November 18th, 2025

Location: Yorktown Surrender Field

Track Layer: Myself

Food: Chick-fil-A nuggets

Article: Coyote tail on tether

Goal for the day: Work on our homework 2, two-turn tracks with an article at each turn.

How did it feel?

Not great. I definitely set him up for failure without meaning to. I haven’t been to this location since early March, and we were hoping the field had been mowed… it hadn’t. Oh well, the grass height was still TD-appropriate. But as I was laying the track, I started noticing patches of briars. Some areas were okay, others were definitely not. Finwë struggled with briars last year, he absolutely hates walking through thorns.

So why did I still lay a 100+ yard, two-turn track through that mess? I DO NOT KNOW. I guess I had it in my head that I needed to practice exactly what Judi assigned. Needless to say, things didn’t go well.

A few minutes into the track, Heather arrived, which didn’t help. He saw her van and was immediately like, “FRIENDS!!!” He absolutely could have worked through that, but between the briars, the distraction, and the homework pressure… it just wasn’t our day.

3 Things That Went Well:

1. The weather was beautiful — a clear fall day.
2. Once we actually reached the turn, he took it on his own without hesitation.
3. I ended on a positive note with a quick, straight 40-yard track after that awful first one.

3 Things to Improve On:

1. Don’t set a difficult track in difficult terrain!
2. Have a solid game plan for when things fall apart. I tried pulling out a toy/article I had in my vest, but he wasn’t interested.
3. Keep working on Judi’s homework (correctly… and in better terrain).

Track 1

152 yards | 2 turns | Article 15 paces after each turn

This track was a hot mess. Way too long and way too difficult for the terrain. Honestly, if it had just been long grass, I think he would’ve handled it. But the briars completely tanked his mood and enthusiasm. This is something he struggles with in general, not just in tracking. He’s not great at pushing through being slightly uncomfortable. I’m not sure if it’s his personality, his breed, or a combination, but if something feels too hard, he mentally checks out.

At one point, just to keep him going, I tossed food on the track. I haven’t done that in a long time, but in this situation it helped. He eventually found the first turn and the article, and that did perk him up. But then we hit a bigger patch of briars. He stopped, held up his paws, and just stood there refusing to move. At that point, I called it and walked him out of the field. 

Track 2

After having a rough first track. I laid a quick 50 yard, straight track in the tall grass. There was a section that wasn’t so heavy with thorns. He was slow to start, once he got going though he walked down the track and grabbed the article. We ended on a more positive note.