Gretzky is a young Westie puppy out of my Twizzle (TDX/TDU and working on her VST). As such, his tracks are shorter and often fewer in number per session since he is easily distracted and gets more easily distracted the longer he works.
6/5/17 - First lawn tracks 1.2 - west lawn. Gretzky is 10 weeks + 2 days old.
Regular Schedule: Three tracks at 10, 20, 30 yards. Puppy gets 1/3 to 1/2. Actual yardage is measured after laid since calibrating short-hard-steps is imprecise.
Track 1 - 8 yards, hot dogs every yard or less, short hard steps. Gretzky was very focused while I laid the track but after eating the start drop, he just turned around and looked at me. I waited looking at the track and not him, then crowded him a little with my feet and he turned around and headed back and forth to the sides of the track and was going to miss the first hotdog so I restrained him and pointed briefly at it down in the grass. He found it and we repeated the look at me, I look at the track, crowd him and point at the hot dog when he passed it for 2 more hot dogs. Then he started to focus on the track and found the hot dogs on his own.
Track 2 - 8 yards, same… Gretzky looked at me after eating his start hot dog, then turned around and worked randomly to the right and left of the track but found the hot dogs on his own. By the end of the track, he was paralleling the track fairly closely.
Track 3 - 12 yards, same … Gretzky started right out tracking close to the track and got closer as he proceeded down the track.
6/6/17 - 1.2 Repeated - back lawn - Banner photos above by Richard Green show Gretzky watching the track being laid, following the track, and playing with the glove at the end.
Track 1 - 10 yards, HD every 2 yards, short hard steps. He did great. Starting to get the idea.
Track 2 - 25 yards, etc. He did excellent. Should have stopped at 2 tracks since this one got longer than planned.
Track 3 - 20 yards, etc. He was mentally tired and could not focus.
6/9/17 1.1 - Fred's West field - silage grass was up to his shoulders.
Track 1 - 10 yards, HD every 3 yards, short hard steps. Nice job. He is seeking side channels when the grass is tall (face high) on the track. Helped & encouraged to get through.
Track 2 - 25 yards, HD every 3-4 yards, short hard steps. Nice job again. Ditto on tall grass and channels.
Track 3 - 30 yards, HD every 2-4 yards, short hard steps. Nice job once again. Ditto on tall grass and channels. He is getting good at the glove game - good eyes.
6/11/17 - 1.3 - Blackburn Elementary School Parking Lot.
Track 1 - 15 yards, HD every 2-3 yards, short hard steps. Excellent. He seems very comfortable in the curb and being able to see and move easily.
Track 2 - 25 yards, HD every 2-3 yards, short hard steps. Excellent again.
Track 3 - 25 yards, HD every 2-3 yards, short hard steps. Very good. Passed a handicap ramp which caused him to get up on the sidewalk side of the curb. He wanted to get down but needed help.
6/13/2017 - 1.4, Fred's middle field. Grass up to his shoulders, some channels.
Track 1 - 10 yards, HD every 3 yards, SHS. Excellent. He is really getting the idea, making good choices, and moving ahead.
Track 2 - 30 yards, ditto.
Track 3 - 40 yards, HD every 3 yards, SHS. Very good first 20 yards but with less drive. Then defocused and gave up. Helped to the end. Still liked the hot dogs and the glove game.
6/15/2017 - 1.5, SRP Sports Fields. Very short recently mowed lawn with some a car and two people setting up the lines for a soccer tournament. Because I don’t think he can concentrate for a full 1/2 length session, I just did 2 tracks. Because it was windy ~ 20 mph, I decided to do them downwind.
Track 1 - 15 yards, HD every 3 yards, SHS. Excellent. Got idea of downwind pretty quickly. Slightly distracted by men working on lines 20 yards away.
Track 2 - 40 yards, HD every 3 yards, SHS. Very Good. Good general focus but occasional sudden bursts to the side requiring restraint. Missed 2 of the dozen hot dogs along the way. Loves to play the glove game.
6/17/2017 - 1.6, 1st Lutheran Parking Lot. Only a 1 1/2" curb for the first two tracks. Regular schedule is 20, 40, 75 on straight curbs. Puppy plan is 10, 20, 40. I feel he can do three because he did well on session 1.3. Downwind should be OK.
Track 1 - 15 yards, downwind. Short curb allows him to hop up and down a few times before starting out. Moves nicely passing the hot dogs by a couple of feet and returning - normal for downwind. Very confident and enthusiastic.
Track 2 - 25 yards downwind. Ditto.
Track 3 - 40 yards. This is a high curb about 6" and at 20 yards bends at a 60 angle for parking spaces and then back again sharply at the length of a car. Gretzky is confident and rounds the first corner pulling. At second corner, he is distracted by flower leaves for a while but moves on with a little encouragement. On the last 10 yards, he showed some mental fatigue.
6/19/2017 - 1.7 Hovander Park. Field grass up just above his head with some lower areas. Regular schedule is 40, 80, 160, Puppy is 20, 40, 80. But only doing first two.
Track 1 - 25 yards. G is very comfortable and confident doing this track with no wind in the tall grass. Rock Star. Video capture of both the track being laid with teasing the dog and short-hard steps as well as Gretzky running the track.
Track 2 - 40 yards. G starts out comfortable and confident but gets distracted on the second half. But he was still energetic and enthusiastic, just not convinced pushing his nose through more tall grass was fun. (He'll learn to love it). Really nice session. Third video below.
6/5/17 - First lawn tracks 1.2 - west lawn. Gretzky is 10 weeks + 2 days old.
Regular Schedule: Three tracks at 10, 20, 30 yards. Puppy gets 1/3 to 1/2. Actual yardage is measured after laid since calibrating short-hard-steps is imprecise.
Track 1 - 8 yards, hot dogs every yard or less, short hard steps. Gretzky was very focused while I laid the track but after eating the start drop, he just turned around and looked at me. I waited looking at the track and not him, then crowded him a little with my feet and he turned around and headed back and forth to the sides of the track and was going to miss the first hotdog so I restrained him and pointed briefly at it down in the grass. He found it and we repeated the look at me, I look at the track, crowd him and point at the hot dog when he passed it for 2 more hot dogs. Then he started to focus on the track and found the hot dogs on his own.
Track 2 - 8 yards, same… Gretzky looked at me after eating his start hot dog, then turned around and worked randomly to the right and left of the track but found the hot dogs on his own. By the end of the track, he was paralleling the track fairly closely.
Track 3 - 12 yards, same … Gretzky started right out tracking close to the track and got closer as he proceeded down the track.
6/6/17 - 1.2 Repeated - back lawn - Banner photos above by Richard Green show Gretzky watching the track being laid, following the track, and playing with the glove at the end.
Track 1 - 10 yards, HD every 2 yards, short hard steps. He did great. Starting to get the idea.
Track 2 - 25 yards, etc. He did excellent. Should have stopped at 2 tracks since this one got longer than planned.
Track 3 - 20 yards, etc. He was mentally tired and could not focus.
6/9/17 1.1 - Fred's West field - silage grass was up to his shoulders.
Track 1 - 10 yards, HD every 3 yards, short hard steps. Nice job. He is seeking side channels when the grass is tall (face high) on the track. Helped & encouraged to get through.
Track 2 - 25 yards, HD every 3-4 yards, short hard steps. Nice job again. Ditto on tall grass and channels.
Track 3 - 30 yards, HD every 2-4 yards, short hard steps. Nice job once again. Ditto on tall grass and channels. He is getting good at the glove game - good eyes.
6/11/17 - 1.3 - Blackburn Elementary School Parking Lot.
Track 1 - 15 yards, HD every 2-3 yards, short hard steps. Excellent. He seems very comfortable in the curb and being able to see and move easily.
Track 2 - 25 yards, HD every 2-3 yards, short hard steps. Excellent again.
Track 3 - 25 yards, HD every 2-3 yards, short hard steps. Very good. Passed a handicap ramp which caused him to get up on the sidewalk side of the curb. He wanted to get down but needed help.
6/13/2017 - 1.4, Fred's middle field. Grass up to his shoulders, some channels.
Track 1 - 10 yards, HD every 3 yards, SHS. Excellent. He is really getting the idea, making good choices, and moving ahead.
Track 2 - 30 yards, ditto.
Track 3 - 40 yards, HD every 3 yards, SHS. Very good first 20 yards but with less drive. Then defocused and gave up. Helped to the end. Still liked the hot dogs and the glove game.
6/15/2017 - 1.5, SRP Sports Fields. Very short recently mowed lawn with some a car and two people setting up the lines for a soccer tournament. Because I don’t think he can concentrate for a full 1/2 length session, I just did 2 tracks. Because it was windy ~ 20 mph, I decided to do them downwind.
Track 1 - 15 yards, HD every 3 yards, SHS. Excellent. Got idea of downwind pretty quickly. Slightly distracted by men working on lines 20 yards away.
Track 2 - 40 yards, HD every 3 yards, SHS. Very Good. Good general focus but occasional sudden bursts to the side requiring restraint. Missed 2 of the dozen hot dogs along the way. Loves to play the glove game.
6/17/2017 - 1.6, 1st Lutheran Parking Lot. Only a 1 1/2" curb for the first two tracks. Regular schedule is 20, 40, 75 on straight curbs. Puppy plan is 10, 20, 40. I feel he can do three because he did well on session 1.3. Downwind should be OK.
Track 1 - 15 yards, downwind. Short curb allows him to hop up and down a few times before starting out. Moves nicely passing the hot dogs by a couple of feet and returning - normal for downwind. Very confident and enthusiastic.
Track 2 - 25 yards downwind. Ditto.
Track 3 - 40 yards. This is a high curb about 6" and at 20 yards bends at a 60 angle for parking spaces and then back again sharply at the length of a car. Gretzky is confident and rounds the first corner pulling. At second corner, he is distracted by flower leaves for a while but moves on with a little encouragement. On the last 10 yards, he showed some mental fatigue.
6/19/2017 - 1.7 Hovander Park. Field grass up just above his head with some lower areas. Regular schedule is 40, 80, 160, Puppy is 20, 40, 80. But only doing first two.
Track 1 - 25 yards. G is very comfortable and confident doing this track with no wind in the tall grass. Rock Star. Video capture of both the track being laid with teasing the dog and short-hard steps as well as Gretzky running the track.
Track 2 - 40 yards. G starts out comfortable and confident but gets distracted on the second half. But he was still energetic and enthusiastic, just not convinced pushing his nose through more tall grass was fun. (He'll learn to love it). Really nice session. Third video below.
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6/21/2017 - 1.8 Smokey Point Vacant lot by airport & high school. Very sparse but short grass, very dry. Wind changing. Regular is 50, 100, 200 yards. Puppy would be 25, 50, 100.
Track 1 - 25 yards. Gentle breeze shifted to a cross-breeze as we started. Off-lead golden was walking nearby but owner kept it 30 yards to the side. Visual distraction. G got a good start, then distracted, then returned to the track nicely with encouragement.
Track 2 - 40 yards. Breeze and shifted again, but maintained steady downwind while we ran it. Distant cars a modest distraction. G. was a rock star on this one.
Track 3 - 60 yards. Breeze shifted to a crosswind when we ran it. He became distracted by smells in the grass upwind (dog poop and unknown stuff). Worked sections well but needed encouragement to get past the distractions. Lots of energy for the final glove game.
Track 1 - 25 yards. Gentle breeze shifted to a cross-breeze as we started. Off-lead golden was walking nearby but owner kept it 30 yards to the side. Visual distraction. G got a good start, then distracted, then returned to the track nicely with encouragement.
Track 2 - 40 yards. Breeze and shifted again, but maintained steady downwind while we ran it. Distant cars a modest distraction. G. was a rock star on this one.
Track 3 - 60 yards. Breeze shifted to a crosswind when we ran it. He became distracted by smells in the grass upwind (dog poop and unknown stuff). Worked sections well but needed encouragement to get past the distractions. Lots of energy for the final glove game.
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 Gretzky P1.8 Track 2 Confident |  Gretzky P1.8 Track 2 Finding a Treat |  Gretzky P1.8 Track 2 At the Glove |
6/22/2017 - 1.10 Natural Fields. No log. Only two tracks. Some distraction on second track.
6/25/2017 - 1.9 Everett CC Parking Lot. Curbs. Regular is 30, 50, 90. Half is 15, 25, 45.
Track 1 - 15 yards. Excellent. Confident. Came back a body length or two for hot dogs. Having fun.
Track 2 - 45 yards. Excellent. Confident to the end. Walkers on far side of the hedge caused him to pause and study them.
6/26/2017 - 1.11 Rotary Park. Sports fields. Regular is 150, 300. Puppy would be 75 and 150. We did much shorter. Excellent area with a skate boarder zooming around behind us at the two starts. Some contamination and other distractions. Gretzky's attention span had a workout today. Tracks were laid by Christina and were the first tracks Gretzky did laid by a "stranger".
Track 1 - 30 yards. Excellent. Needed some help to refocus on the track after a noisy skate boarder zoom-by. But got back to work nicely. Gretzky was reluctant to approach the strange black glove - so unlike the gloves I have used for him before. But he had fun and played the glove game nicely.
Track 2 - 60 yards. Excellent. Similar periods of distraction and more attention/distraction to contamination. Lots of opportunities for me to practice my line-work with him. Nailing the glove was no problem this time. Good times.
Note 1.12 Parking Lot was skipped because of the hot weather and my inability to get out early enough in the day.
6/25/2017 - 1.9 Everett CC Parking Lot. Curbs. Regular is 30, 50, 90. Half is 15, 25, 45.
Track 1 - 15 yards. Excellent. Confident. Came back a body length or two for hot dogs. Having fun.
Track 2 - 45 yards. Excellent. Confident to the end. Walkers on far side of the hedge caused him to pause and study them.
6/26/2017 - 1.11 Rotary Park. Sports fields. Regular is 150, 300. Puppy would be 75 and 150. We did much shorter. Excellent area with a skate boarder zooming around behind us at the two starts. Some contamination and other distractions. Gretzky's attention span had a workout today. Tracks were laid by Christina and were the first tracks Gretzky did laid by a "stranger".
Track 1 - 30 yards. Excellent. Needed some help to refocus on the track after a noisy skate boarder zoom-by. But got back to work nicely. Gretzky was reluctant to approach the strange black glove - so unlike the gloves I have used for him before. But he had fun and played the glove game nicely.
Track 2 - 60 yards. Excellent. Similar periods of distraction and more attention/distraction to contamination. Lots of opportunities for me to practice my line-work with him. Nailing the glove was no problem this time. Good times.
Note 1.12 Parking Lot was skipped because of the hot weather and my inability to get out early enough in the day.
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