I seem to forget to write something lately....not that I haven't had Morley out, I just run out of time and then forget!

Last week I introduced the concept of 90 degree corners. These were all triple-laid with extra bait after the corner was completed. She was interesting to watch. The first time the track was "lost" I could see Morley thinking "Hey, it's gone, where did it go?" and then she did a short hunt and found the track. After that, she was harder to trick and easily followed the new direction.

The conditions last week were really nice, with early morning temps around 6C, some dew and no wind.

On Thursday morning, the last day we were out, I did a 200 pace track with both a left and a right turn in it. I put a glove loaded with bait after each turn to reward making the turn and also to reinforce the need to restart in the middle of a track. The turns were easy, the restart a little more difficult.

It sure is dark at 5:30!!! Don't know what I'm going to do next week, as we're losing 3-4 minutes each morning. 5C this morning, heavy dew, no breeze.

Three tracks again, all with left arcs. I triple laid the arcs on the first two, single on the last one. The last track had no food drops on it at all. That didn't pose any trouble, but I'm noticing that her starts are becoming weak, so I think that will have to be the focus for a couple of days next week. The arcs are not posing any problems at all.

Didn't track this morning, didn't post anything yeserday....guess the wheels wobbled a bit!

Yesterday's tracks were still short with left arcs on them. Temp was 9C, it was raining lightly and there was a slight breeze from the NE. First track I put extra food drops on due to the wetter conditions, which we hadn't done any work in so far. Morley moved off with purpose, leaned into the harness and missed the food drops in the middle. She got all the drops on the arc. The next two tracks, I didn't bother with food drops on the straight leg, and did fewer on the arc. This didn't seem to bother her at all. The last track had a more acute angle to it, posing no trouble at all.

Monday morning, back at it after an agility trial weekend with Chime and Nina. 12C, light dew, no breeze.

This morning's tracks were left arcs. Due to the couple of days off, I used three food drops on the opening straight leg to remind Morley of the job, and the arc was triple-laid with food drops every 4 steps. The tracks were in the front pasture, starting at the top and I noticed that Morley was drifting a bit off the track initially, although she was drifting to the uphill side....no idea why.

She had no trouble again with the change of direction, restarts after food drops were good and she was leaning into the harness nicely.

10C, grass very dry, slight breeze from the east, a direction we rarely get any breeze from!

Three tracks, all right arcs. No food drops on the opening, straight leg, first arc quite open. Food drops every 5 paces, triple laid. Morley really leaned into the harness this morning, restarts were great. Second track the arc was a little more acute. Third track, I totally forgot to put any food drops on the arc (or anywhere else!). My brain is feeling a bit foggy this morning, apparently! Anyway, she had absolutely no trouble with that track. The arc was very acute, triple laid, just no food. She pulled the whole way and didn't hesitate over the change of direction.

What a good kid!

12C, very wet as we got lots of rain overnight. Again, no wind. Conditions for a new tracking dog have been amazing these past three weeks. We were in the front pasture this morning because we used the back one yesterday morning.

Again, we worked on arcs to the right. Three tracks this morning. I did no food drops on the scent pad or the opening straight track. The only food drops were on the arcs, about every 5 steps, and the arcs were triple laid. Morley moved out with great confidence on the straight tracks each time and restarted after food drops easily. She felt much different this morning from yesterday morning. More like she "got it". This morning the arcs were a little more acute than yesterday as we move toward doing 90 degree corners.

12C this morning, very heavy dew, no wind.

We moved to the back field this morning, where the cover is heavier, because we'd used the front one yesterday. Three tracks, two with arc right, one with arc left, because of space constraints.

On the first track, I baited the scent pad, and then every 10 steps until the beginning of the arc. I left food drops every 5 paces on the arc, and the arc was triple laid. She was very good on this track. There was a fair amount of scent coming from the lagoon and I thought she might find that difficult to deal with.

Second track I left no bait on the opening part of the track, then food drops every 5 paces on the arc. Arc again was triple laid. Again, no problem on this track at all.

Third track, bait every 15 steps until the arc, then it was done the same as the first two tracks.