November 23rd
Finwë had FastCat earlier in the day so he had a long day and was due for his nap. To get some tracking in I just set three tracks at home. He still doesn’t seem to recognize the flag as being a spot to find treats. I thought by now he would know what the start flag means! I also used a chest harness to hold my phone to record. This does not seem like the ideal angle but I think it will do if I don’t have anyone there to record or have anywhere I can set my phone up at.
Track 1
I set this up in between some overgrown garden beds. I figured this might help with him turning to the side to eat the treats vs staying straight. I used some homemade venison summer sausage a friend made cut up pinky nail size. This track was 20 feet and aged about 15 minutes.
Track 2
This track was on the neighbors side yard. It was 12 feet long. During this track I heard him sniffing a lot more. He also stayed straight a bit better.
Track 3
20 feet long, aged 30 minutes. He had issues staying on this track. He kept pulling to the side, wanting to turn around to look for food vs using his nose to go forward. He also looked back at me for than he usually does. Not sure if it was the location or what.
Love the distance you are on the lead. Love your patience. My suggestion would be to double lay his tracks, putting the food down on the second 'lay'. AND putting four or five pieces of food down at your start and end flag - then when you put the line on the harness, hold him back, show him another two or three pieces of food in your hand then toss it at the start flag. I do this with Jack at all of his starts. So he walks up and there is a scatter of five pieces already waiting on the ground, I switch to his harness, and toss two or three new cookies on top of the five. When they 'see' you load it, it can help them get started. Give a try.
ReplyDeleteI could see a clear difference between Track 2 and Track 3 and the longer age may be contributing here. I would keep the tracks at a 15 min window and focus on the start as Mary Ann has suggested. As the distances and spacing of treats increase, there will be a natural adjustment in the aging of the track. For now, let's continue with ~20' track and 15 min - Loved what we are seeing on Track 2 and want to get that locked in for him!
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