Foolish me left my camera in the van, so I will describe the track and some interesting features if you can follow around on this...
Rain was DEFINITELY called for, which is the only reason I went out with Trust early in the morning...of course...the rain never happened and because it was getting so amazingly humid, I only left it for 1 1/2 hr. before putting her on it. I used my little 'trick' beforehand to get her to drink water, and she seemed fine. We had six articles; plastic gift card, sock, tiny plastic tube, piece of leather belt, flat pc. brown leather, flat pc. white leather. All placed where they blended in - the red "X's" mark the article locations. Her first leg had been mowed, and then we went through, with a corner, a gravel parking area, and a long paved stretch with two turns and a LOT of heavy traffic heading in and out of the golf course. That was actually poor planning on my part, as the scent was swirled all around because of this. However, she moved along one side of the drive and seemed to have little trouble with each turn - traffic shown in broken blue.At the pink "X", a car was parked and a little boy and his dad were loading up, having come out of the hotel. Our first turn on the pavement was just behind them. The little boy came over to visit Trust and then the dad, and we had a chat about how to safely "meet strange dogs", while Trust waited. I put her back on the track and she checked out a new parked car behind her turn, came back and took the turn. She's so good with people meeting her on the track!
When we took the next turn on pavement, a lady and a boy came out of the front entrance of the hotel with a large labX dog, heading straight at us - broken pink line. Trust paused when she saw the dog, and I asked the lady if they'd mind just moving over to the side of this driveway, as we were tracking . She didn't mind, and we continued on our way. They had actually been right over our next article. Trust turned around and "checked them out" to make sure they had really continued on and weren't sneaking up behind her....ha.ha.
In front of the entranceway, a van was newly parked over the edge of our track. She just sniffed the door - looked similar to ours - and obviously followed the scent where someone walked out towards the entrance, a little ways, then continued on again.
Her first leg, and part of her end had been freshly cut while it aged as well, which presented no problem.
I've been unable to do much with her for some time due to the terribly hot and humid conditions we have been experencing for well over two weeks. I wouldn't have done this track had I known the rain would not arrive. I was prepared to quit at any time if she showed any stress, but for a dog that doesn't like "hot", she did very well. Hoping it cools off soon!
