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.

14C this morning, rained overnight so the grass was really wet, no breeze.

I introduced the concept of "turns" this morning. This is done by making big arcs at the end of a short track. I mark the radius with poles, use lots of food drops and walk across the arc three times before leaving the glove and walking out. We did three short tracks, arc to the right. I don't think that Morley even noticed the change of direction, which is basically what I want to see. However, I'm noticing that she's not spending much time at the beginning of the track, so I'm going to use food drops on the scent pad for a few days to encourage her to spend some time before moving out.

We did have our first potential "crittering" with Morley pouncing where she thought (probably correctly!) that there was a mouse. I'm certain this could become an issue, so I've also started using the words "Find it" when she moves out after a food drop. This way I may be able to encourage her to start tracking if she decides to critter on me.

Two days off while we went to Prince George for an agility trial, so back at it this morning.

14C, very little dew, no breeze. I decided both Morley and I were becoming a little dependent on spacial clues, like the fencelines and cut-rows in the grass, so this morning I laid two tracks diagonally across the back pasture. This proved a little "weird" to Morley and resulted in quartering, which she hasn't done. The first track had food drops every 10 steps, which is where we left off on Friday morning, the second track was every 15 steps.

The second track was uphill and this caused the scent to pool to the left of the track a bit, which Morley found a bit difficult.

9C, heavy dew, no wind....again, great conditions for a new tracking dog. Same scenario as yesterday morning with two long tracks, run back to back. Food drops every 10 steps. Morley was very excited to track this morning, with a little whine after I unhooked her from the fence. She was very methodical on the first track and did it in a very short time, doing an automatic down when she found the glove. She didn't do this on the first glove yesterday because it was a new one.

On the second track, she spent no time at the scent pad, moved off and found the first food drop, and the second one. From that point on, she drifted about 18 inches to the left of the track, even though there was no wind. Because of this she missed most of the food drops, but continued to pull in the harness and worked the track very well. With this information next week I'll use fewer food drops, except on the tracks where I introduce a change of direction.

6C, heavy dew, no wind....another great tracking morning. This morning I decided to up the ante just a bit. I wanted Morley to get the feeling of a longer track but I needed her to have a reward part way. So, I laid two 200+ foot long tracks side by side, going in opposite directions. Both tracks were an entire lesson in and of themselves, but the real lesson for Morley was that she go right back to work after finding the first glove. Restarting is a skill she'll need for TDX tracks. While she did well, I noticed that she hesitated a couple of times on the second track. This is just a function of new criteria, and very shortly she did settle into her harness well.

8C this morning, very heavy dew, but absolutely no breeze, very nice tracking conditions.

I laid two long tracks, both somewhere close to 200 feet, I think. This is still only 1/4 of the distance that will be required for a TD track, but we're doing well. In addition to the difficulty of the new distances, I also increased the distance on food drops to 10 paces, and only walked normally, no shuffling today. So, a little less scent, less food and more distance. I wanted Morley to really understand that this is about the track and not the food.

She found all the food drops on the first track, but was so eager to follow the second track that she missed the first 3 food drops. She hesitated a bit when she didn't find the food drops, but still worked well. After that she settled in and did a really nice job, deep nose, pulling into the harness. I'm now holding back on following her until I feel her pull hard, she needs to take the responsibility for the job now.

Her confidence level is looking very good, she starts off eagerly after each food drop and is doing a down automatically when she finds the glove.

Back at it this morning. Very wet conditions as it rained through most of the night, so I stuck to the back pasture, with the lighter cover. Three tracks laid, the first was about 75 feet. I shuffled the track and put food drops every 6 steps, in case the really wet cover caused any problems. She had no trouble with the track, so the next two were around 120 feet. The first one I spaced out the food drops to every 8 steps, still shuffling my feet for extra scent. The third track was again around 120 feet, food drops every 8 steps, but this time I walked "normally", leaving less scent and crushed vegetation.

The further apart the food drops are the stronger she works, her body language is remaining very obvious and today she volunteered a down at the glove each time. Some very good stuff happening. Next week I'll start adding some age to the tracks, and then think about starting some direction changes.

We moved to the back field this morning. Different cover, more grass, a little shorter, not so much alfalfa and clover. 8C with no wind, lots of dew, so really nice conditions.  I laid three tracks, using bear sausage for food drops.

First track was about 120 feet long, the longest I've asked Morley to do so far. She did well, but I could see her hesitate just before the 100 foot mark, the longest track she'd done on the other days, but she kept moving and finished the track nicely. Her nose is deep, she's putting weight into the harness and her body language, so far, is good and "readable", with her nose down and tail waving. Her tail stops moving when she's not working, so hopefully most of that body language will remain as time goes on.

In light of her hesitation on the first track, due to the length, I elected to make the second track shorter to boost her confidence, with an eye to making the third one longer than the first. So, second track was around 80 feet, she was strong on that one, moving quickly yet methodically.

The third track was about 150 feet, still shuffling in the grass, food drops about every 6 paces. She missed a few drops, but didn't hesitate when she didn't find one immediately. The distance didn't seem to bother her on this one at all, so I'll mix the distances up again for her next week. While Morley isn't offering a down at the glove, she is going down more quickly when I ask her to, and she doesn't get the contents of the glove until she is laying down.

Miss Morley is really interested in having the tracking harness put on, which is cool and I can see her starting to work before we get to the start stake, hunting for my track into it. We'll be taking the next three weekends off, due to visitors and two agility trials, but those breaks are good for both the dog and the handler. I'm pretty pleased with how things are going so far.

Looks like it rained overnight (damp concrete)....so, the fields were very wet. Temp at 14C, tiny breeze from the NW. Laid two tracks west to east and slightly downhill. Breeze following the track, so not causing any drift of scent across the track.

I only put down two tracks this morning but both were over 100 feet long. First one had food drops every 6 paces, the second one I spaced the food drops out a bit more. As long as Morley continues to have a deep nose and keeps close to the track, I'll increase the spacing on the food drops each day to encourage her to find the track first, then the food drops. She's putting good weight into the harness and is moving off the scent pad readily.

So far, I haven't "aged" the tracks at all, we're running them fresh. I'd rather add the distance first, teaching her to work for longer periods of time. After that I'll start putting curves in the tracks to teach her that tracks aren't always straight lines. These will eventually become 90 degree turns. Once that skill is in place I'll age tracks a bit. One skill set at a time in tracking!

16C, no wind, light dew this morning. I laid three tracks again, we'll stay there for the next 10-14 days, as the tracks are short and straight, so not very demanding mentally or physically. I again shuffled on the tracks, laid the first food drop out about 4 paces from the scent pad to encourage Morley to move along the track on her own. Food drops after that were about every 6 steps. I didn't double back on any of the tracks the morning.

She watched me lay each track, hopped up when I unclipped her leash from the fence, and pulled me to the start stake. She starts working right away and moves out with pretty good confidence. Again, I put pressure on the leash when she did to encourage her to pull. I'm not seeing any indication from her when she finds the glove, so I'm asking her to lie down before I let her have the food in the glove. Nothing worse than having a dog blow over an article in a test!

Morley's nose is pretty funny to listen to while she's working, nearly snorting she's breathing in so hard! I think she's liking tracking!

Different conditions this  morning: no dew, temp around 20C and a tiny breeze from the NW. So, I laid all three tracks south to north so the breeze would bring scent back into Morley's nose and not drift it too far away from the track.

She watched intently as I laid the first track. I did food drops about every 4 paces again, shuffling on the track to lay extra scent. She pulled me to the track, put her nose on the scent pad and started working immediately. I did less verbal encouragement this morning, wanting her to work without "help" from me and I worked a tiny bit further behind her, putting pressure on the harness when she did. This track was about 60 feet long.

The next two tracks were about 80 feet, food drops every 6 paces or so, and for those two tracks, the first food drop was a couple of feet out from the scent pad to encourage Morley to figure out the direction of the track on her own. She pulled me to both tracks, put her nose deep and found the direction easily. From a position just back from her tail, I can easily hear her nose working.

I'll keep the food drops closely spaced together this week to encourage a deep nose and to keep her from straying too far from the track. Next week, if she starts to miss food drops in favour of the track itself, I'll lengthen the spacing between food drops.

After a seven year hiatus from tracking, this morning I got my tracking gear out and Morley (Josh x Chime) got her first tracking lesson. Due do a full-time job, multiple dogs competing in multiple venues, and a lack of tracking partners, tracking has slid to the back burner over the years. Time to dust off my skills and train somebody up. Morley has demonstrated a strong nose in real life, I suspect "crittering" might be our downfall, but hopefully not!

So, first lesson this morning took place in the sun, nice heavy dew, absolutely no wind. Perfect conditions for the first time out. I staked her out to the fence, put in the first stake and shuffled out about 40 feet, putting a food drop about every 4 paces. Glove with steak inside at the end and I walked back along the track to leave more scent and avoid any distracting second track. Clipped a short leash to her harness, took her to the first stake and let  her explore the scent pad and then showed her with my hand where I wanted her to look. She found the first food drop and we slowly continued along the track to the glove, where I gave her the big chunk of steak and we had a small party. I let her follow the track out on our own.

I laid a second track, about the same length, same "clues" and noticed that this time she was watching me lay the track. She was a bit faster this time and I spent less time pointing out the direction we were to go. I could hear her snuffling in the grass the whole time and whenever she moved forward I quietly said "Good". I'm totally quiet all the rest of the time. I don't want to make too much noise as I expect my dogs to work with me silent in a test.

One more track (I usually do three on a first lesson), and this time I put food drops about every 6 paces, and made it about 50 feet long. She was watching intently this time and pulled me toward the start stake of the track. She spent a little time at the scent pad, then moved out toward the first food drop. I put some pressure on the harness, letting the pressure off whenever she stopped. I want her to get used to putting pressure on the harness when she's working.

All in all, it was a really nice first lesson.