Quinn's Tracking Blog

 We were back at the SniffSpot this weekend so I wanted to fit some more practice into our week. Quinn was very willing to participate! We just did one track this visit.  Since our last two tracks went smoothly, I went ahead and added 5 steps, and also took slightly more normal length steps (versus the very tiny shuffle steps we started with!) Still dropping a single piece of hot dog at every step.  I had Quinn off leash with just his collar on for the first part of our visit, before I laid the track. I was excited that HE was excited when his tracking harness came out of my bag. I think he's getting the idea of this new game!   The footing (dirt path --> somewhat grassy trail) posed no problem for him. I thought he was very focused and methodical overall. In fact I was so impressed that I was still admiring him at the article and was later to get going with the treats than I meant to be. I'll try not to get distracted by my amazing dog next time! Weathe...

Every week, I take the dogs to swim at Paws to Swim. The owners kindly offered to let us practice in their field as long as I clean up thoroughly (not a problem!) On Monday morning, we had our first opportunity to try out this location after swimming.  The field has been mowed but is still a little thicker/deeper grass than anywhere we had practiced so far. As a "warm up" I set up Track 1 on an area alongside the trees/brush where the grass was shorter and we were a little protected from the breeze.  Since he had no trouble with 25 steps the previous day, I did 30 steps. I scuffled along and dropped some hot dog at each step.   Track 2 was further out in the open, and we crossed from the shorter grass of the 'tree farm' area into longer/thicker grass in the rest of the field. Quinn has been doing so well with the shuffle step/food drop pattern, so I thought this would not be more of a challenge than he could handle. (Hypothesis correct!) Overall I think Quinn did gre...

 On weekends we often take the dogs to a SniffSpot for some off leash time, and I thought I'd try to add a bit of tracking practice to our visit today. Quinn and I were at an all-day scentwork clinic on Saturday (11/15) so he was a little tired and I didn't want to completely overwhelm him. I was hoping a somewhat familiar location would be helpful for him. This SniffSpot is 10 acres and fully fenced. It is mostly open meadow with some trees, and the homeowner has mowed paths for walking with your dog.  On the map, you may notice three structures: the largest is a house. The one inside the fenceline is a run-in shed. The small one to the right of the house is a chicken coop. During Track 1 (when we were facing the coop), the homeowner came out to feed their chickens and a few managed to escape. You may notice Quinn watching this with QUITE a bit of interest! (You can hear the homeowner yelling at the chickens in the background if your sound is up.) After track 1, I let the dog...

Quinn and I practiced two short tracks today: 20 steps with a food drop every step, LOTS of scuffing along. I also followed Mary Ann’s directions from class to create a scent pad at the beginning of the track. I am hoping this helped Quinn understand what he needed to do. I am planning two “off site” practice sessions on Sunday and Monday, so today we just practiced getting all the pieces (track setting, line handling, down at the article, offering water, capturing video…) to work a little more smoothly so we can be efficient on our upcoming adventures!  Confidence and clarity are the biggest things that help Quinn in our other sports, so I wanted to make sure I cleaned up the things I started learning in class (not moving my feet unless he is actually tracking, maintaining contact on the leash, staying quiet and patient while he works, offering water, etc.)   I was pretty excited about our second attempt because he was already starting to ‘down’ without cueing when he got nea...