Buster Brown & TricksTracking Journal

 I don't even want to write about this. . .it was bad.  Took Tricks forEVER.  Never seen him stop so much! Sunday Dec. 18 @ open lot across road from Dollar Store.  43 degrees. Cloudy. A bit windy.  Dry. (even after rain a couple of days ago. Lots of briars & saplings. Long legs..about 200 yards each with one article on all legs, except 1st .4 turns . 767 paces total. He did so well the last time we trained on this field. Ran at 2 hrs 45 minutes.  Started ok.  But kept stopping and looking right (towards the road).  All the turns were to the left.  Tip-toed through briars.  Found a few food drops.  SLOOWWW.  Kept lifting head and looking around. Had moments of on track. Ended early due to slowness and not doing well. Missed unintentional glove drop.  Did he miss it because it had no food?  Should I stop leaving food in gloves?

 Tricks ran  a nice stair step today.  Age: 2H 52 minutes.  590 paces.  5 right turns.  4 articles total. S10, W15. F 8/9.  43 degrees cloudy.  Ground mostly dry.  Short grass with some longer grass in stretches. Kept pretty close to track.  Keeping head down more and more.  I really think he is learning how to track! Still missing many food drops. Now starting to back track for missed food drops. Turns . . .nearly every turn, he indicated loss of track with head up/ not pulling forward/ and circling LEFT --very intensely sniffing ground.  I am recognizing this as lost track/"search mode".  Then he starts right but doesn't quite commit all the way.  Rechecks the left and then goes right finally.  Does this mean he is not confident?  Am I holding too hard at turns?  Should I ease up even more?  I think he only took 1 turn straigt in once.    Article indication was excellent.  He stopp...

 Total length:  652 paces.  Longest so far! 4 legs, each over 100 yards.  1st leg 205 yards.  Harsh cover--little grass, lots of wild raspberry, tree stumps, seedlings, tripping hazards!  Ran at 2H30 minutes.   Tricks WOW'ed me!  BEST I have seen him track!  He kinda tip-toed through the track. . .picking up his feed purposefully.  Also tracked at a more slow, deliberate pace. I felt like I had more time to really read and study his signals.  He definitely goes "sideways" when he is going off track . . .head one way and butt another.  So I stopped and waited for him to come back to the track.  Also stopped and waited when head came up looking around. Article indication  good--Stopped at mid-way article and end article.  I waited 3 - 4 seconds before rewarding. Turns were good.  Sometimes he double check the turn and other times, right into it.  (I wonder) why!! Took water 3/4 of the way through on ...

 Did "straight" line in woods.  9 articles.  Rain.  53 degrees.  Ran at 2 hours.  Did ok.  I need to use MORE markers!   Got a little lost, but Tricks got it right!  Did S10, W15 w/ food at 8/9 after every article.  Article every 30 yards.  Needed some help across the paths --many cross tracks.  Rain didn't bother Tricks at all.  Was hard to hold wet line.  He did some waiting while I navigated branches/ trees/ etc..  Stopped at 8/9 articles.  Will not down still. . .after talking to Judi. . .I will not require him to down because of his age.  If he will take it in mouth, or just stand / pause / maybe look back at me?  I'll take it.   Work on waiting 3- 5 seconds before rewarding for glove find.