Nimrod and I ran tracks on the 18th and 20th.

On the 18th I laid a hundred-yard one R 90-degree turn track with FD every step and a bag drag. Nimrod had been successful twice on the one step FD pattern, but I elected to keep the one step FD pattern because we were in a heavily used park.

I anticipated the ice-cream truck, the soccer game and loose dogs. The hoarse being put through jumps was a surprise but ok. My track was about half laid when a man in pickup pulled into the nearest parking lot. He eyed me, let his miniature Australian Shepard out of the cab, pulled a large remote controlled vehicle from the bed of the truck. He zoomed the vehicle back and forth across our track and his dog gave chase. I thought about asking him to move to the vacant half of the field, but something about his posture made me think he wanted a confrontation. I didn't have enough food to lay another track.

The dog got tired of chasing the vehicle and man and dog moved off the field. I put the harness on Nimrod, and we began. Nimrod needed a few prompts to get back to work but was able to do so. The man and dog watched. We made the turn and were moving away from the man and dog. The man decided to throw a ball in the direction Nimrod, and I were moving. The dog gave chase. Nimrod got distracted. I had to throw food on the track to get him going. But he did get going.

I was really pleased that Nimrod was able to perform with that level of distraction.


On the 20th We ran an article track on a familiar field. I extended the FD to every other step and kept the drag bag. There were linemen with a bucket truck nearby. Nimrod was great! No gazing into to space. He was on it! He needed prompting to down on the articles. He missed one article altogether. I'm not sure if I should count that as a miss or a win.  The article was a bandana and wind gusts had blown it several feet off the track. I've been encouraging Nimrod to ignore the detritus he spots while tracking.   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

 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...
Read more
 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.  
Read more