July 25: VST training

After a day and a half of field work and playing with her relatives in Ohio, we drove home, took a 45 minute nap, and then went back out for VST training. Devon ran the last track of three that was nearly 2 hours old and in the dark (it was nearly 10 p.m.). She did lovely work on a curved curb, then serpentined around three islands on the parking lot. However, about 2/3 of the way through her track, the fatigue hit her and she hit a wall. We worked through it, and she picked up her track to work along the back of a hotel. She tracked in front of a loading dock area, only quickly checkout out the interior area and wagging her tired body briefly at a valet taking a smoke break (who probably really wondered about the four people and dog walking along the back of the hotel at 10 p.m.). The she tracked beside the wall of a pool area, stopping briefly to again look through the metal gate into the walled area (the walled area and gate pull the scent in, so she has to work out the scenting patterns and go back to her track), and finally making the last two turns to her glove!

After all that work, Devon (and I) got to bed at 11:15 p.m.! I couldn't be more proud of my girl, and she's having a ball working on her two favorite sports -- tracking and field.