Buster Brown & TricksTracking Journal

 Across from winery.  Big open field on 208.  Cold. . .34 degrees.  Mostly calm, cloudy.  Partial snow on ground.  Wet, long grass.   1 hr 50 minutes. 5 turns.  Minimum food--only 1 scent pad on 5th, longest leg.  Some scuffing at start and after turns.  412 paces total. I used DOUBLE Line ups! Working on map skills.  Run at 4:50 p.m.  My original plan was to practice long legs.  But then I looked at the woodline and thought, that would be good practice to and from.   Tricks did great!  Great drive & great start.  He is keeping his nose down more and more and keeping his spine straight! I ran him on 10-ft lead.  Working on letting HIM figure out turns instead of me stopping at flag.  Sometimes he circles back on turns, sometimes not.  I can't really see a pattern here.  He did want to investigate a bit more on 2nd turn. . .I wonder if he was air scenting the END article??!! ...

100 yards straight let. 1 article.    Laid at 3:05 pm, run at 4:45 p.m.(1 hr 40 minutes).   40 degrees, wet ground w/ some snow.  Kinda long grass.  In grassy lot by Dollar Store.  Used double line-up. NO food on track.  Tricks went right to work, great start and stayed ON until the article.  He didn't SEE the article, but head popped up when he was about to pass it. . .he circled back and stepped on it.  Very motivational track for both of us!

1/15/24  One turn. Four hours old.SP at 30 yards on both legs. One article on turn and one article at end. About 120 yards total 28°. I used DOUBLE line-ups on both legs!   I thought this would be easy for Tricks but it really wasn’t. He started off well drifted off the first turn the opposite direction. I’m trying to keep my feet still and only move forward when his spine is straight.  Working him on 10-ft lead. He finally got to the article on the turn. Did OK on the turn but on next leg he drifted a lot to the left towards the lake. Was this because of the lake? Was it because of Goose? Was it because of ground cover change it went from to dirt and dried leaves under the trees.  Finished fine with last article.  Is it too much for him to track 2 days in a row?

 Ran 4 1-turn starts at different ages.  Cold, sunny, and windy.  40 degree.   Track1- (2 hrs 10 minutes) start was good --paralleling the woods.  I feel like I am reading better.  I could recognize scent loss at turn.  He did NOT want to turn left into the woods.  I had to hold him and back up.  My theory is that he does not like the woods because he gets pricked in the face / eyes with brush / thorns.  He does NOT see well.  The cataracts is bad in left eye.  Is this why he didn't want to turn left?  Good article indication in woods. Used 10-ft lead. Track#2  (3hrs 20 minutes) Much more wind.  I think he started in wrong direction.  Judi says I need to recognize tracking behavior and not wait for tracklayer to tell me to stop.  And don't go with him when his head is up.  I can't  stop thinking of the TD Test (right here at Cool Water) from 2 years ago when we did NOT pass because I woul...

16- article track. Age 2h45 min.  380 paces. Frost on ground when laid.  Dry , sunny 60 degrees when run.  Blind.  Great start. Stands over article & wags tail.  Great on most articles, though missed 3 on long leg. (Around 8 minutes into video) trying to keep my feet planted.  Still working on that!  Overall, I am very pleased. Ok, got the map!

Football field.  In 10:15.  Run @1:15. 40 degrees. Cloudy, windy, dampish short grass. Aprox 140 yards.  No food on track. New Track layer: Roy.    I think Tricks did pretty well.  He was hurting a bit from some long walks, a long track 2 days ago and an NFL take down by Buster. :(   Nice start.  Some times he parallells track . . .I kept him on 10-ft lead, but mostly stayed around 6 feet back.  Stoping my feed when HE shows loss of scent. . .NOT when I see a flag or marker.  Stopped at both articles.  I fed from my pocket.  I was PROUD of Tricks NOT  back tracking to end.  Roy had the end article kind close to the start (maybe 40-50yards?) YOutube video

3 hrs age.  36 degrees, 6 mph wind. Sunny.  Cool water. Approx 450 yards.   Can't say that was a great start.  He lied!!!  Ok, get over it.  Got on the right track. This was pretty much blind for me.  I'm really trying to let Tricks tell me where it goes, and not look ahead at flags or clips.  Judi says he is "rythmic" when he is ON.  I'm trying to figure out what that exactly means/feels like.   Youtube video