I have faded the water after using it for about 8 tracks. As discussed, Dottie already was willing to keep her nose down and I think the water did help in that it gave me the push needed to not age my hard surface tracks at all. Some people were telling me "aging doesn't matter on hard surface" but if that is true, why was she having so much trouble? I had gone back to 1/2 an hour, but she was still having trouble. The HITT has you run the track right after laying/spraying it, and I think that has really helped us. The HITT also helped me realize it is ok to put food on hard surface tracks. And finally, using food in combo with the water and no aging for several days gave Dottie some confidence back that I had taken away by making it too hard with too much aging. So while we didn't follow the steps exactly and have faded the water, there was lots there that helped us. I did re-discover that too much food is a distraction for Dottie because the scent of the food obscures the scent of the track. Some food is good, but it has to be spaced far enough apart that it is a reward and not a lure.
Back to my track yesterday. Overall she did well, but had one part between a big building and a shed where she picked up her head and seemed to be looking around. Also, the same van driving back and fourth 4 times about a minute apart each time distracted me and I forgot a corner. But Dottie and I both realized the mistake at the same time and we went back and got on track.
I laid a second track that was pretty fun. It went along side a building (the base movie theater.) Turned up some steps, and was now in a covered section, turned back the same way and went down the ramp next to the place we had just come from. She nailed it! Here it is on film.
Today I laid another track in the same area (movie theater/ chapel) and went between the building and shed again. Again it caused trouble. I'm guessing it is the combo of the big building with the smaller building. She penciled 2 of the hard surface turns, did ok on another HS turn and had a bit of trouble on 2 more of the hard surface. One of the turns she made correctly, then abandoned it to go up the stairs. She has to learn that just because there are stairs, the track doesn't go up them. Stairs are fun, but I'd better not do any more. This track was aged 5 mins. Here are the highlights:
And for those who have the time to watch the whole thing, here is our video from today:
And here is a picture of the area she had trouble in:
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