Tracking again

Since the weather was so nice again today and is going below zero again tonight, or tomorrow, I decided to try to squeeze in another tracking opportunity. I dont have much time between work and sundown, but I grabbed Magic and we went to Lake Nokomis. I laid a 150-175 yard track, with 2 turns and several serpentine type arcs with 2 objects. Our tracks crossed a very heavily traveled animal path, ski tracks and a couple of older people cross paths. Remember, this is a park in the city, so there is very little pristine area. The animal track did take his mind off his track, but I just asked him to go find it and he continued to motor along. We ran the track in just under 4 minutes, and Magic was way more focused, and pulling harder than he had been when we were actively training a year and a half ago. When we were training before, he would hesitate and come back to me for verification frequently, rarely ever going out to the end of the lead, much less pulling with me 20 feet behind him. Now, I just need to keep at it. And set up a test to see if he was actually tracking, or just running in the snow prints cuz it was easier!! what a good boy.

Snow Tracking

Well, I am really not a winter person, but it seemed so nice tonight, I took the 1/2 hour between the time I get home and nightfall to lay a short track in an empty lot on my block. Magic and I haven't tracked for over a year, and we havent done any snow tracking. So I gave him 3 short legs with 2 turns and 2 articles. I also dropped one treat shortly after the start.

Well, Magic had no problem remembering this game. He found the firt treat and took off after the first article, made the first turn and stopped for the glove. Went on made the second turn and pulled hard to the last article a metal canning ring. Whew! Quick but very clean. He didnt drop at his articles, but he is shorter than the snow so maybe he didnt want to. Or maybe he forgot, but he stopped and indicated. Granted it was short, but darn that felt really good.