We just got a VST track in today before the rain set in ... well, we did get a little wet. I laid this track at a local school which has some really cool tennis courts. Although I knew this track was long, I didn't realize until I got home it was probably about 850 yards and had 54% non-veg. There is no map of this one because there are no satellite images of the school completely built. My distances are estimates based on partial construction of the grounds.
The other interesting thing about this track is I laid something very similar on Wednesday, but picked it up. Terrie and her friend Suzette were laying tracks at this school, which was on spring break, and got hassled by a custodian. They eventually picked up their tracks and left. About 20 minutes later I showed up and laid a track through the same exact areas but didn't get hassled. Instead of fighting with the guy when I went back, I waited and picked up my track after he left. We'll wait until summer break (and Sunday mornings) to track much more at this school.
I ran this track at exactly 3 hours, because the rain was headed towards us. Devon started strong and as we were on her second leg big raindrops fell on us. By the time she made her second turn, it was a light rain that made everything wet and then stopped. It was good practice.
I was interested to see how Devon would work the second leg. I laid the track about 3 feet west of the path I took on Wednesday. When Devon ran her certification track (at 7 months) she indicated a 48 hour old cross track. The tracks I laid at the school were 96 hours different in age, but laid by the same person. Devon worked the leg on the Sunday track through the grass and the first landscaping area to the concrete sidewalk at the front of the building. On the concrete she showed loss of scent and actually picked up the Wednesday path off the concrete and across the landscaping back into the grass. I would have thought she was just fringing if I did not know where I laid the other track and she was nose down on it.
Once in the grass, she moved to the Sunday path again. She searched wide for the next corner, and I knew I probably laid the two turns at different places. I also knew Terrie had likely been in this area, and she's tracked Terrie before. Devon made the correct choice and tracked right across her chalk marks to the back side of the building.
From here the track ran about 50 yards in the grass along the building and then turned out across the sidewalk and into the parking lot. Devon overshot the turn and started working a transition farther down at the next downspout. Again, I suspect she was working the Wednesday turn at this point. She came back and forth between the Wednesday turn and the Sunday turn, then she spotted the chalk from the Sunday track and started working it more heavily. She finally decided to commit to the Sunday track and went into the parking lot.
Devon did a wonderful job on her first of two MOT turns. She did sniff the chalk and worked it, and once she committed to the new direction, she tracked strong and straight. She was rewarded with a metal article. At this point she really needed water, and (bad, bad mom) I forgot the tracking pack with the water bottles. I suspect the only reason she made it through this track without water was because the ground was wet from our brief rain.
Devon struggled with her second MOT turn more and needed a couple of rescents before she committed to her new leg. She was quickly rewarded when she saw a leather article laying on the parking lot. We tracked on into the grass for some much needed break from the parking lot. However, her longest section of non-veg was to come, and it was the toughest.
The neat thing about tracking at this school is the tennis courts. There are a series of tennis courts separated by concrete sidewalks that are about twice as wide as a normal sidewalk. The map with this post shows you similar tennis courts at another local school. The courts are all 50 yards square, so it's a legal track and makes for interesting scenting work. All the courts have chain-linked fence with privacy strips in them, and there are multiple entrances to each court.
Devon's first leg went down the west side of the courts. She searched into the grass for a while before committing to the sidewalk into the courts. She had the courts on her left and the fence to the football fields on her right. She chose to track this entire leg on the grass to the right of the sidewalk. I allowed this and wondered what she would do when we came to the end of the courts; would she continue to track straight on the grass or make the turn deeper into the courts?
Amazingly, Devon showed loss of scent right next to the turn and eventually worked the turn to the left after checking straight ahead into the grass and looking into a tennis court. She was rewarded by a plastic article down the track hidden to the left of the track behind a fence pole. I believe she actually winded the article which is what helped her turn. But she did have to search for it and didn't give up.
Her next two turns in the courts were very strong. She struggled a little on the last turn, but I knew the track was getting long and she really needed water. She was a trooper and accepted her rescent and made her last MOT turn. She was rewarded by grass and a grassy turn with less than 80 yards to her final leather article hidden under a tree.
Devon did an amazing job on this track. I was thrilled with her confidence on non-veg, especially her MOT work. I was also amazed at the indications of the 96 hour old track she showed me. We humans have very little concept of what really happens when our dogs track, and Devon's work today showed me she is far smarter about scent work than I will ever be.
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