January 9, 2011. 11am.

Went out today to take advantage of the weather conditions but I plan to give both dogs several days off after this. No new snow since yesterday. Clear and crisp with temperatures about -8C.

Realized today that I need to mix up running order, so ran Rivet 1, Caiman 1, Rivet 2, and then Caiman 2 & 3.
Rivet

Distance	R+	Spray	Notes	Success
30 treats (~240 ft)	5-10 footsteps	none	Gentle curve through trees. Some old crosstracks. Nailed it! Distracted by another dog and by some interesting smell but got right back to work in each case. Video below.	95%
"	"	"	Laid track to include part of the foot ball field that had been in use when we first arrived. She struggled somewhat there but kept working. Video below.	70%

Caiman

Distance	R+	Notes	Success
20 steps	braided fleece rope at end	Lifted head 1x, got off-track 1x, came back to see me 1x. Restarted when I pointed out the track. Needed encouragement to play with this toy initially.	75%
"	monkey at end	Almost a repeat as far as checking in with me midtrack. Grabbed toy immediately.	75%
"	"	Got off track midway along and lifted his head. Clearly saw the toy at the end but was willing to put his nose back into the track and follow it to the end when asked.	75%

Rivet Track One:
For some reason my phone decided to record this video upside down. The result is definately queasy-making. If I figure out how to rotate it I'll replace this but in the meantime I want it for the record.


Rivet Track Two:

January 8, 2011. 11am-ish

I was unable to move my vehicle today so just messed around near the house. More fresh snow - we have about 6" total now - with some people and vehicle tracks but mostly unbroken snow (or shoveled areas with fresh snowfall over top).

I decided that Rivet did well enough last outing that I could up the criteria faster than 80%. First time working out of the house and she was up and eager and clearly knew what the game was.
Rivet

Distance	R+	Spray	Notes	Success
30 treats	3-6 footsteps	none	Sidewalks, driveways, and road. Missed one treat at second sidewalk when she briefly followed another dog's track (parallel and within 2' of mine).	90%
30 treats	5-10 footsteps	"	Checked other tracks but always came back to my track on her own. Biggest distraction was on the road and a truck had driven across after I laid the track. Interesting!	80%

I tried something different with Caiman today after asking some friends for advice because he consistantly skips treats. One suggestion was to try a short track with no food on it and to heavily reward at an article at the end. I used a toy rather than an article. All his tracks were clearly shuffled into fresh snow.
Caiman

Distance	R+	Notes	Success
10 short steps	none	Toy and treats at the end of straight track. Beautiful! He showed a clear preference for the toy but was willing to eat the treats to humour me.	90%
15 short steps	"	Toy only at end. Again he started eagerly, kept his head down, and went straight to the toy.	95%
20 short steps	"	Gradual curve. He lifted his head once but put it back down again before I had time to try to stop our forward movement.	80%

I did up a quick map of Rivet's tracks to figure out approximate distances. The corners were all curves, no hard angles, and you'll have to imagine 6" of snow over everything.
Usually I have a basic plan before I begin. This was not what I intended to do today and on both of Rivet's tracks laid them so that I was not able to easily get back to the beginning without contaminating them. Oops!

January 7, 2011

I almost cancelled today when I realized that I had left my sprayer in the van and it was frozen solid, but I decided to go out anyway and simplify things significantly for Rivet. We have about 2" of fresh snow.

Rivet

Distance	R+	Spray	Notes	Success
~50 ft (18 treats)	3 footsteps	none	Gravel parking lot. Beautiful! Followed a vehicle track briefly then refound track on her own.	90%
~60 ft (20 treats)	"	"	On grass. She mostly ignored human and rabbit crosstracks.	80%
~90 ft (30 treats)	"	"	Gravel to pavement to grass. Not many crosstracks here but I thought the surface changes and distance were enough variables anyway. Video below.	90%

Caiman

Distance	R+	Notes	Success
30 ft	1 per ftsp	Double laid - first I made 30 heel-to-toe steps with a cleared patch (perhaps 18" square) at each end. Then I relaid, stepping immediately beside the first steps, and put a hotdog slice in each of the original steps. Leather scrap article at end. He stayed on track 100% of the time but missed about 20 out of the 30 treats.	70%

January 1, 2011 (or How Not To Start The New Year)

Rainy and mild. I figured the rain had washed the pavement enough so ran Rivet there rather than on grass.

Rivet

Distance	R+	Spray	Notes	Success
300 ft	5-10 footsteps	Mist, knee height	She did beautifully through the first two legs, despite the building, curbs, and trees. At the second turn she got lost and wouldn't restart. I should have pulled her off track at this point. Instead I tried to restart her on the last leg, thinking it would be an easy way to end on a good note. She couldn't do that leg either - quit just before the end - so I put her away.	50% (average of 100% + 0%)

Caiman

Distance	R+	Notes	Success
37 ft	1 per footstep	27 footsteps on pavement and then 10 on grass. I hoped that the regular treats on pavement would get him into the idea of looking for the next one immediately under the nose. He was unable to keep working without significant help, even on pavement, and so I pulled him off track when we got to the grass.	20%

December 22 3:30pm

The sidewalks and parking lots now have ice melting salt on them. Last year I took a significant break to avoid it. I had hoped to have Rivet transitioned onto vegetation by now but that didn't happen. I've decided to make the leap onto the snow covered grass rather than take another break this winter.

Rivet

Distance	R+	Spray	Notes	Success
~50 ft	3 footsteps	4"	Light layer of snow over grass. She missed about 8 treats but stayed fairly close to the track.	80%
"	3-6 footsteps	"	Stayed almost dead on track most of the way but completely missed the end pile. She got almost frantic at that point, pulling and lunging in the direction the track had been going. Unfortunately I was very distracted at that moment so I didn't respond appropriately. I scored her well over 80% for the bulk of the track but not the end.	70%
~30 ft	"	"	I made sure the end was clearly stamped down, sprayed, and the treats were visible. No problems.	90%

Caiman

Distance	R+	Notes	Success
30 ft	2 footsteps	I thought increased treat spacing might help with the issue of missing half the treats. He started well but missed at least half and was frantic and dragging me in incorrect directions near the end. Increasing treat spacing didn't work. Maybe next time I should try decreasing it.	50%

Tracking with Caiman

I've started working with Caiman as well. I'm not doing HITT with him, and initially I wasn't going to include him on the blog, but I like having all my records in one place.

December 9, 2010

Distance	R+	Notes	Success
30 ft	1 per footstep	Same as previous attempt. Frantic. Missed 13/30 treats.	60%
"	"	Same but stayed on track more. Missed 15.	65%

December 2, 2010

Distance	R+	Notes	Success
30 ft	1 per footstep	Enthusiastic but missed ~1/2 the treats. I had him down at the leather article at end and rewarded him there.	50%

December 9, 2010

Today I planned to work on aging only. We went to a familiar low distraction site and I kept all other variables at levels she is comfortable with (with the possible exception of the spray, but I really didn't want it visible).

Distance	R+	Spray	Notes	Success
275 ft	5-10 footsteps	mist at knee height	Aged 15 min. Videoed. Got lost at both corners. Missed 3.	65%
260 ft	"	"	Aged 20 min. Very fine sandy gravel on last leg. Problems with corners again but better than first track. Missed one.	75%

I'm happy with how she did on the straight legs. The corners decreased the success %age substantially. I think she did well to keep working but several times she was trying very hard to drag me in directions other than the general direction of the track.

Track one:
She is distracted by a man and his dog right at the first corner.


Track two:
I intended this to be aged the same amount as track one but it didn't work out as planned.