December 12th,2024

Met with Heather and Wren at Newport News Park. Heather laid our tracks with her articles and I laid hers.

We again had some issues with dogs in the area. A man even tried approaching us with his dog until Heather had to step in front of him to tell him to back off.

Track 1

Started with 30 yards with 14 inch food drops. This was slow going. He did turn to the side a bit and come back for missed food. He engaged with the article at the end but then just wanted to roll around in the grass. It poured all day the day before so he had been cooped up in the house. This training session showed that a bit.

Track 2

40 Yards with food drops about 12 inches apart. Heather placed a leather wallet at the end. This was also pretty slow going. He needed help to get going. Heather had placed his starting a bit further away from the start flag than he is use to. So he stood there for awhile looking for it, instead of starting to track. He looked up a lot, either sniffing the air or watching another dog pass. One time I tossed food on the track to get him going. A second time I waited him out. Once we were at the end. He did not really want to pick up the wallet. We need to work on more textured items that are stiffer. I don’t think he felt like the thick wallet was fun enough to play with!

Track 3

I was not really happy with the way track 2 went so I decided to keep everything the same. Aside from location and Heather placing a cloth glasses bag as the article. 40 yards, 12 inch food drops. He was less distracted and stayed on the track better. He is still turning around a bit though to grab missed food. Once we got to article I treated him, then he kept going looking for food. I asked him to pick up the glasses case and he tossed it into the air.