Almost There!

Next Sunday, one week from today, is our first SchH trial. I'm excited. We had a good practice today. Tracked in the morning. I couldn't use the dirt field I planned on using, but by good luck found another one. However, it wasn't as ideal as I first thought. I couldn't see my track, but the dogs found it. Pie also found an article that fell out of my pocket accidentally! Then she tracked over top of and did not indicate her first real article. Dottie also ignored her first article. What? Fancy tracks slower than slow, but got to her first article, then couldn't find the last turn.

Both Mals did fine in obedience. I had my camera out and a club member used it to take some pictures. Dottie's retrieves were not amazing but she mostly did them.

Protection was great! Pie's grips were full and stayed full. She did moan quite a bit on the drives. Dottie stayed under control without me relying on leash corrections. She also did a good long bite and did not fly off the sleeve, and a nice transport as well. If all this goodness continues and happens next Sunday, we should pass!


Love this heeling!!!!


More good heeling- the slow.


This is what I've been training her for, looks like it is coming together.


Nice quick pick up.


Pie is such an attractive dog.


Pie on the wall.



Pie presents the dumbbell nicely.


A reward for Pie.


Dottie in the group.


Not forging too badly. At some points my hand was being brushed by her tail. Yikes.


Dottie heels a bit more.



Come.


Sit out of motion. I like her expression.




Dottie on the wall.


Clearing the 1 meter hurdle. Her grip on the dumbell is not ideal. She has been having conflicts with the retrieve and you can see it in her grip.




Presenting the dumbbell.


Nice.




On the send away/ go out.


Long down while the other dog works. This picture must have been taken several minutes after she'd been laying there because at the beginning she was so hot from her obedience routine her tongue was curling.







Searching the blinds for the bad guy.


I love this picture! She is very small, but puts so much force into the game.



Heeling away to do it again.


Escape.


Dottie preventing the escape.



Good grip Dottie!


After a bite, an out and a guard.





Coming in for the long bite. This is the one when you send them from far away. Also called the courage test because they bite while the bad guy is coming at them rather than running away.


Pie found the bad guy.


Escape bite.


To chomp.


Pie doing a short long bite/ courage test. We never practice this due to the possible stress on her back, but we did it today (short version) just to give her a clue what will happen next week.


"Taking a drive." This is when the bad guy pushes into the dog and hits them with the stick to see if they will give up and run off. No such luck for our bad guy!



Another drive.

New Camera!

My new to me used camera arrived yesterday. This is the one I bid on (and won) on ebay. Or is it Ebay? eBay? Whatever it is, I won and the camera arrived and is as advertised. The battery was even charged so I opened everything up, slapped it together (carefully) and took some pictures.

It is a Nikon D80. I used it in full auto mode. For these first pictures I used the lens that came with it, a 18-135mm.


At first I didn't like the sun blurring Pie's outline. Then I realized it gave her an angelic look and decided to pretend I did it on purpose.


Fancy in the cone of shame due to a hot spot caused by eating kibble with lamb in it. I know she is allergic to lamb but it was far down on the ingredient list so I thought I'd give it a try since I had the food already. 2 days on the kibble and we got a nasty hot spot.

Dottie's picture didn't turn out amazing, so I switched to the zoom lens I bought and tried Dottie again. The loom lens is great for portraits because the background gets very blurred.


Nice blurred background. Too bad you can see her thin patches. Most likely caused by a food allergy but I haven't pinned it down yet. A blood test might be in our future.


Dottie had something to say about sitting still. A tiny bit blurry.

Today I read the manual a bit and learned a tiny bit about f-stops and aperture. I will have to read that again because it didn't really sink in. But I think I understand Dottie's barking is blurry because the aperture was large which blurs the background. But a large aperture (opening letting light in) means a slower shutter speed which leads to the blurring of the subject. So- can you blur the background and also have a moving subject in focus? Lots to figure out. I think something else I realized is people do more editing with a nice editing program (such as Photoshop) to make photos really great. For example Pie's head shot that I like so much, I'm wondering if the photographer changed the contrast some. The colors look so vivid, even better than real life. Dottie's head shot I took looks very clear, but it doesn't have that "wow" factor. My next investment might be a photo editing software. Right now all I use is the free programs that come with Microsoft.

Here are a few additional pictures I took. Reading the manual I might have to lock the aperture ring into the lowest setting and also make sure the focus rings are in focus. I didn't do either of those things. After Pie's picture with the sun, the sun went away and the rest were taken with a fog over the sun.


A bit blurry. Maybe?


Original shot.


Used Auto Brightness and changed the contrast a tiny bit.


I messed with the contrast on this one also.



Bunny is getting a bath and a hair cut today.

September 11, 2001

I wrote a post about my experience on September 11, 2001 while I was in basic training and how, due to lack of access to the news and other media, my experience was different than many people. But then I decided not to post it because it was too much about me, me, me and that terrible day was actually in no way about me. I didn't want to remember the 10th anniversary by focusing on myself, so for now I am not posting it.

I think the memorials in the footprints of the Towers are very beautiful.

I hope security has improved so nothing like this happens again. Yet I sadly acknowledge that as long as there is hatred and extremism in the world, people will try.

New Camera

I used ebay for the first time to bid on a camera, and I got it! It is a used Nikon D80 10.2 Digital SLR with a 18-135 mm Nikon AF lens. I also bought another zoom lens separately. I used a similar camera belonging to a friend to take some shots at an agility trial and I was really impressed. Sadly, I don't (yet) know about F/Stops and aperture settings, but when I used her camera I used it all manual and the pictures still came out great. For now I will use this one the same way. Maybe I'll learn something.

The Canon PowerShot will still be my primary hiking and every day camera. This one will be for portraits and action shots at agility and SchH trials.

I think using ebay allowed me to get a good deal. I got it for about $100 less than the cheapest one selling used on Amazon and I could "buy with confidence" seeing the seller's 100% positive feedback rating. I got it under the "buy it now" price and it is way, way, way cheaper than a new model.

I don't expect to start going crazy using ebay because I actually didn't like the bidding. I wanted a good deal, but I would have been happier using the "buy it now" feature. Someone tried to outbid me in the last 20 seconds. Crazy. But I was ready for them. And I emerged triumphant (evil laughing.)

So I'm happy with my purchase. Can't wait for it to get here so I can start taking some pictures!

Tracking Going Well Right Now

In order to semi-pattern train my dogs, I’ve been doing full SchH 1 tracks during training. I avoided doing this at first because I wanted the dogs to learn tracking, not learn a pattern. However, my dogs got so good at not learning the pattern, that when they did the pattern they thought it was too easy and would not stay on the track. The SchH 1 track is 100 paces in a straight line, a left or right turn- 50 paces to an article, 50 more paces then another left or right turn then 100 paces.

My dogs were used to 20 paces then a turn, then 10 paces and a turn, 10 paces turn, article, 20 pace serpentine, 10 paces turn, 20 paces turn, etc. This keeps them slow because if they go too fast they will miss a turn, and slow means they won’t miss a turn. Kind of a self correcting loop. But when I asked them to go 100 paces with no turns, they got worried, thinking they must have missed the turn. They second guessed what they were smelling and cast all over for the turns that weren’t there.

After the trial I’ll go back to a more normal training regime of short with lots of turns then longer with less turns the next time. Since I’ve been doing more SchH1 style tracks the past week or so, they’ve gotten much better. And faster and less careful. Drat. But overall I think it has been an improvement. It has taught them to just go straight a long time.

The only one who is having trouble is Fancy. And I finally figured it out earlier this week. Last Friday 2 club members and I met for dirt tracking after work. Turns out I had my shirt on inside out but I suppose that isn’t actually relevant. As always I tracked all 3 girls. As always I laid the tracks in order of importance. Importance meaning who I want to pass the most. Pie, Dottie, Fancy. Pie because it is her only chance at SchH1. Dottie because I want a SchH1 on her and she should get it eventually and it would be nice to get it at our home field with the home field advantage. And Fancy last because I want her to title, but we can trial anywhere since she is only doing tracking and that does not come with a home field advantage.

The dirt we were tracking on was tough. But the Mals did ok. Fancy did not do great. After her first leg I laid another one and she did much better. Then I laid another leg and she was better again. K said Fancy might need a short warm up track for confidence building. I thought that made sense. On Monday I laid the dog’s tracks in the usual order, then did a short extra track for Fancy. I got her out and ran her on it. She did great. I then put her away and tracked Pie, then Dottie then it was Fancy’s turn again and she was horrible! Turns out the heat did not help our cause and some of her track was on short, dead grass which was also difficult. Pie’s nose actually came up on that section so she was doing some air scenting.

So? What was different from the practice track to the long track? What was different in the dirt? Time aged. Because Fancy always goes last, her tracks are aged much longer than the Malinois. Some aging does help the scent settle, but after a certain time it does start to dissipate and become more difficult. Sometimes it can take me 15 minutes just to lay the tracks- they can get spread out so they don’t overlap and they end up some on the soccer fields, some on the baseball field, just all over the place. Then there is the time to walk to and from the track, and the time for the dog to figure it out. So by the time it was Fancy’s turn, that track had been sitting around for a while. It timed it today and it was somewhere between 30 minutes to 45 minutes. Which isn’t too hard, if you’ve eased into it. Which she hasn’t.

Ok- today I had her go first, followed by Pie, then Dottie. That is easing the Mals into it, because each is only moved down 1 time braked. Fancy started off a bit unsure, needing two “such” commands to get started. But once she realized it was easier, she did well. Even on the portion that went thorough rock hard dirt. All these fields are green on the edges, and deader than dead in the middle. It actually removes quite a bit of tracking space, especially when I’m doing the SchH1 length tracks. Figured out Fancy’s problem, now need to build her confidence up and the time. I think the SchH1 ages at least 20 minutes. I could see my footsteps for all three dogs most of the time and it was interesting to see who was willing to track right on them and who wanted to follow the blowing scent. Fancy followed the blowing scent about a foot off the actual path. That is bad because she will miss the article. But if I block her from moving forward when she is truly following scent, she’ll quit. Hmm…

Pie did great. She took off nice and straight, not doubting the way, made her first corner, sniffed a stick in her path, took a step over it, stepped back and picked it up, then dropped it and kept going. That was when I realized the “stick” was our first article! I said- NO – show me and she did. Funny that she picked it up. The extra stress of the track aging a bit longer confused her? The track was too easy so she didn’t want to stop? She made her next corner then I had trouble walking straight on the last leg but she followed it anyway as it curved gently and she did a good indication on the last article. Nice!

Dottie’s turn. She started out well, got fooled by the cross track I accidentally tracked over- both were my scent so I can’t blame her- then made the turn and indicated the first article perfectly. We kept doing and everything fell apart. It was as if someone had a party on our track. Either that or died messily, leaving no mess and only confusing scent behind. Dottie lost the track. She searched and searched and went right over it a few times but couldn’t find it. I ended up winding the leash up and keeping it really short in that confusing section so the only way she could move was forward. I have no idea what caused the problem, but about 2 feet down the track she was fine again. Very odd. She finished strong, doing another nice indication on her final article. Dottie came off the actual path trying to follow blowing scent a few times, but as soon as I blocked her she went right back to the correct path. She knew right where it was, almost as if she was testing to see if the “grass was greener” off the track.

Right now my training plan is working. I think I’ll either do dirt tomorrow or Monday. If I don’t do dirt tomorrow they’ll get the day (and the rest of the weekend) off. I think sometime next week I’ll do 1 session of lots of short legs and turns but other than that it will be all long. I’ll keep rotating the order so everyone gets used to the longest age. Hope all continues to go well for us!

Agility Video from July

4th of July weekend. I don't think I shared this one yet, but I should since I paid for it. This trial is 10 minutes from my house on the nicest surface I've ever run on, minus the sod at the Invitational. Plus, since it is close to the coast, it doesn't get too hot.



I was really happy with her weaves. I called her over that bar, causing it to come down. Then we had a few more mistakes after that, but I still thought it was a nice run.

New Old Picture

A gentleman I see a lot at the agility trials asked me if I ever got a photo he took of my dogs running with his dog in the river and I had not. He rectified that by sending it to me tonight.



This is Pie and Fancy running with Goldie in the river at a local trial. I always liked this location due to the river, but I don't trial here anymore due to some complicated reasons which shall not be discussed here. Goldie and her owner were in Novice A with Bloom and I way back 6 years or so ago. Goldie is an amazing dog slightly handicapped by her handler (isn't that always the way of it though?) Now Goldie is getting up in years, with a sweet grey face, and it is great to have this picture of all the girls running together. Thanks Dave!

3 Day Labor Day Weekend Trial

Our loot from the weekend.

This is our last agility trial until October. 3 Days at City of Industry under a large horse arena. It is nice to be under cover and out of the sun, although the temperature was MUCH cooler than last weekend. Again out of character, it was humid today. So much for a "dry heat."

Dottie was entered 3 days, Pie 2 and Fancy 1. Dottie had some nice runs where I messed her up. (ex- serpentine, gave her the "serp" arm and said come but not over. She came, she just didn't take the jump. And another run when I didn't indicate the last jump after being clean otherwise. And yet another one where I set her up on a terrible line and she couldn't see the teeter. Darn.) She is a young dog and needs all the help she can get. So when I don't hold up my end it is no surprise we don't Q. I don't know what my excuse it- it isn't as if I'm new at this game.

The happy news is we actually did get some Qs also! Our first Ex A Standard Q and our second and third Qs towards our MXJ. One second place and also a class win, over 35 other dogs! Nice.

Pie ran in Novice P then moved up to Open P. She had a great time, barking excitedly. She just wished she had been entered on Sunday. Pie won every class she was entered in, but P was not competitive at this trial. She was the only dog in the class some of the time.

Fancy ran great. Her break did wonders for her, as I knew it would. She won 16 inch P Jumpers, and there were other dogs entered. A golden and an Aussie, both who used to be in 20 inch regular with her. The aussie did not Q- a bar, I think- but she had a faster time than him anyway. So even if he had Qed, she still would have won. Winning is a big deal when it comes to Fancy, because it isn't very often that it happens! I got her run on video. Check out the weaves. Going so fast she crashes the third pole, but bounces back and keeps going. What a great girl.


Fancy's run.


One of Dottie's runs. She got the weave entry despite me, and too bad I didn't tell her to take that jump in the serpentine before the teeter!


That is our weekend wrap up- tried to keep it short. We'll pick back up in October with some local trials. I'm done with getting up before dawn, driving over an hour, sitting around all day, then fighting traffic on the way home. After a break, I'll probably be back in the mood, but for now, I want to sleep in, drive no more than 1/2 hr and not deal with traffic. Otherwise, it isn't fun.

Fancy= Silly

I found Fancy laying like this- eye open, rear leg sticking up in the air, nose on bookcase. I didn't say anything, just got the camera, and she didn't move while I documented her silliness.


This is a posed photo. Posed in that I told her to roll over and this is what I got. I think she needs a fig leaf for modesty.


Why must you torture me with picture taking?

September 5th, 2001

I can't believe it was 10 years ago today I left for Air Force Basic Training at Lackland AFB, TX. My dad walked me to the terminal and waved from the window as the plane taxied away. I was in Basic on Sep 11 and many things changed besides walking your family members to the terminal to say goodby.

Where does the time go and how does our world change so quickly? On a lighter note, when I was in basic we stood in line to use "pay phones" for our limited calls we were allowed to place. Now the trainees are allowed to use their cell phones. Apparently some trainees have been smuggling in extra phone use time and taking videos which have been showing up on YouTube.

SchH Training Pictures

A member of our club took these.

I hope to get some good pictures taken at the trial. These are some of the last pictures of Pie doing her biting. Preserved for all time. Or at least until my computer crashes since I never seem to print pictures any more. I suppose they are now on the Internet being preserved, until the Internet stops hosting free pictures.



Ghost Pie.


Pie telling bad guy "freeze!"


Dottie warning bad guy not to try anything.


Bad guy trying to escape from Dottie.


But Dottie is too fast, and he didn't get away today.

Tracking Update a 283,891

Well, not quite, but it feels like it. I don't have a blow by blow account of our successes and failures this time (I heard those muttered prayers of thanks).

I've been having trouble mustering up the enthusiasm to go tracking at lunch this past week. Instead once I went after work at a park, then once at a different park, once I skipped, once I did dirt after work (today) and tomorrow more dirt after work. Seems like just like any other dog training if you do too much the dog will start to dislike it, so I was reminded it might be good to skip once in a while. Which went well with my beginnings of burn out. Tracking 3 dogs 5 times a week and changing clothes to do it can lead to less enthusiam on the part of the trainer as time goes on...

I think Pie and Fancy might be having trouble on corners which is odd because that is all I do! And maybe they have trouble going on long straight aways also! Short straightaways with lots of corners makes them think, but long straights with no corners like in the trial makes them bored, or lazy, or forgetful or something and they go off the side of the straight, or keep tracking straight after the corner. Dottie did well on pretty much everything. Fancy was given the compliment of noting that even though she got into difficulty, she never quit. Pie's comment for the day is she was on track but got off it when my line got tangled at the beginning (she thought the quick tug on the line meant she was wrong) so that was good training for me.

Tracking- if it was easy they would call it agility. (Oooo- dis! And this from the trainer/ handler of the dog who doesn't even have ONE Ex A standard leg. So mostly I'm just repeating something mean I heard said. Actually the original quote was- Obedience- if it was easy they would call it agility.)

Agility in Over 100 Degree Weather

Doesn't sound like fun, does it? I'll be honest- it wasn't much fun. It was 106 degrees. But, you might say, it was a dry heat. (As if that makes it ok. Agility in 106 degree weather is never ok.) This time it wasn't! So there! It was 40 percent humidity!!! And I was there ALL DAY because Pie was in novice and Dottie was in excellent. Not to worry- no dogs were in any danger of heat related injuries. They stayed in the shade all day with lots of water, and only came out to run for their 30 -50 seconds. I seemed to be suffering, though. Probably I should have been drinking water. I also stayed in the shade, and had my had and gloves on. Gloves? Yes- I am being plagued by sunburn on my hands. Strange, I know. Hence the gloves. It looks odd, but is better than the alternative, which last time was hands so painful I couldn't sleep and then as they healed and peeled looked like I had been burned by acid. Yuck-o.

I ran the Mal in Time 2 Beat. Pie was in preferred and was the only dog and ran clean so she got the 10 points. She had fun, but since it is about speed and is not a hard course, but since we had no competition, there was not the excitement of if we would set the "time to beat" and get the 10 points, it wasn't that thrilling for me. Dottie took the off course tunnel twice in a row so no points on that run.

Pie ran clean in novice all weekend. She looks funny over the 20 inch jumps. She just kind of hops over them, instead of jumping a nice arc. Ah well- they are awfully low. But that is the point.

Fancy was not entered- and good thing in that heat!

Dottie had no Qs on Saturday and was quite "bad" in standard. I blame the heat. She seems to suffer from its effects more than either of the other girls. I eventually pulled her from the course due to lack of effort on her part. She was much better in jumpers which I think was because I warmed her up with food instead of a toy. In the heat, the playing with a toy ahead of time probably got her tired before she even ran.

Today Dottie got her first Ex B Jumpers Q! With a first place, beating the 20 inch dog who jumps 24 inches and always beat Pie by a 1/10 of a second. Dottie beat him by a full second. And we were not trying to go fast due to the heat and due to the fact that hurting my knees is so far in the front of my mind I can barely concentrate on the course. Which means I am running very slowly. Dottie's time was not amazing compared to the rest of the 20 inch Border Collies, and the fastest 24 inch dogs had not qualified, but it was still nice to beat Pie's nemesis.

This week coming up will be filled with more tracking, then a 3 day agility trial where ffluffy will join us, then no more agility until after our SchH trial.

In family news, my sister was spared the wrath of Hurricane Irene, but she did feel the earthquake they had there a few days ago. She lives in NC. My brother is going to Hawiii on business (lucky guy,) and my mom's school will be starting up right after Labor Day. My youngest brother is working on his Eagle Scout project (making care packages for 200 deployed Marines) and my dad got stung by a bee while swimming, even though he always rescues bees who otherwise would have drowned. Bad bee.

Tracking Update 3 (Part 2) and 4

I wrote this on Thursday...



As planned, yesterday after work I had dinner, then went to the park for some remedial tracking. Dottie was excused. I started with Pie. I made the scent pad, went a few paces, put food in my footsteps for 6 paces, then 6 paces no food, then 6 paces food, then no food, a corner and then an article. Then I did a straight line with some food in the middle then an article. Pie seemed confident and did fine. We meandered around the park doing lots of short legs, corners and some food. Pie just got better and better. Next it was Fancy’s turn. As I’ve mentioned, I don’t use food with her since she seems to think she has lost the track when the food runs out. So remedial for her is short, short tracks. The articles are the things that give her confidence since she only finds those when she is correct.

The neat thing about where I was tracking is it is boarded by houses and there is a small hill in the park. Structures and hills (really anything other than flat ground) influence scent. Scent is kind of like a fog. It gathers in low lying areas and drifts on air currents. So while Fancy’s tracks/ legs were short and the articles plentiful, she still had some trouble due to the unexpected actions of the scent. I felt she gained confidence by the end of our session.

Which brings us to Tracking Update 4. At lunch today I took 4 articles and laid a short track with many turns for Pie. It had drizzled earlier today (weird!) and I could see my path, plus I was careful to use landmarks like “left and parallel the patch of dead grass,” “ right at the soccer net,” and “article next to the man hole cover.” (You don’t see too may manhole covers in a soccer field.) Yep, Pie was pretty much perfect! (It was an I love tracking day.) She didn’t get lost, she went at an ok speed, and was very confident.

Dottie’s turn- that dog can track. She has maybe too much confidence and that causes her to go fast and over shoot corners. If I can get some strong corrections in she will slow down but it is refreshing to NOT be working a wilting flower. I tracked her on the other side of the parking lot and here the grass was deeper and I could really see my footsteps. Again I started off with 4 articles then after we were done with that did “extra legs.” This is where I leave the dog in a down and do a leg with the dog watching. It is nice because it makes it harder (but not impossible) to forget where I just was, and the dog sees me putting the article down, so they know it is out there somewhere, and if they get into trouble they will keep working. I always end tracks this way. I just realized something. When I started tracking, I couldn’t do this with Dottie- she didn’t know how to hold a down! That shows how long I’ve been tracking… I thought Dottie needed a challenge so I tracked her over 2 consecutive plastic utility covers. It wasn’t so much the plastic that gave her problems, but the fact that they were recessed pretty far into the ground, so I’m sure that messed the scent up. She eventually figured it out and it was good problem solving.

Next up, speaking of “problems”- Fancy. The wilting flower herself. She started off down her track- then had a bathroom break. She’s never done this before so I ignored it. The odd part was it was more like marking (which she does do) than actually having to go. She looked at me, then volunteered to track again. But then she stopped and had another tinkle. This time I corrected and she started up again, made the corner and stopped to sniff a tree. I told her to keep tracking, which she ignored, so I corrected her again. 2 corrections in a short time was too much for her and she tried to refuse to do anything. Luckily for me that article was about 2 feet away so I was able to convince her to take a step, and then she found it. Whew. We started up again and now she was tracking, but slower than a snail’s pace. (Dottie is too fast, Fancy too slow.) Slowness is not bad. But this slow for Fancy is bad because it meant she was not happy. However, I was smart and put her articles close (smart for once) and after she found the next 2 easily she got more confident. K pointed out Fancy keeps her foot on the track to check different locations but make sure she doesn’t lose the last known location and I saw Fancy doing this during this track. Very cool, Fancy. After the last article, I did the extra legs and Fancy got more and more confident. At one point I tracked up to a chain link fence then turned left. Fancy followed the scent up to the fence, then seemed lost. She tried to go right, but that wasn’t it. Then she came back to me, but that wasn’t it. Back to the fence. She soon found it and we continued on. Later I realized the wind was blowing from behind, pushing the scent through the fence and she was confused because to her, the smell kept going, but there was a barrier in her way. The fact that she checked (in her mind) random directions and didn’t just quit is great!

Yeah tracking! I love tracking! (Today. Cue ominous music…)

Tracking Update 3

Tracking is making me seem like someone who suffers from Manic Depressive Personality Disorder. Highs and lows. 2 days ago was a high. And today a low. Tracking at lunch, for once, no wind. I laid a long track with only 2 turns for Pie (and only 2 articles.) Then short tracks with lots of turns for Dottie and Fancy. I let Pie’s track age while I got Dottie out. Dottie was acceptable. She wasn’t very precise, but found all the articles. It is going to be a problem, her waiting while I walk the 30 feet to get to her. The “bothering” of the articles is just points, but the first 2 times she laid down, then got up and came to me.

Fancy was terrible. I think maybe she’s only been tracking one time in her life. And I was terrible also. After the first article, I walked the next leg to make sure I knew where it went, and I didn’t. I ended up back tracking the entire thing, picking up my articles.

Next, Pie’s turn. She wandered around the scent pad, panting and couldn’t find the first leg (hint- it went straight.) I eventually tossed food along the track, which she found, but still wouldn’t move forward. Finally, she found the leg and with much trying to wander off of it, we moved forward. She got the first turn, finally got to the article, but couldn’t get the second turn then when I took her too it, we couldn’t finish the last leg. I went and got the article and we did a super short few paces, turn, article. (She had trouble with that too.) I think Pie has probably never tracked in her entire life. Certainly she has never done a full length SchH 1 track just 2 days ago.

Was Pie picking up on my frustrations over Fancy, maybe the fact that my lunch break was almost over and I felt rushed, AND I was so hungry I felt weak? Was that stressing her out? When she stresses she pants and it is impossible to pant and sniff and the same time, and Pie has never dealt with stress well. Pie feels stress and she stops working.

So the plan is to go home, eat lunch/ dinner, then do some short tracks with both Pie and Fancy to increase confidence. Mine and theirs. In the meantime, just medicate me now- I can’t take much more of the rollercoaster. I love tracking- it is so cool! I hate tracking- I never know where my track went and my dogs are terrible! I love tracking- we just passed a practice SchH 1! I hate tracking- Dottie’s a spaz and Pie and Fancy haven’t got a clue. Why? Why??