February 15th, 2025
Goal today :
For Tilly, to indicate an article on the track.
For me, to give her a longer leash and see if she is happier.
Tilly did these things well:
1. Went to work right away
2. Found the tracks
3. Did her open turns super well
What I'd like to improve:
1. Article pick up on the track
2. Being straighter (both for me as a track layer and for Tilly when she is actively tracking)
3. Thinking of bringing water on the track (I keep forgetting it in the car)
Hoping you’ll be in class Saturday! She does seem happier with the longer line, now we need to find the balance between her having line and her pushing straight ahead. There’s a little ‘scalloping’ where she tracks straight, casts off, and comes in for the next food drop; that’s probably best addressed on a shorter line. Same when she is just searching—while I’m confident she is in fact searching for the track, she doesn’t have the skill yet to find it easily. So shortening up there may have been helpful as well. We need to help you get comfortable both letting line out, and then taking it back in, based on her performance.
ReplyDeleteYes! I will for sure be in class this Saturday. I completely agree she goes off track and then comes back. Okay for the lengthening and shortening. I will give it a try this week before class.
DeleteSecond track is definitely better, still a bit of scalloping. Lovely turns. You might want to check out Ralph’s blog for some indoor article training. I LOVE that you took her through the washed out area, near the paved path, etc.—great training!
ReplyDeleteI felt this track went better as well. She felt more concentrated and was giving me less of the "oh boy! oh boy! We're tracking!!" excitement. Thanks for saying that :) I wasn't sure about the ditch because I felt the last track was not super great, but I decided to go for it in order to get the length of track I wanted.
DeleteI will check out Ralph's blog! Tilly does pick up the article consistently even on an article track or playing an article game. The problem we are having is that she's still not making the link between an article "game" and an article on a track. And of the two games she prefers tracking so that's what she chooses to do. Somehow I need to add value to the article on the track.
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