After running Dino on a case in Dublin, I took Dot to a nearby park to put out some tracks for her. I walked around the park to see what it looked like, and it was pretty big. I decided to set two types of tracks for her. I set the first one with Scout and treats over various surfaces up stairs, over a fountain, up a little wall, through a playground and then back out to a large grassy area and up to the end of the grassy area near the fence. I wanted this one to age a bit.
I then went and set another track with Scout where I had a scent article with treats at one end and a scent article and treats at the other with nothing in the middle. I just walked Scout from one article to the next on a grassy area. The distance was about 25 feet up a small hump. I ran Dot on this track. She was following the track really well, and when she went off to the side to check out the scent, she came back and was following it up to the top and over the hump to the scent article. I was impressed that she was so focused on the track.
On the longer track she was very focused. It looked like part of the track in the playground had been eaten by another dog I saw walking in that area, but Dot was still following the scent. I told her to "check" the areas and then she picked up the treats around the corner and followed it all the way out to the grassy area and up the hill to the tree near the fence.
I did something a little extra that I used to do with Dino. I walked Dot back along the track that I walked Scout back to the car so she could pick up the scent was still there. I could tell she was still following the scent on her own. When we got back to the car, I gave her more treats for following the trail.
I am doing this part different with Dot than with Dino. I am doing both types of tracks with Dot simultaneously, compared to Dino I did first the tracking with the treats and then I transferred him to the track without the treats. This should help me to move things along a bit faster with Dot.
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