December 3rd 2024 Practice Session

We went for a practice session at Twin Hickory Park at 9:41 a.m. The training started off a bit rough. I had recruited my mom to help me with filming this morning. When we arrived at the park, there was an off-leash dog playing in the field, so we waited for them to finish before starting our first track. I set up a 35-yard straight line with food drops every two steps. The track was aged for 5 minutes. While I was getting Skyler ready to track and putting on his harness, he saw three off-leash dogs running back to their owner’s car. Skyler was slightly anxious but did not bark. Once we got to the track, he was very distracted, looking around everywhere. Finally, he started tracking a few steps, but then we saw another loose dog, so I had to quickly grab him and walk away from the track.

Weather and a video of the start of our first track then we saw the loose dog then turned to walk away.

When we restarted the first track, Skyler did well for the first few steps until he saw someone walking their dog. He started getting anxious again, scratching and staring at the dog. Once they were gone, he went back to work but remained very distracted. In the end, we did finish the first track.

Restarted first track

My mom laid the second track at 10:08 a.m., the same length as the first, with no aging. Skyler started tracking for a few steps, then stopped, looked around, barked, and began scratching. He appeared to be very anxious. Once he settled, he went right back to tracking. His nose was to the ground the entire time, and he was dragging me forward. Looking back at the video, I think I should have shortened the leash even further and been more mindful of my foot movement. I will continue to work on that.

Weather and a video of the second track

November 30th 2024 (Skyler's birthday tracks)

Skyler turned 3 today! We started the morning by heading to Cool Water for our second tracking class. The weather was below 30 degrees when we first started, but it warmed up later in the day. Before beginning our first track, we played a couple of article games. While playing these games at home, Skyler started running to the glove, grabbing it, and then dropping it on the floor with a "down" cue from me. See video below. I’m working on building more excitement for the glove indoors, with the hope that I can transfer that excitement outdoors when there are more distractions. Currently, he’s not as excited about the glove outdoors and doesn’t have an automatic down when he sees an article. We’ll continue to work on that and remember to post videos of our progress later.

Article game video

Skyler's first track of the day was laid by Carolyn at 9:20 a.m., with the temperature around 35 degrees. I didn’t record the wind speed or humidity at the time, but it was windy, dry, and cold. The aging time for the track was approximately 20 minutes, and I believe the track was about 50 yards long, with food drops every two steps. There was an article (a glove) at the start of the track. Skyler started off strong, heading to the start flag with the article. He was offered treats for lying down near the article. Once he started tracking, he followed the track for the first 10 yards. Mary Ann had to pull behind me since I was walking a bit before Skyler. I had some difficulty finding the double line-ups and determining if we were on the track laid by Carolyn, so it was hard for me to know whether Skyler was on the right path. I'll need to work on that.

At around 10 yards, Skyler started to have some trouble. He nudged the water bottle in my pocket a couple of times, so I gave him some water to restart. He continued having trouble and kept looking at me for direction. Mary Ann restarted his track by throwing a turkey treat in front of him, and that worked. Skyler did well tracking after that until about 30 yards, when he pulled his head up and was unable to find the track again. We stopped early by throwing a glove. Skyler went to the glove and lay down.

Throughout the entire track, and as shown in the video (see below link), I noticed that Skyler kept going sideways to eat his treats. He did the same thing during our practice sessions outside of class. I imagine that with more practice, Skyler will learn to stay on a straight line and not turn his body sideways when eating treats.

Video of the first track: 

Mary Ann laid the second track for Skyler at around 11:30 a.m. The temperature was about 43 degrees, with some wind. This track was not aged at all. Skyler did great on this track; he was able to follow it to the end without any issues. Our plan for future practices is to continue working with food drops every two steps, but to let the track age for about 5 minutes each time, gradually increasing the aging time as we go.

Overall, it was a very productive and successful day. I laid my first track for Otter and also observed other dogs running their tracks. The learning curve is definitely steep. There are so many things to keep track of, but I’m very excited to learn them with Skyler and find ways to improve our skills.

Happy birthday to Skyler! He enjoyed eating his birthday burger afterward. :)