Treck took a big step forward from his track on Sunday. Tonight's track was more than twice as long, on some crappy dirt of an old soybean field and had much less food. I took the risk of challenging him with this because I know he's mature enough to handle it and bounce back if it didn't work. And we could always take a step back if need be. But I wanted to see just how much he remembered and what he was capable of at this time. Well, dumb me, did I think my dog was going to forget how to use his nose? He handled it like a real champ.
Date: 2/25/09
Time: 5:45 p.m.
Temp.: 44*
Weather: clear, negligible wind
Length: 250 paces
Age: 10 minutes
Conditions: dirt, dead soybeans plants
Turns: 3
Articles: 1 leather, 1 cloth
After our track I snapped this photo of Treck's start flag.
A little too eager at the scent pad, Treck first swung his head back and forth a bit as he started down the first leg of the track. But I purposely made this leg long (100 paces) to allow him time to settle before having to worry about a turn. However, he quickly got accustomed to the terrain and fell into a very nice rhythm that he maintained for the remainder of the track. He took the first turn about a half a body length wide but his first article indication, located on the second leg, was awesome, fast and straight. The next two corners were perfect and as you'll see from the video his indication for the last article was slow because he was busy eating food. I think I'm going to quit baiting his articles. Treck has always seemed to indicate straighter and faster when there is no food on them.
