Winter #8





 Panorama Farm Distance 200+100 35 minutes FDs @ 15, 20 Long line Sunny and very windy blowing across track right to left: Otis’ start was strong, I let the line out to 20. When he got to the FD at the 2nd flag, I moved back up the line to 10. He tracked well occasionally blown left off the track but he would come back to the track each time. The farm has a natural burial cemetery and there was a service/gathering while O was tracking-people gathering in the distance, cars arriving. He stopped tracking to watch the cars traveling the road and people gathering in the distance. He always eventually went back to the track but I was unsure how long to let him pause/look and if and how to call him back. When I knew the turn was coming up I gave him some line and his turn was spot on. Again, after the turn I moved back up the line to 10’. Crossing the road was difficult-multiple cars had gone back and forth over the track. There was a food drop crushed on the road but thankfully another food drop on the far side of the road and the article to pull him across. Great article retrieve!





Comments

  1. Jack's JourneyFebruary 4, 2025 at 5:16 PM

    we talked about how long to wait tonight on the phone. remember his checking things out, any 'thing', is ok but to stall there is going to be a challenge. remember when we used to throw baking potatoes in plastic grocery store bags 'off the track' to work on distractions with redman. you are doing a good job planning your tracks and thinking about your food rewards and their relationship to challenging places along the track. i know the funeral was a surprise but, in training, the sooner you interrupt that 'stare' the better. re read the tracking regulations, chapter 2 section 15. you can call him to you, offer him water, re scent. take a sip yourself. everyone's ready, go find it. i watered bean and re scented him in OHIO and at Cool Water and at Oatlands multiple times. some of those times he was in motion, moving toward me so i took multiple steps backward and invited him into me; others i used his name and he came to me. what you have to be careful about is giving the judges the idea that you KNOW he overshot a turn and that you are guiding him back from overshooting and guiding him to the turn. don't make them think.

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