In total, the track was 635 yards long and aged 3 hours. I started the track in cover. It was taller, but some of it had died off and fallen over and there were clumps of tall prairie grass. The first leg was 90 yards and it went along the base of a hill.
Page worked very hard on this leg, chasing the scent as the wind swirled in the cover. I've always said I can never push this dog through any track; she works at her own pace problem solving as she goes. The wind was a big problem for her. She finally made it to the open left turn up the hill, but again struggled to chase the scent as the wind swirled through the high cover and down the hill.
The second leg was a long 260 yards, starting in cover, breaking into short grass at the edge of a picnic area, back through a corner of high grass (and an article), then into medium cover and finally through a section of very tall prairie grass before ending in very short grass for a left turn. Page worked this leg meticulously until she got to the turn on the very short grass.
I didn't mark the specific corner since the grass was very short. This wide short grassed area was used as a driveway for lawn care equipment, and it was bordered with very tall prairie grass on both sides. With the wind whipping down this corridor, Page lost the track and could not find it.
In a test, I believe Page would have failed the track on this turn. I rescented her several times and she took water, but she had very clearly lost the track due to the conditions that stumped her (very short grass and very high wind). I finally worked her through the turn and she caught the track again in some medium cover 15 yards down the third leg.
You could tell Page was a happier camper to get back on the track. She worked the second leg well (finding another article) until she came to another roadway of very short grass and some gravel. She again lost the track, but this time was able to pick it up on her own in the medium cover on the other side of the roadway.
Page worked the medium cover well, pulling strong through the third turn and on the fourth leg. She also worked the fourth turn well and onto the fifth leg until she had to cross that roadway again. As she did the first time, she worked her way across the roadway and picked up the track in the medium cover beyond it.
This last leg went into a woods line where the track ended. With the wind blowing through the trees and high grass, she was a little spooked by the noise of wind in dry grass and leaves. Large boulders looming at her from tall grass also gave her pause. But she worked through this area to her glove.
I want to say a little about articles, too. I've been thinking a lot about Page's lack of article indication. I've decided that I need to make her indicate articles on the track. She would prefer to ignore them because she loves the game of tracking so much. I've allowed her to do this since she was so young and I didn't want to sour her on the game. But at this point, I doubt I will sour her on the game; she loves it too much. And I need to make her play the whole game by my rules.
On this track, I laid two additional articles plus the end article. Each were cloth gloves, and each had a plastic Easter egg with kibble in the glove. The goal of the kibble was to get her to stop and indicate the glove, but not allow her to self reward on the kibble. When she indicated the glove, I asked her to 'fetch it up' which is a retrieve command she knows. When she did pick up the article, I gave her a different reward (cheese) from my hand. I put the kibble in my bag with the article, and she got that at the end of the track once she was back in the van.
This way of rewarding article indications worked just as I hoped it would. Page was confused by the "change of rules" with articles, but not enough to frustrate her from the game even with the high winds. I'm going to play the article game with these rules again before I give her another track, but I do plan to continue this routine with articles until I get the indications I want.
I do know Page will indicate someone else's articles when she won't indicate articles I have laid. I'm hoping by insisting she indicate my articles, I'll get a stronger indication on a track not laid by me. I would not want to fail a test because the stinker won't indicate an article!
In all, it took Page 45 minutes to work through this track. She worked very hard, and I hope she added more experiences to her tracking 'Rolodex.' One thing is for sure: she was exhausted after this track and slept soundly on the way home!
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