Gretzky’s Four Dirt Crossing TD-like Track.
I laid a TD-style track which had four narrow dirt crossings plus a dirt area right beyond the first corner. It was raining, the cover was excellent, there was a nice 5-10 mph wind from the south (downwind first leg), and no one else was around as distractions. So I thought it would be a good opportunity to expose Gretzky to dirt crossings where I could help him as needed. The dirt strips had been plowed and smoothed out but not seeded yet.
Gretzky started out nicely on the first leg and was steady to the downwind leg the whole length. He turned close to the first corner (Video 1 @ 0:03:16) and almost searched into the dirt beyond this corner but was drawn back to the new leg nicely. The second corner was almost a true cartoon corner (video 1 @ 0:04:25).
On the third leg (video 2 @ 0:00:10), he started to cross the dirt patch angling to the right of the track. He got to the grass on the other side and searched, and was almost drawn onto the track when he got distracted by some birds to the left which got him circling around the dirt and behind me. I restrained him a little and he came back to me and found the hotdog in the middle of the dirt patch and followed the track nicely from there.
The third corner (video 2 @ 0:01:50) took a little searching to get past a coyote pee post, but an "Eck!" got him going again and he committed nicely to the fourth leg. He picked up speed in the crosswind and stayed very close to the track. He got to the diagonal plowed strip (video 2 @ 0:05:00), searched the near side, got downwind and crossed to the left and noticed the plume of the hotdog near the far side of the dirt so worked his way up to it. Then it was easy to commit into the grass and finish the leg.
He overshot the fourth corner a few steps (video 3 @0:00:20), turned and circled over to the upwind leg where he would encounter the diagonal plowed strip again at about 40 yards (video 3 @0:01:20). He searched this side to the left and seemed like he might follow the edge so a little more tension caused him to think better and he circled across the strip and found the leg again.
This fifth leg was 135 yards long to get us close to the last direct patch. It took an open turn to the right to hit the patch. I put a 30 yard sock on this last leg in case he was struggling (video 3 @0:04:40), and other 40 yards to the dirt patch and 10 yards into the patch for the final article. At the sock, I treated him but asked him to restart too soon and it took a little convincing we were not having a full party there. But he got back to work and approached the final dirt patch. He almost foot-stepped tracked onto the dirt but circled and worked to the downwind right. I increased tension when he seemed likely to pass the glove 15’ to the right and he circled over to find it.
Overall, a good lesson in dirt crossing within the context of TD & TDX. I'd like to see him develop more nose-down tracking across the dirt but he will need much more experience than thee four crossings. But I like his general commitment to the track in the grass and how he tried to figure things out on the dirt.
.Distraction-filled TDU-like Tracks.
6/28/2018
The last few sessions I have focused on working on his distractions issue by putting in TDU-like tracks in parks with activity. The previous session had the track in an active Frisbee-Golf park and there were distractions all through the 5 legs. This session started the track so it would pass an active skateboard area on the first and second legs and the remainder of the track was through a currently inactive area. Of course, the whole area is used by dog walkers and is filled with tempting pee-posts. The track had four corners as shown below.
Video Part 1. Gretzky starts out nicely but quickly becomes fascinated by a pee-spot in the grass that is right on the track and pee-posts along the tall grass to the side of the track. He does get back to work and tracks nicely between tempting pee-posts. I re-scent him frequently. He does really nicely passing about half the skate-board area but the combination of noisy skaters and pee-posts is hard for him to ignore. He does a nice job of recognizing the corner right at the corner and choosing the right direction.
Video Part 2. This leg crosses 30 yards of crushed-rock gravel with a turn just 5 steps past the gravel. He is 5' to the right of the track when he transitions to the gravel and that is enough for him to break off and work the transition. He has not done this kind of gravel before so I help him rather than let him get even more focused on the skaters. He finds about half the tiny-treats. He wants to go to the tree which is past the corner but I stop him to "enforce" a no pee-post "policy". He comes right back and takes the next leg. He finds the sock nicely. After a short party, I restart him. He does nicely but remains concerned about what is behind him (a long way back).
Video Part 3. He sneaks in a leg-lift on the third corner and circles around to find and commit to the fourth leg nicely. He continues to be distracted but willing to go back to work. He transitions onto the hard sparse dead-grass area and shows loss of scent at the fourth corner finding the leg easily but not quite committing to it right away. By this time he was showing frustration from all the stress of not being able to over-mark the pee-posts along the way. He does find and reject a baseball in the grass. A good finish.
I hope to work Gretzky through the distractions breaking his tracking-focus by doing this kind of track and using restraint (or constraint), encouragement, and frequent treats along the track. Of course, we will mix in simpler, less stressful, field tracks.
Postscript - I have given Gretzky a 30-minute-old TD-like track and a 45-minute-old one in a very nice silage field with little other activity and he has rocked them. Nice to see the young man stay focused.
6/28/2018
The last few sessions I have focused on working on his distractions issue by putting in TDU-like tracks in parks with activity. The previous session had the track in an active Frisbee-Golf park and there were distractions all through the 5 legs. This session started the track so it would pass an active skateboard area on the first and second legs and the remainder of the track was through a currently inactive area. Of course, the whole area is used by dog walkers and is filled with tempting pee-posts. The track had four corners as shown below.
Video Part 1. Gretzky starts out nicely but quickly becomes fascinated by a pee-spot in the grass that is right on the track and pee-posts along the tall grass to the side of the track. He does get back to work and tracks nicely between tempting pee-posts. I re-scent him frequently. He does really nicely passing about half the skate-board area but the combination of noisy skaters and pee-posts is hard for him to ignore. He does a nice job of recognizing the corner right at the corner and choosing the right direction.
Video Part 2. This leg crosses 30 yards of crushed-rock gravel with a turn just 5 steps past the gravel. He is 5' to the right of the track when he transitions to the gravel and that is enough for him to break off and work the transition. He has not done this kind of gravel before so I help him rather than let him get even more focused on the skaters. He finds about half the tiny-treats. He wants to go to the tree which is past the corner but I stop him to "enforce" a no pee-post "policy". He comes right back and takes the next leg. He finds the sock nicely. After a short party, I restart him. He does nicely but remains concerned about what is behind him (a long way back).
Video Part 3. He sneaks in a leg-lift on the third corner and circles around to find and commit to the fourth leg nicely. He continues to be distracted but willing to go back to work. He transitions onto the hard sparse dead-grass area and shows loss of scent at the fourth corner finding the leg easily but not quite committing to it right away. By this time he was showing frustration from all the stress of not being able to over-mark the pee-posts along the way. He does find and reject a baseball in the grass. A good finish.
I hope to work Gretzky through the distractions breaking his tracking-focus by doing this kind of track and using restraint (or constraint), encouragement, and frequent treats along the track. Of course, we will mix in simpler, less stressful, field tracks.
Postscript - I have given Gretzky a 30-minute-old TD-like track and a 45-minute-old one in a very nice silage field with little other activity and he has rocked them. Nice to see the young man stay focused.
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