November 14th, 2025

Location: Riverview Farm Park

Track Layer: Myself

Food: Cheese

Article: new rabbit fur Lotus Ball toy with handle on tether

Goal for the day: Just to track!

How did it feel? It felt okay. The park was very busy and I felt rushed since sunset is so early this time of year. At this time last year we were doing starter baby tracks. It getting dark so easy is going to be a challenge!

3 Things that went well:

1. The park was very busy. Lots of walkers, lots of other dogs, a lady had her cat at the shelter we tracked near, and a construction crew was packing up as we got there. He did a good job getting back to work. Sometimes he has the bad habit of staring at everyone for a long period of time.
2. He did the turn beautifully! Shorter grass with close food drops were motivating for him.
3. He saw the article and began going for it before I pulled the tether. Judi said this is the goal! The movement is also a reward.

3 Things to improve on:

1. My phone did not record! Well, it did, but then my phone started having issues. I spent hours the next day trying to recover my video. It wasn’t ever able to recover it though, unfortunately.
2. Continue focusing on line tension. What happens is: he starts going, I let the line out before taking a step to avoid pushing him up the track… then he stops! So I’m constantly letting the line out and then pulling it back in to try and keep tension.
3. I was rushing since I had just gotten off work and wanted to get at least one track in before it got dark. So I wasn’t able to set up the article turns like Judi suggested. I might have to wait for a day when I’m tracking with Heather. Sometimes I have a hard time pulling the article while still working the line.

Overall his tracking wasn't too bad considering how bust the park was. He did stop the take a look at all the goings on a few times however it was much easier to get him going again than it was at the end of last season. I would give him a quick "come on buddy lets track" and he would get going again. 

New Lotus ball toys. Fur lined and I am able to stuff them with treats.

Only evidence we tracked was Fin finding this dead red winged black bird that was right off my track. I can’t believe I missed it while laying it!