November 17th, 2025
Goal:
To train a 100 yard straight track with our new food drop pattern of 5 scuffs, 5 steps dropping food in between.
Straight Track: https://youtu.be/ODdgPVd1YXA
Time laid: 4:20 PM
Time ran: 4:24 PM
Length: ~ 100 yards
Temperature: 62 F
Humidity: 40%
Wind: 3 mph N/S
Strong start to flag with an article pick up on verbal prompt. She is feeling very keen and I think upon looking at the video she is on the track right away(00.50.05) but I didn't believe her. Either way she was going the right way with her nose down and I should have been with her. She continues to track well and at 02:22 she starts veering left and seems to loose the scent (I think) so I stop to regroup. She has in the past lead me astray and she likes to move forward and scan the horizon without her nose to the ground. I'm trying to teach her to keep it down. Is that the right call? She finishes the track successfully. Overall I'm really happy with this track as the ground was very dry and she was enthusiastic the whole time.
Great clear, simple goal to focus on! I know where you were tracking and it has a fair bit of contamination from dog walkers, etc along with the water (and fowl) to the left and distractions to the right - Tilly did great and I agree, loved her enthusiasm! The treat pattern did nicely drawing her back on the track and rewarding her for it.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, nose down is good 😁! But what do you mean by 'trying to teach her to keep it down?' In other words, how are you doing that?
Thanks! For the nose down thing, I'm holding her when she is lunging forward with her nose up (02:41), and only letting her go if she lunges forward with her nose down. But I'm not sure this is correct.
DeleteLooks like Jen got to answering in her comment before I had a chance to get back on :).
DeleteDarn it. I need to remember to open the video on another tab so I don't lose my comments I already wrote down. haha
ReplyDeleteOverall very nice. Love her enthusiasm. At 1min24sec good job stepping over to the left to be behind her. At 2min49ish, really nice job of waiting her out through the distraction and not moving forward until she showed tracking behavior- head down, moving forward confidently. Did you see her head snap at 3min3 sec when she crossed the track? Lovely!
I'll try to have all my video links open in a new tab to mitigate that :) Ohh that head snap! Thanks for pointing it out! I didn't initially see it.
ReplyDeleteI agree - love to see her enthusiasm was really high with a happy tail right from the start! Keep doing what you did here re working on deep nose. Only step forward if her nose is down - you did this well at the 2:50 mark. The straight distance tracks like this are a great one to focus on for for this behavior. Great job!
ReplyDeletei think she is looking great. so remember, repeat this food scuff pattern and when she nails it again, change something - change your pattern and repeat two times successfully and move on again. don't get stuck! Mary Ann
ReplyDeleteThanks! We did the same pattern again today but this time training distance. Not sure we are ready to change the pattern yet since she was still lifting her head up a lot?
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