Birds on the Move???

Quite a change in weather for us the last couple of days...has given us hope to get out regularly again to track. Yay! A lot of birds are already "on the move" here. We had a huge flock of robins come in, and spend two days eating berries, before taking off with our 'resident' robins. So many warblers this year, their musical voices have been lovely to hear. But they also seem to be gradually leaving us...mid-August?!

The house is barely visible from the front fields now, and the weeds are nearly five feet in parts of the field. As much as I miss having our hayfields, the goldenrod and other veg. certainly provides food and safety for the birds that are migrating, and is often full of butterflies.This little cutie hit a deckside window this morning and was stunned but unharmed.

She is a black and white warbler, and the second this week on the deck. Contacting our expert local bird person, he said they are not uncommon here, but are "deep woods" birds and surprised they were in the open and on the deck. After a rest in our "bird box" she was fine and ready to take off again. She happily and quickly flew out of the box when I lifted the lid, and took off into the forest.

Finally..Tanks' Track!

A busy day on Tuesday, tracking 3 dogs, all in different locations, and also work with Kira! Another thing I discovered, much to my surprise, was that North Bay even has traffic jams at times...

Then, working on the multi pics. for this has taken a couple of days. So this is it!

And this is a typical Tank 'start style' which is why I wear gloves with him! He crawls to his start when I switch the clip from collar to harness and then is off like a shot.Short, brittle brownish grass again, but he was on a mission! After the hydro pole, we make an open left turn toward a parking lot.Perspective again...we are still on grass surface and he is down on his first article, a plastic light switch. We continue on grass on an angle and then out on the asphalt in front of this van, where he will make a right turn.Pause to scent the air here. When you don't know, with urban situations, you tend to "guess" what's happening. So in this situation, I know the blue van was not there when the track was laid (1 hr. 20 min.) and there IS a door on the end of the building where he is "looking"....so who knows?! Shortly after Tasha took this picture, Tank did turn and move up in the track direction.Now, if they could use their eyes, like their noses....there are yellow arrows painted on the lot which actually point out the direction of the track!!!! He moved steadily up here, but was working along the front of the vehicles. That's ok, as I knew he was working it.At the row end of vehicles, a small grassy island to cross, then a driveway and up over a curb onto a sidewalk. The track turns right on the sidewalk.

I have said in the past, I often train some more difficult areas or combinations than you would normally find in a test. Knowing where the track is, helps me to help the dog work out problems when necessary.And Tank had no problem with this area, he took the turn right away and is heading off across another driveway. What a good guy! We go up on another little grass area, down in a ditch and then another road crossing.Lots of cars had been going up and down this road. He is crossing to the left of the track which comes out about 6' to the right of the post.

A cloth article on the grass past the sidewalk and we actually move up the edge for quite a ways here. There were two different doggiedoos along here, I just hate these ignorant people that don't pick up after their dogs. I actually pulled him off and around these areas to avoid them.This is the front area, near an entrance to a large school...manicured area, but look at the brown grass. It's been just so horrid with the dry, hot weather here.Tank has made another corner and will move along, over a walkway, and finally reach his last article.

A workers' truck had been parked here when I lay the track, probably he walked around here also..I had walked behind the truck. Tank was checking the area of non-veg. and then headed to the corner of grass, and back on the walkway curving to the left, which is where I went. I wanted to hide the article from view...it was a rather largish work glove.Here it is. Good boy, Tank! Funny thing with him today, though. He is usually a freak with articles, picking them up and turning back to me. Today he seemed to have no interest in them, and especially the last one, he didn't even pick it up. Normally, he would "wave" it at me. I still have no real idea what this was about...wish they could tell you...Here, I was trying to interest him in playing with it, with no real luck. I tossed it for him to catch, which he did, but without his usual gusto. Very strange for him. Otherwise, he did a very decent track, aged longer than desired, due to travelling from one location to another. He did a couple of tough areas and worked well on the track so I was certainly very pleased with him. Will make a definite point of giving him a very desirable, happy and motivational short-aged track next time.

Blasts' Track from Tuesday

I discovered a new location recently and Blast "christened" it on Tuesday. We used more veg. areas than hard surface, but will go again utilizing more of the non-veg.

Great conditions, just ahead of rain coming in, and not too hot. We actually had 'real' grass for the early track before running into the old, dead stuff at the end. His track was aged about an hour, with three articles. It would have been approx. 3/4 track length.

I just love his starts at the scent pad. Look at the rear legs just ready to "push off"! No doubt what direction this one goes!!! This location is a small campus with people and cars coming and going and we pass the main route travelled from the front door to the bus shelter so there is lots of foot traffic.Blast just made his first turn which was under the 2 trees in the first photo on a little shady rise.Didn't see what 'stopped' him here. We're heading to the first article (wood) pointed out by the red arrow. The bus shelter is just up ahead, with the road in front of it, the other side of the weeds.Found the article, which I just picked up. Blast just realized Tascha was back there taking pictures. She turned away and tried to hide, which piqued his interest!About to cross the cement walkway route to the bus shelter on a diagonal. It actually is a fairly large area, the perspective is off here.Back out onto grass, I was actually surprised (and really pleased!) how Blast was right on the track going through this area.We have moved along and made two more corners at this point. This one, I've just turned. Blast cut this one quite a bit, I believe he was already picking up the scent from the next article, even with one more turn before we reach it.And here he just reached a small cotton glove. The track had gone in a "U" shape in this area, and with the close building and conditions, I felt he knew exactly where this article was a long ways back. This is a dog that takes off on walks having caught scent of something left behind in the field or forest from days or weeks previously. As amazing as this is to me, it also (to me) interferes with a solid tracking style (for trials).He worked beautifully right up the centre of this sidewalk, solidly on the track.We're reaching the front area of the main doors and will make a open turn right in the middle of this area and cross closely in front of the entrance. He's working so nicely here, I'm so pleased with him. Tascha said later, there was a lady waiting in the car closest to us, and was watching. When Tascha went past, the lady asked her if this was a wolf. Sure thing...I'm tracking a wolf on a harness and line...! She said a small bear came out of the bush yesterday when she was there.We've crossed the entrance area with no problems and he was moving at a good pace towards a bicycle resting area we go through on a change to veg. surface.On the last leg now towards the end of the building on brittle, brown grass.Is that it?!!! I have the small pc. of leather in my hand. Blast did really well, so pleased with him with so little work in urban settings. All 'smiley boy' wants here is to go and see Tascha! Blasts' article indications are not solid enough for my liking and we really need to work more on this. And distractions can still be a big issue for him. This is something I need to work on separate from tracking...more exposure to busy areas.

I'm hoping the weather has changed so we can really focus on a program. Fall is coming quickly, and preparing for autumn trials has been almost impossible this summer. But after his work today, I certainly have hope!

One Stop, Two Visits for Kira

What a bonus yesterday for Kira! After Emmas' track we were headed to Home Depot with Kira. Haven't been there in long time, well before their dog ban. Location fit in with our track locations, so off we went. While parking I saw a school bus in front of the doors, and they were just loading up kids coming out of the store.

I hurried over to talk to the driver, and then the lady in charge of the kids.

They were most receptive to "meeting" Kira, so on we got! I quickly discovered that small children of a very young age were the most attentive and could easily follow directions. There were actually four ladies looking after the kids, and was asked to speak a little first about what Kira was doing and I also took the opportunity to teach him to ask permission first to touch the dog, then let the dog smell their closed fist, and to never reach over the top, but go under the chin or on the chest to pat the dog. The kids were great!! We went down the isle and met every little person and Kira even gave about three of them a face kiss. They were ecstatic!!!

Kira was wonderful with them. She doesn't look for attention but receives it well.The kids all stayed in their seats, waiting for us to pass through. It was so worthwhile.Even the bus drive was impressed! Kira handles these situations like an old pro. I was very grateful they allowed us to do this, and so lucky to just stumble upon them.Spoke to someone when we went in, and they said she was fine to come in. So just casually walked down some isles, past some people, and checked out a few areas.Always fun to climb up a ladder! She reached the top, turned around and came down, no problem.Ooooh, how exciting is this!? A garbage pail to look inside. I take a quick look first to make sure there's nothing that would cause a problem in there. I borrowed this cart from a fellow that was checking some product, and once she got up, we just pushed it around a bit, banged it, and she balances on it.Ah, a man in uniform! We chatted a bit, nice fellow, says he has a weim. pup that is very active. I didn't notice she was sort of sitting up here until I saw the picture.I dropped her toy inside here, we had done a couple of tugs for rewards after some places; she couldn't reach it so I ended up taking it out, as I didn't want her jumping up and pulling these over. Don't want any disturbance that may keep us from being welcome next time I want to go there.This young lady appeared to want to see Kira, so I went over to her to meet her.

Shaking hands is always a cute thing that people like...having her sit calmly and doing this always wins points, especially for those a little concerned about a dog perhaps jumping up on them. I always explain to people that because she is young and in training, I actually want people to meet her, whereas if she was working, you do not touch them. A good day for Kira doing some "meet and greet" and inspectons too!!!

Emma/Tascha UTD Track Tuesday

Emma had a very nice start and worked well on this first leg on very sparse and dead grass and at a very busy intersection.She just made her first turn, and Tascha will stand still, not turning her body direction, or moving, until Emma has fully indicated she is on the track.This was the "surprise" when I laid the track. Just beginning to cross the brick walkway, there was a sprinkler to the right watering the plants. I was able to pause when laying the track so I could scoot through without getting wet. When Emma reached this spot, she did not want to continue at first. After circling to the left and trying to go through there, she came back and they both went through this area, dead on the track. But...slowly...and getting wet. I apologized to Tascha, but there was nowhere else I could go at that time, and of course, I had a good laugh about it, so did Tascha....I think....Once Emma started moving, she certanly had no problem with the sprinkler raining down on them.The hose had been moved after I laid the track and the young fellow had walked over the area just before this picture. Emma had taken "his" track for a while, and we helped her back to "her" track where she continued on to this article. Tascha took some time here to play/reward Emma which helped her confidence and she was very enthused to continue on with the track.Up another leg, working really well.Again, Emma just made a right turn. There had been people milling around here previously, and she worked it out very well.Reaching another brick walkway, the young fellow had also walked up here to gather and remove the hose to the sprinkler. She took a little detour up the path while Tascha waited, and Emma came back to the track and turn across the walkway.I had dropped a few treats on the walkway and she was right on the track over to grass. Her next turn is under the trees and to the left leading to a large sandy area.Off she goes, no food on sand and she had no trouble in here.

I had wondered how she would do passing the picnic table and a piece of garbage left on the ground. She very briefly checked towards the picnic table, and back to the track. As you can see, she ignored the paper garbage and moves out toward the paved driveway. This driveway had traffic on it in each direction the whole time we were there.She did a nice corner, moving along a little to the right. There was a strong wind coming from the left and the purple broken lines show where 3 vehicles with people walking around had just left before they reached this spot. Little arrow points to a place they dumped "something"??Just before reaching this area, with me walking behind, a lady stopped directly behind me and honked her horn, scaring the bejezus out of me. She had been parked on the other side, and seemed to be watching us, turned around, coming up behind. How very nice of her. We moved slightly so she could go past as I waved at her....Emma turns and reaches the article.

A lot going on with this track, so I think they did great. It wasn't aged long, as the wind was strong, it was such short, dry grass and the location was busy with traffic, both foot and vehicles.

I had 3 artcles, but ended up just placing two. Also had a storm moving in and two more dogs to track and one for other work.

I was very pleased with Emma and Tascha and again, we've had so little opportunity to do urban work for a few weeks with the extreme hot and humid conditions.