Raspberry Picking...

We have the best wild raspberry crop this year! Last year, the bears, raccoons, birds beat us to the blueberries and the raspberries, and they were scare to begin with. Every day this week, I have walked the dogs past the various places where they are abundant, and we all get our daily supply of fruit! Super yummy. Trust and Tank are very polite about berry picking, and then there's Blast....
Blast jumps up on an old round hay bale and scans the fields for "wildlife" before we head to the berries..a good thing..

He's given the "all clear" sign with his relaxed look and posture, so off we go.

Unfortunately, this is his idea of helping me...sucking off the ripest berries before I get them. This morning he also decided to be a complete goof, and first jumped up on a rock and then dove into a good patch of berries...so much for those ones. Later he dashed in front of me and flipped over and rolled in some...I think we were picking too many berries at that time, and not having a walk/run through the field. So I took the hint. Lucky we have so many, and can afford to leave some knocked down for the wildlife. But tomorrow, I think I will pick without him.....

Finally - Good Tracking Weather!!!

The top two pictures were my tracking fields today with Blast, both recently cut. The first one was the main portion of our track, some clover and sparse grass mixture; the second picture shows the change into the alfalfa field, about 8" high. Dull, drizzly day, such a nice change from super hot and humid.
The first four legs of Blasts' track were in the field above, and the next two legs were in the alfalfa - you can see the dividing line in the picture below.

Second corner, it took me this long to organize the camera and the line handling. It's often impossible for me to take pictures "behind Blast", and most end up a blur...

He's nearing his third corner here. Today I put a small piece of chicken on each corner to see if he "stuck" to it better. He seemed to, but then the conditions were pretty perfect, so not sure how much difference it really made.

Something took him off the track (yellow) briefly here, he was just starting to turn his head and shoulders back onto the track in this picture. The crossover to alfalfa is coming up, which he didn't even notice.

Last corner in the alfalfa, and a really long leg to his final article. This was actually the field we were in a week or so ago next to where the bear came out.

Blast had six legs, five corners, two articles, longer than a TD with change of ground cover, and aged 40 mins

Just reached final article. He's always anxious to "keep on tracking" so I'm not asking for any indication other than what he's offering right now. It's usually just a pause or stop to check it out, maybe not pretty, but clear enough to me, or a judge. Occasionally he picks it up before I reach him, and we usually play with it a bit, mainly tugging and tossing. Today I also brought a ball/bungee and we did a number of throws with that after.

I actually had taken the ball out when I laid the track and left it about 15' past the final article so we could pick it up fairly quickly. He was a pretty happy guy.

Field across from our finish, most recently cut one, which I will work on in a few days. It's cut so short it's like veg. cover on an urban track! I'm so lucky to have so many field choices.

Another "hot" track with Trust

Another day where I expected "not so hot" a morning and maybe even some rain before we did our track...it was not to be. Turned out high temps. very quickly and humid again. So...I went back and put her on this track at 2 hr. and wasn't expecting 'too much'....she did an awesome track.
She is making her first turn (above). There had been heavy dew this morning, and at least it was still a little damp in this portion to start off with.

Very short leg to the second turn, and up she goes between parking lot and fence.

Another turn takes Trust out across the parking lot, working very nicely. However, I was worried the pavement would be baking.

She went across the pavement parallel (to the right) of the track, and once up on the sidewalk, worked her way back to where the actual track was (yellow). The red line behind is where she will follow after making a right turn on the track.

This is exactly where I walked up onto the sidewalk and then turned right. She actually moved out onto the driveway and followed along the curb a bit, before coming back up on the sidewalk.

She tracked really nicely along the sidewalk - red "X" ahead marks first article, a small plastic lid. When we began the track, a schoolbus pulled up in front of the van ahead. Don't know if there were people getting on or off, but then it was gone when we got here. The entrance doors are up where it stopped.

And there's the article!

This is an interesting spot. We tracked here once before, coming from another direction and this shady area pulled her over to the building then also. However, today, 3 fellows had been in and out across here - from a parked truck, over to an open door just around the corner to the right - blue arrow. She did come back fairly quickly and took the next leg to the left.

And here's "one of those things" that happen during aging, but you often don't know....the plow is down near the end of this gravel road, don't know how many times it went over the track I laid. It was a short area, on the road, about 1 1/2' away from the grass on the right side. When I laid it, I thought "this is great, you can see my footsteps in the sandy gravel"...ha.ha.ha.

So, with much interest, I'm now watching Trust move out over the driveway and head to the newly graded gravel area.

Now, you must remember, I am still amazed at how well she is working on all these hard surfaces in the blazing hot sun! And doesn't she just "look" like she is scenting that track under the "new" surface....?!!

So, how can she do it? I really am blown away at this.

She turned off and onto the grass and is still working really well.

She is crossing the running track, something has "pulled" her over to the right a bit, but she turned back on the track quickly. I have two blue arrows here, first one pointing to garbage which I expected she would "just check out" but didn't. The next is an old soccer ball left on the grassy area. I didn't expect her to show any interest in that (Tank or Blast might have!) and she did not.

She has just indicated her cloth article here; further up is a wood article (red "X") before we cross the track again. I watered her at this cloth article, which did not make her happy...she's not keen on taking water, and sometimes I think it may just cause her more of a problem...

She is sitting at her wood article. I'm positive I put it closer to the running track. She is intently staring at a dog that someone is walking past.

This view is looking back at where we've come from. In the upper left corner is the school. Trust has turned and will now be heading between a 'community' building and the ice rink boards. She doesn't seem to be "feeling" the heat/humidity at all which really surprises me.

She will move out onto a gravel parking area and her last article is metal, just where the grass begins on the other side.

This presented no problem for her still.

And there it is. She was just beginning to sit, and lifted her head and saw the dog she was watching earlier. The lady had sat in some shade off to the side to cool the dog and herself down before continuing on their walk. We had quite a long walk back to the start and the van, and took a detour into the school to say hello to the custodian and the other fellows working there. Trust loves to "visit".

I felt that Trust did a great track after two hours aging in these conditions, and she was well rewarded back at the van again.

NOT a big dog!!!!!

A friend in S. Ontario breeds, trains and shows Miniature Horses. She also takes them for "Pet Therapy" at nursing homes. Can you imagine the look of total wonderment when some clients see a small horse walking in?!
Those of us with Pet Therapy dogs know the time involved, and work, preparing the dogs for visits.
Well, "Jazz" has a total bath before he goes to visit, along with grooming. A very big commitment to do this, and very big reward to see the looks and joy on everyones' faces.
Jazz is a true gentleman, and loves the attention he receives from everyone. By the way, he also rides up to the second floor in an elevator!
Kudos to Yvonne and Jazz for bringing cheer to many.