A place to record our training ups and downs, and to promote my own accountability
With only one tracking trial left for this season, only one pass left to gain a Champion title, and a problem of lack of drive to start a track, it was time to double down on some drive building exercises. He needs some very short, easy wins to build up his confidence so dinner time is now tracking time.
In only 24 hours, we've had some lovely improvements. Tomorrow I'll add in a short, aged track plus a hot track with a corner.
I'm hoping for a working spot in an upcoming seminar, but it will involve crating between turns for three long days. I set up his big crate for a refresher on hanging out quietly in the crate. Jasper was trying to get in before I even had it fully set up! He slept in there while I watched the original Italian Job, he came out for a walk, and then opted to go straight back in when we came home :) Needless to say, I'm happy that crating is still something he loves
Pooling odour test. Jasper 1: Me 0
So, I was expecting this to be a nice challenge for him to problem solve.
🔹️High vapour pressure odour (clove) to plume out in big clouds
🔹️Dryer running to pick up odour and move it into different thermal layers
🔹️ Ryobi fan on low speed blowing odour towards the rug and fake grass (seems to have also blown up and over the grass, and also around to the right past the object.
🔹️Left to age for 3 hours.
Jasper solved the puzzle very quickly! Fairly sure odour was dispersed all over the room and had concentrated/pooled in a couple of places. He noticed and dismissed odour coming up and over the fake grass. He noticed and dismissed odour pooling to the right on some metal objects. Cut the stream, moved into the most concentrated area and sourced easily.
6.5 rooms plus hallway; 3 hides. Other than some ongoing issues sourcing in seams, I was very happy with this.
An unsuccessful Excellent trial in vehicles, exteriors and containers, but always good lessons learnt.
🔹️ Jasper ignored food distractions like a champ! Fried onions, cheese, and bread were apparently there, and yet he ignored them 😳🥳
🔹️ We need to revisit sourcing on vehicle seams. We haven't practiced vehicles in such a long time, and I now remember him alerting too high on our last practice. That blew our chance at passing vehicles.
🔹️ Exterior he worked really well. 4.5 minutes was 10 seconds too little.
🔹️ Containers could have been better. He was anxious at the start line and was offering sits and downs rather than a stand. I moved him away and back again for an almost walking start ✅ but then unclipped the lead for an off lead search. He started well and found the first hide quickly but his indication was very wishy-washy. It took a good 2 out of the 3 minutes to finally call alert. I put him back on lead. At the 30 seconds left he alerted on the second hide. And then we raced to try and find the third which we ended up taking a guess (incorrectly). I could have handled and supported so much better but at 10:30pm I'm not always at my best :p
I *really* need to schedule in some training time. If I can't give Jasper the chance to train then I can't ask him to trial - it sets us both up to fail, and that's not fun.
Learning about blank areas. Jasper thought I'd lost my marbles at the start line, and at 22 seconds was "ummm, did you forget something?"
Second search was sane area with a single clove hide that he picked up on the start line. As he was so fast, I asked him to clear the area.
Now to play spot the difference with both videos to pick the differences in body language.
First trial of the season tonight!!!
Figured we should do a quick session of "odour not object" before we go ;)
Training has been quite sparse over the last 6 months but, pass or fail, it will be fun
Trying out backwards leg weaves: for those days that need a bit of levity 🤣
We both had a laugh, and no one fell over!
This year's Christmas photo from start to finish. Not pretty training, but it got the job done with a minimum of effort ;)
When you're trying so hard to listen to your human but Axl Rose is screaming behind you while you hide from the rain :p
Would have been more appropriate to get video when they played November Rain, but Live and Let Die will do, lol
Posing with this year's TrackWest banner celebrating gaining his Tracking Dog Excellent title :) Looking forward to next season; aiming for his Champion title 🤞
Chill out day. Wandering around paddocks, rolling in unknown stuff, and swimming to cool off enough to do it all again :)
Trick or treat
He wasn't a fan of the texture of either object, but reverse luring gave enough clarity about the behaviour that I could get a photo ;)
Off-season tracking practice games thanks to Discover Canine.
Week 1: article indication
So far we've generalised objects (mainly because I forgot to take my jar lid and also didn't have a coin), worked on forward focus, and practiced away from home. Aiming to get another couple of sessions done in different environments over the next few days. I'm keeping my stand and stare indication so I don't mess up our scent work indication, plus the stand stare has worked well so far for tracking.
Night time training session: the lazy version :p
New beanbags! Fake fur, very soft, very fluffy, and very big!
Woohoo, suddenly got the hang of holding things with duration and without chomping!!
Beautiful morning for a bush walk. I'll never tire of seeing his enthusiastic recalls 😍
Still loves the furball :)
Bunnies are fun to chase, but our Predation Substitute training is showing massive results! Looking and stalking is fine; chasing is not, but he can go over and sniff once all the rabbits are back in their hidey holes ;) Not always perfect (he nearly stepped on a rabbit yesterday so did get to chase that one), but still has a brain if we have some distance.
Friday night: minimal effort exercise :p
He's a bit of a fan of the furball so learning new cues to become toy markers.
Total change of scenery today with a walk around the cultural centre. As soon as we came out of the carpark into the urban orchard, I got a big reminder that Jasper hates pigeons! 😳 Wandered about, did some scentwork, some heeling and positions, nice down stay (without jumping on the counter) while I got a coffee, and a long stretch of chilling out watching pigeons without trying to kill them :p
Yay, video from last week's trial!
He was certain on that second indication; I was a bit hesitant, but he was correct. Need to try and remember to say finish loudly so we don't get penalised with maximum time, but as long as he's correct that's good enough for me :)
Absolute superstar in today's advanced container search. Worked odour beautifully rather than just checking containers, and he no longer needs time before searching to look at the space or the people; a quick glance and he's ready to work
Yes! That's what I was hoping for. Operation Re-Train Containers is working fabulously :) Odour, not object!
Prepping for Wednesday's container trial. I now know why we sometimes have container issues (too much object focus, not enough odour focus)! Not sure I can fix it in 2 days but I can start working on it, and hopefully handle my way around it at the trial 🤞
Too tired to pose 😂
Passed his TDX4 track! He worked so well given the monumental amount of distraction - 3 mobs of kangaroos hopping across the track, and noisy motorbikes driving around stirring up said mobs of kangaroos. To be able to get back to working each time was amazing 🥳
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With only one tracking trial left for this season, only one pass left to gain a Champion title, and a problem of lack of drive to start a track, it was time to double down on some drive building exercises. He needs some very short, easy wins to build up his confidence so dinner time is now tracking time. In only 24 hours, we've had some lovely improvements. Tomorrow I'll add in a short, aged track plus a hot track with a corner.
Pooling odour test. Jasper 1: Me 0 So, I was expecting this to be a nice challenge for him to problem solve. 🔹️High vapour pressure odour (clove) to plume out in big clouds 🔹️Dryer running to pick up odour and move it into different thermal layers 🔹️ Ryobi fan on low speed blowing odour towards the rug and fake grass (seems to have also blown up and over the grass, and also around to the right past the object. 🔹️Left to age for 3 hours. Jasper solved the puzzle very quickly! Fairly sure odour was dispersed all over the room and had concentrated/pooled in a couple of places. He noticed and dismissed odour coming up and over the fake grass. He noticed and dismissed odour pooling to the right on some metal objects. Cut the stream, moved into the most concentrated area and sourced easily.
6.5 rooms plus hallway; 3 hides. Other than some ongoing issues sourcing in seams, I was very happy with this.
Learning about blank areas. Jasper thought I'd lost my marbles at the start line, and at 22 seconds was "ummm, did you forget something?" Second search was sane area with a single clove hide that he picked up on the start line. As he was so fast, I asked him to clear the area. Now to play spot the difference with both videos to pick the differences in body language.
First trial of the season tonight!!! Figured we should do a quick session of "odour not object" before we go ;) Training has been quite sparse over the last 6 months but, pass or fail, it will be fun
Trying out backwards leg weaves: for those days that need a bit of levity 🤣 We both had a laugh, and no one fell over! #pjtraining #laughteristhebestmedicine
This year's Christmas photo from start to finish. Not pretty training, but it got the job done with a minimum of effort ;)
When you're trying so hard to listen to your human but Axl Rose is screaming behind you while you hide from the rain :p Would have been more appropriate to get video when they played November Rain, but Live and Let Die will do, lol
Chill out day. Wandering around paddocks, rolling in unknown stuff, and swimming to cool off enough to do it all again :)
Off-season tracking practice games thanks to Discover Canine. Week 1: article indication So far we've generalised objects (mainly because I forgot to take my jar lid and also didn't have a coin), worked on forward focus, and practiced away from home. Aiming to get another couple of sessions done in different environments over the next few days. I'm keeping my stand and stare indication so I don't mess up our scent work indication, plus the stand stare has worked well so far for tracking.
Night time training session: the lazy version :p
Beautiful morning for a bush walk. I'll never tire of seeing his enthusiastic recalls 😍
Bunnies are fun to chase, but our Predation Substitute training is showing massive results! Looking and stalking is fine; chasing is not, but he can go over and sniff once all the rabbits are back in their hidey holes ;) Not always perfect (he nearly stepped on a rabbit yesterday so did get to chase that one), but still has a brain if we have some distance. #predationsubstitute #PST #noaversivesnecessary
Friday night: minimal effort exercise :p He's a bit of a fan of the furball so learning new cues to become toy markers.
Yay, video from last week's trial! He was certain on that second indication; I was a bit hesitant, but he was correct. Need to try and remember to say finish loudly so we don't get penalised with maximum time, but as long as he's correct that's good enough for me :)
Yes! That's what I was hoping for. Operation Re-Train Containers is working fabulously :) Odour, not object!
Prepping for Wednesday's container trial. I now know why we sometimes have container issues (too much object focus, not enough odour focus)! Not sure I can fix it in 2 days but I can start working on it, and hopefully handle my way around it at the trial 🤞
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