Practice Session, 11.17.2025

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 great. He's getting the idea and is excited to go hot-dog-hunting at the start flags, so I think our first few efforts have been successful at building his confidence in a new activity. We are continuing to practice the games so hopefully our article indication will improve; on both of these he still needed a tiny bit of reminding to lay down. 

Upon re-watching the videos I think I got a little ahead of myself - he was definitely working and moving forward but I was perhaps a bit too quick behind him, especially out in the open on Track 2.  There were also some moments when his nose and front end were on the line/food drop, but his hind end swung out to the side a bit. I tried to wait for him to get fully back on the line (limited success) so I am looking forward to learning what I should be doing when that is the case. 

Weather/Conditions:

• Temperature: 50° F
• Wind: NW 3 MPH, gusts over 10 MPH
• Humidity: 35%
• Overall: Sunny, breezy, pretty dry. Fire weather warning in effect.

Track 1: Laid 10:05 AM, Run 10:18 AM 

(slightly longer time between laying track/running track than we have done before. He didn't seem troubled by this in the slightest.) 

(Puppy suddenly forgot all training about waiting quietly in the car and sang sad songs through most of video, may want to turn sound down.)

Three things Quinn did well:

1. Quinn focused really well; there were lots of distractions and this is a location where he is usually very excited (and allowed to show it!) He made the transition from "fun swim time" to "tracking work time" beautifully.
2. He stayed on the track really well - it felt a lot breezier than the weather report indicated but that didn't seem to phase him.
3. Getting better at down at article; needed a little reminder but not much. 

Three things to improve:

1. I feel like I rushed/anticipated a little too much, so just staying patient.
2. Get treats out faster!
3. Make sure food drops are in line (I did utilize a double-line-up but grass was tall enough that some food rolled...) 

 Goal for next track: repeat length/augmentation, try a more open area since 'warm up' went well.

Track 2: Laid: 10:10 AM, Run 10:25 AM

 

Three things Quinn did well:

1. I thought he handled the more open area really well, seemed confident and knew his job.
2. The switch between shorter grass/thicker grass did not seem to pose any difficulty for him at all.
3. SO game... Even with slightly more challenging conditions, he worked for it and stayed on task.

Three things to improve:

• Stay patient and out of his way.
• Learn more - I wasn't sure if this was an entirely fair challenge for him at this stage or if I should have picked a different location (or simpler set-up considering the conditions?) so I am looking forward to our next class and learning what variables to try.
• Provide a more prompt/convincing reward at the article. 

 Goal for next track: Continue to extend the distance, maybe take slightly longer (normal length) steps? 

I am hoping to get in another practice this Thursday (11/20) but since we are still new (and fairly clueless) I will probably stick with the pattern we've been doing and add a couple more steps. We are really excited for class next week and can't wait to see what comes next!