Another Day, Another Track

Capella officially advanced to Tracking 102 today — I introduced a turn. It actually wound up being a giant “U” turn — the track looked like this:

Again, an “x” is the approximate location of food drops (small yummy grab ‘n go treat). I used three in quick succession to reinforce her excellent start.

Capella starting her track

And you can also see that I increased treats in the turning section of the track. When difficulty increases, so should rate of reinforcers.

This is a look back at the gradual first turn.

I measured the track today — just about 200 yards. Capella had no trouble on the track — she is confident and fast.

SO fun 🎉

I hope you are having an equally fun day.

More BRRRRRRRR

Another frosty tracking session — this time it was Pozy’s turn.

I have taken a few steps back with Pozy’s training because I want stronger track commitment from her. A drifting dog may get lost, miss an article, or blow by a corner. I want my dog on that track.

To reinforce track commitment, I use food drops and multiple articles, which Pozy trades for treats. This was her track today — the “x” means there was a cookie.

This is what it looks like when she finds a cookie.

There are various levels of tracking and all involve articles (glove, wallet, sock, whatever). The dog must indicate the article to the handler but this can be done in different ways. I train my dogs to pick up articles — this makes article indication very clear.

BUT I train this behavior separately and do not add it to tracks until it is very, very solid. Pozy knows the trade game well — Capella does not. This means Pozy’s tracks have articles and Capella is working on picking up articles at home.

Articles on a track are traded for treats and the dog then continues on her track. I never end training tracks with articles — my training tracks always end with covered meals.

Pozy did a great job on her track — this look backwards shows how well she stayed on her track.

And it shows how very frosty it was today. BRRRRRRRR.

Warm Wishes for a Happy Sunday!

Contrast

This is Moonshadow Scout…

Thank you, Laurie!

…enjoying his best life in Washington ❤️

He looks like his Papa Pippin 🌞

Meanwhile, in Montana…

We had significant progress today — Capella missed about 75% of her food drops on the track. This (missing spaced out treats) is normal progression and means the dog understands the game. It also informs the next steps: I can reduce the food to maybe 3 - 5 treats per track leg AND she is ready to learn about corners.

I took this photo after I laid the track this morning — you are looking down the track towards the start. As I said yesterday, “straight” is largely aspirational 😂

Compare that photo to this one I took as Capella was scarfing down her end-of-track-treasure.

The undisturbed frost on both sides of the track tell the story — she was right on that track the whole way ⭐️

SO cool. I love tracking.

“But I thought there was a glove involved,” you ask 🤔 I will address that tomorrow.

Happy Saturday!