Caden's Combination Veg and Hard Surface Track

(plus a bonus sidebar at the end...)

Finally, I am posting the video of Caden's track from November 15. I was so proud of how he did, that I saved it for last! The first video shows his first leg and turn. He is a bit intense and pulls a bit hard still, but I like his style a lot more now. The turn is on the road, at the curb. I used the fold of the curb to hold scent. He also had to choose to be down on the road. I love watching videos after because I see things that I would not have remembered when following my dog. I love seeing him check grass, road, grass, road, then choose the hard surface!

You can see that after making the turn, he lifts his head and I had to help him out and calm him down. Interestingly he gets thrown off right at a light post, which can cause scent to do weird things. He is also tracking very intensely now, and I think I need to build up his endurance especially on hard surface. He works so hard, I think he needs the break. I have to watch this, as I definitely never want him to feel flustered when tracking.

I will lay his next track to keep up his confidence and accuracy, because what is in your dog’s mind is important. I believe it is important for our dogs to have the ‘can-do’ attitude at this phase rather than ‘it’s getting harder!'

By the way, I have learned from observation, and also read and been told to never, ever put an article beside a light post or tree or telephone pole because scent seems to be deflected further out and dogs miss articles beside them by being pushed away.

In part two, he moves along the curb very smartly. I like this transition, because the curb holds the scent nicely and you can see several times that he chooses it over the veg until the turn. I’m training him differently than any dog I have had before and am so far very pleased. For hard surface I have been combining my own method with SchH footstep tracking and HITT intermittently.

Here is the part I am so thrilled with...at the turn (black squiggly asphalt streak) he overshoots by a few steps, then lifts his head, backs up, makes a small circle, then finds the track up on the boulevard. I try to handle my line in such a way that he has the freedom to overshoot a corner, so that I can determine how he is demonstrating a loss of track, so I can also start to read him. To me his behaviour shows a clear indication that he has lost scent. It shows that he knows his job!

Following the SchH style I am learning, I have built in some verbals so if he goes too far, I gently say no, hoping to redirect him verbally to search more diligently rather than overshoot too much. When he is correct and appears to commit I say good boy quietly.

As he moves along on the veg he gets a bit too excited. I usually just leave a jackpot, but this time put the jackpot on a leather work glove and I am sure he could smell the glove. I won't do this again because he kept lunging a bit, changing pace and a steady pace is preferred for him to stay more calm and accurate. Plus - in SchH tracking he will be penalized if he keeps altering his pace from slow to fast.

Overall this was an exciting track. It was only 150 meters and about 45 minutes old in cold, dry conditions. I love tracking with my boy! I learn so much and he makes me feel very happy and in the zone as I follow him.

Sidebar

He has also been coming to work with me, while Jet recovers from her surgery. Usually they are kennel mates. This has been a nice experience, having him alone in the car all day. And, he loves the coffee runs! At Tim Horton's he gets a plain Timbit, and at Second Cup, they give him two milkbones. I consider this all "relationship building" so include in this tracking post!!
As soon as I drive up, Caden knows we are at the coffee drive through. Generally he is very well-behaved in the car and frequently he is crated but I do allow this indulgence.

I told the girl at the window that Caden had a blog, and she was great about posing for pictures! A "hand model" only (do you remember that Seinfeld?)
The cookies! He has such a cute face, he is hard to resist.

I had a Skinny Vanilla Latte.