Tracked with Nimrod on 12/01/24. An unmitigated disaster. I don't know if I should have given him a day off after tracking class, if he was still recovering from the ravages of antibiotics that treated his clostridium and giardia infection, (The vet said he was no longer contagious), or if it was the unseen dog barking at him, (Always Nimrod's kryptonite). I laid the track FD every five shuffle steps and then FD after two normal steps, article at the end of track, no food at the terminal flag. Nimrod just stood there, head up, tail down, looking around. I have video which I will try to post. I tried to wait him out. No go. I indicated the first food drop. He went for it, then stood there head up, tail down. I indicated the next food drop. He went for it, then stood there. We limped to the end of the track in this fashion. He nosed the glove. (No big achievement here. He noses/mouths every McDonald's cup, Popeye's food container, plastic bag and straw we encounter...
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I haven't posted in a while. Nimrod and I have been tracking 2-3 times a week. I don't use the same field two times in a row. Nimrod is tracking with a FD every ten steps. When we run a 200 yard, two or three turn track I see very few distraction or extinction behaviors. When we run a 300 yard, two or three turn track I see a lot of those distraction behaviors. I'm not sure whether to keep the tracks at 200 yards and increasing the spacing of the FDs or keep the FDs at ten steps and gradually increase the length of the track. I will try to upload video soon. I've put Nimrod on a long line and his tracking improved instantly but I'm having trouble managing my phone and the long line. I got a go pro mini with a chest and head mount. The battery keeps overheating, but I'll keep working on the video piece.
July 6
Nice! At 1:37, when he looks up at the noisy car…feel free to give him a quiet “good boy” when he chooses to go back to work. Just one, quiet “good boy” nothing more.At 2:35, when he gets stuck, rather than repeating the verbal cue, call him to you, give him a good rub, toss a treat out onto the track and see if that restarts him. It usually does. We don’t gain anything by letting them stop and stare, and they don’t understand English, so giving the cue isn’t that helpful at this point in his training. When he is tracking, he looks great.
ReplyDeleteSession structure: At his level, we’d like to see three tracks of progressively longer lengths, with the food drops remaining unchanged. So, if that track was 30 feet, you would ideally do three tracks, one of 30’, one of 40’, and one of 50’. Next time out, you’d do 40, 50, 60 feet. And after that, 50, 60, 70. Just continue that pattern of progressively longer, WHILE KEEPING THE FOOD DROPS THE SAME.
Nice job on this one—let’s do more!