picture) was kind of challenging. It took her several tries to figure it out. She overran the last 45-degree turn and had to work her way back to find it. Once she decided where it went, she had no problem crossing the parking lot and finding the last glove behind the bush in the landscaping island.

On Thursday, July 18th, Nadine and I met at Flaming Geyser. My intent was to keep the time short, since Gimme seems to be having a little trouble with the pollen right now, but the track ended up being 90 minutes old. They've been mowing and bushwhacking the underbrush, so we thought we'd try tracking up under the trees. It had rained recently, so the ground was damp. It was in the low 60's and we had an intermittant breeze (from the left side of the picture).

Nadine started the track heading up under the trees, but quickly discovered it was all prickly ground since it had been blackberry vines. They took away the vines, but there was still a lot of pokey stuff on the ground. Nadine quickly turned right to get out of the area. Gimme started well, but then got stuck in the prickly ground (pink dotted circle, lower right of picture). She really had trouble deciding where to go, since it all hurt her feet. I was about to have Nadine put a new start sock out for us, take her out and restart her, when she was able to pick up the track and get out of there. I was sure glad there was an article soon thereafter to reward her persistence.

She did very well on the whole next leg, but then really struggled with the turn. It was an acute angle turn, really sharp and nothing we'd see in a test. Unfortunately the breeze was coming from the left side of the picture and this part of the track is where the breeze was strongest. Gimme picked up several lines (the dotted fan lines at the top) and wanted to go in those directions. A couple of them could have been confusion from the breeze direction and the sharp turn, but mostly I think she couldn't figure out what to do and was inclined to take me on a walkabout. I kept restraining her from the walkabout solution and she finally found the track and then was quickly rewarded with an article. We would have flunked this, but fortunately we'd never see a turn this sharp in a test.

Shortly after the article, Gimme turned about thirty degrees to the left and was really strong. After about 40 yards Nadine called to me and said Gimme was too far left and going further because the track was headed toward the apple tree and there was an article in the open area to our right (dotted red line and circle). I pulled Gimme over and asked her to search in the area Nadine indicated. She dutifully searched it, but I noticed she gave me stink-eye a couple of times. As we expanded the search in the general area, Gimme managed to get over to the actual track which she'd been on and indicated an article in the long grass - it had been about 30 feet in front of her when I pulled her over to the area Nadine indicated. Bless her persistent little heart. She got a LOT of treats and praise for persisting despite my obstinate interference.

From there to the end of the track was easy peasy by comparison. After her persistence-success, it was almost an after-thought. This is the second time this summer she has insisted she was right in the face of my disbelief (first time was the track with Sil in early June).

I am really just thrilled to see her so willing to keep working in the face of such strong interference. I'd love to get her into a TDX this Fall, and she'll need to be able to overcome these handler-induced obstacles to be successful.