December 19th, 2024
Laid out a couple of tracks at lunch today using the 5 scuffs one step drop food then one step and repeat. We were also lucky to have a helper film us :) It was quite cold and the ground was frozen with a tad bit of snow on top. First track went well. Recently she started doing this thing where as soon as she thinks she spots the article or the flag she just wants to stop tracking and get to the end. To mitigate this tendency I put the flag down at the end of the track, so it was not as visible but the little clever pup still spotted it lol. The same thing happened on the second track but I convinced her to go back to tracking which she did eventually. I am not sure asking verbally was the correct thing to do. My gut is telling me I should just wait her out until she does what I want but we were in a public place and I didn't want her barking to be too much of a nuisance (we were right next to a library after all). I am planning to go to a more secluded park tomorrow so will try to lay out a more hidden track end with the same walk pattern. We shall see how it goes.
The challenge with that behavior is that WE don’t get to know if she’s using her eyes, or if her nose is smelling the big scent pool around the article. Let’s try food every footstep for the ~2-3 yards before the article. At some level I dont’ mind this, but I don’t like what it’ likely to grow into…so let’s try to get her to track to the article. DO make her pull you to the article—this is a great way to start teaching her to take control and TAKE YOU to the article . BTW, first track, after her little journey off to the left, did you see the awesome track indication when she refound the track? And she did it (not as dramatically) on the second track as well! The hysteria at the end of #2 made me laugh….but no, it’s not what we want. Try tossing treats if you need to…on the track if you can…so she might be more inclined to sniff her way to the article.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I thought you’d have more snow!
woohoo - track one she is pulling, decides to go around you and nearly pulls you off your feet - you pay the line out so you don't hit the ground, she returns to the track and you BRILLIANTLY MOVE UP THE LINE to get close to her again! A+ your line handling is quite good and she is making progress!!
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