December 4: First practice with Cheeky

Jason and Fanny went with us today for our first practice. It was 4:20 pm and starting to get dark and cold at about 44°F. I laid three tracks that were 15, 20 and 25 scuff steps. Cheeky did a great job on her tracks and when there was a distraction, she got right back to work. We still need to work on articles.

Jason video taped Cheeky’s track: https://youtu.be/vzK4Jd26p70

Comments

December 11

Cheeky, Sizzle and Fanny did 50 scuff steps (with food every two steps) tracks near the Community Center and Valero by 360 today. Cheeky ate more of the food without a flag in front of her and mostly kept her nose to the ground.

January 5: Left Turn Track Day Four

I put in a track at the Battlefield Green Community Center near a line of trees. It was overcast and 63°F. The track was 80 scuff steps, left turn and second leg was 60 scuff steps. Cheeky was mostly happy and tracked well, but after the turn she really wanted to go backwards. I stood still and waited for her to decide to go forward. She was pretty determined. She seemed anxious either because it was getting dark or because there were dogs barking nearby. At one point before the turn I made the mistake of correcting her for sniffing some trash. I don't know if that caused some of her anxiety too. Eventually she did decide to move forward and did well on the remainder of the track. The video is below. You'll see her off screen for quite a while after the turn and that's the point where she was trying to pull me backwards.

December 3: Cheeky's first tracking class

In the pouring rain and about 50°F, Judi laid three short tracks for Cheeky. She walked backward so Cheeky could see what Judi was doing. Cheeky seemed to pick up on the idea right away especially on the second track. She was sniffing and eating most of the hot dogs. We can work on recognizing the articles at home. She was distracted by people are dogs walking by but she's just a puppy and we can work on that.

Cheeky's Tracking Journal

Search This Blog