4 Dogs - 4 Serpentines - One Surprise Star!

It was TED! AGAIN! I wondered when I might use this picture. Ted was on the couch being silly - he lifts his lips and grins with his teeth showing. Since I didn't take pictures tonight, you get treated with these silly shots.

The last time I tried something new was earlier in the summer when I sprayed a hard-surface track HITT-style. Ted was the star that day too (photo below).

I have often said Ted is not the best tracking dog I have had. He loves to find articles, and takes short cuts to get to them. I have a few theories about Ted's recent brilliance...which do you think sounds right?

1. I am learning new things here that make me a better trainer

2. These new methods are giving Ted more clarity

3. Ted has the least amount of training, so the new methods work right away with him

I think all of these have merit. One thing I love about tracking is how you can always improve and learn new things - and each new dog is a new training challenge.

I made a scent pad and a single arch for Ted, not wanting to stretch him. I could hear him sniffing deep into the scent pad, and on a loose lead, he calmly worked his way along the arch to the end. He went off once at the bend of the arch, and I simply let him come back on his own.

Before Ted, I did Caden first, on the same shape track - scent pad and one arch. Caden started out well, but he tried repeatedly to rush ahead. I switched to small pieces of kibble with him tonight. Since he didn't have the focus I would like to see - he had a half-ration of dinner tonight. Maybe if he is a bit hungrier tomorrow, he will eat more kibble on track! He has a ton of drive, but I need to shape it into the right behaviour. I know I left him wanting more, since his track was so short - plus he watched everyone else work after him. He will be raring to go and hopefully try harder tomorrow - or I will pull him off the track after showing him what a good treat he missed! River and Ted playing at 'Three Mile Bend' dog park on the Red Deer River

Jet and Caden show off with toys. This is what it looks like when I try to watch TV. Since I have no tracking photos from tonight, you have to look at these silly pictures!
Little Jet was the BRAT of the evening. Which figures, as she is giving a tracking demo at the Border Collie Nationals in a week and a half. She started off nicely. At the bend in the arch, she stepped off and tried to stare at me in protest. She did not like this footstep thing. She wanted to GO. I did as I was told at the seminar and WAITED HER OUT. She tried to jump on me, stare at me, and then she stared away for a long 3-4 minutes. When nothing worked, she got bored, put her nose down and found a piece of food. I said "good girl" and took a step forward. She buckled down and did the rest of the track really well. I like this method.
Portrait of Jet (she likes this one and insisted I use it)