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!
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