Good Day

I took Chauncey and Blueberry tracking today in Orlando. The weather was about 50 degrees and had a decent wind that kept changing directions. I met up with Joyce (she has Goldens) and we laid tracks for each other. She has 2 dogs, Ziggy and Henry, Ziggy just earned his TD so she is now working on his TDX. Henry is about the same level as Blueberry, they started at the same time. Joyce laid Chauncey and Blueberry's tracks. Chauncey's was laid after Ziggy's and I wanted her track to age for 30 to 45 minutes before she ran it. Blueberry's was laid last and then run about 10 minutes later. You can see the diagram of Blueberry's track below. We started with a straight leg about 50 yards long, a 90 deg right turn for the 60 yard second leg, followed by a acute turn to the left and a last leg of 80 yards. There was a sock for her beginning article and a glove at the end with food in it. Blueberry has not been on a track for a couple months now, so I was anxious to see how she would do. I led her to the start flag, had her sit and changed the line from her collar to her harness and gave her the "find it" command. She put her nose to the ground and went straight down the track, never lifting her head to look around. We came to the first turn and she went back and forth a few times trying to pick it up. I let her re-scent with the sock and she found the second leg for a straight line to the 2nd turn that was at the tall brush at waters edge. She didn't even hesitate at this turn and nailed the acute turn and went straight down the last leg to the glove. We were amazed at the accuracy with which she completed the track and nailed the acute angle. Blueberry loved it and enjoyed tracking again, she really performed beautifully today. Chauncey ran her track last after it had aged about 45 minutes. Chauncey's track diagram is below. She started very nicely, about a 60 yard first leg and the first turn was nice. She started the second leg (120 yards) and found the plastic article halfway down it. The second turn was slighty up a hill at the edge of the road and was slightly acute. Chauncey was right on the turn and took the 3rd leg for about 80 yards up the burm to the third turn. This leg led us straight down the burm and due to the wind, Chauncey tracked about 10 feet to the right of the actual track, therefore missing the 2nd article. She found the 4th turn with no problem, but wanted to drift off the last leg (90 yards) to the right. I personally think that the wind changes during the time it was laid spread the scent around. After a straggly beginning on the last leg she last article and the went on to the end of the track very nicley to locate the glove and her big reward. She is doing very well on her tracks and we are working on focusing and not wandering with Chauncey. She did much better today than last week.