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 on our walks.) He did however drop to a down with minimal prompting.
The second track was, if anything worse than the first.
I changed the direction of the third track, setting it parallel to the unseen barking dog, not approaching it. I put FD every three shuffle steps and shortened the track. Better. I didn't have to indicate food, but there was no enthusiasm. He again downed after nosing the article with prompting. I praised lavishly.
December 3rd.
Tracked with Nimrod again today. Moved to an area of the playing fields that I knew to be free of barking dogs. There was traffic and a dog walker did go by, but these are familiar distractions.
Set a 30-foot straight track. FD every three shuffle steps and every normal stride. I had a hard time with his harness, fouling it several times. But when I finally got it straight my boy ran to the start flag and was off. Head down, tail up never looking back. He got to the article in nothing flat, nosed it and went down with minimal prompting.
We repeated. This time Nimrod went off track by about 3 feet. I waited him out. When he realized I wasn't supporting his decision, he put his head up, considered matters, put his head down, found the track and was off.
I had already decided I didn't have time for a third track which was good because in the distance an unseen dog began to bark.
It's hard to know why he wasn't cooperative on the 1st. But you gave it your all on the 3rd and it sounds like he was all in. You could switch to a double lay rather than the shuffle3walk3 to see how that works out. I would continue to keep the distance short and the age short. On articles....I would watch the videos and start playing games with him for his supper. The games WILL help you fade the verbal cue.
ReplyDeleteI agree with MaryAnn. You now have 3 strategies for track laying—scuff the entire track, scuff/walk/scuff, and walk it twice. It might be fun to put three tracks in, one using each method, and see if he has a clear favorite. Or, just stay the course. They all have bad days, and perhaps that’s all 12/1 was. It’s not a linear progression (sadly😅)
ReplyDeleteAgreed! One of my favorite "Judi-isms" I learned was "It's ONE data point". If it happens multiple times in a row, let's address the issue but sometimes it's just ONE data point and not linear :)
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