January 13, 2009

Lowden Park, various side streets and Main Street, Weaverville. Approximately 3:30 PM that I started to walk Dot. Parked in long thin parking lot alongside the park. Weather was clear and cold.

I walked Dot down the street which was a paved road with some sidewalks, but none at this point. Just a dirt side road. Walked down the street onto a concrete sidewalk, crossed the street and then turned right into a small business park. Made a U turn back outside the business park and back out onto the street. Crossed the street at the point of coming out of the business park and onto the other side which was a dirt sidewalk. Made a right to continue down the street past residences and business stores. Made a left at the corner to make a diagonal across the parking lot and out onto Main Street, which is a busy street with concrete sidewalks and a mixture of small shops and residences. We went down the street and then main a left onto a side street all with residences and dogs loose inside chain link yards. No concrete sidewalks, just dirt sidewalks. We walked all the way up the street to Lowden Park and made a veer right into the park. We walked up the paved road and then made a left into the parking lot of the park. We crossed the paved lot and walked alongside the nursery school buildings and into the park. We walked along the paved path into the park and then cut across the lawn toward the bathrooms to see if they were open. They were not. I circled the building checking all doors. When I found nothing open I continued up the paved path and into the large grassy area at the far end of the park back toward the parking lot where the car was. There was a gate from the park into the parking lot. I put Dot back into the car and then went to do some computer work at the other end of town.

Approximately, 1.75 hours later at round 6 PM I came back with Dino. It was dark. I reached for my handy dandy flashlight, and found it did not work. After cursing left and right, I decided to do the track and see what happens. I did not have a back up flashlight.

I took Dino out, put on his harness and got his treat bag and rawhide ready. I took a large towel and rubbed it all over Dot and put it next to a treat just inside the gate in the park. I took off Dot’s collar and put it in my pocket.

I took Dino across the street without giving him any kind of word yet. After walking a few feet along the track I said “take scent” and showed him the collar and said “search.” He immediately put his head down and started looking. When he would check areas and find no scent and he would come back and sit on his own, I would click and treat. I wanted to see if he would start to do this on his own with my saying to see if he understood the indication.

We continued down the street, and instead of crossing over the next street, he made a right turn. I let him keep going to see what he would do, and after about 50 feet and he made a U turn and went back up to the street all on his own without even asking for a treat. He found the scent again in the correct direction and kept going. I was so thrilled. I verbally praised him without distracting him.

He made the right into the business park and the left turn but then he missed the next left turn and kept going toward the dumpster. I let him go to see what he would do. He made the right U turn and went back to the track and followed it back out to the street.

When we got to the street, he made the cross to the other side and made the right turn back down the street. He followed it all the way down the street and made the left turn diagonally across the parking lot and out onto Main Street.

He followed it down Main Street and got sidetracked at the Mel’s Drive In and started to go into the lot toward the ordering window. He stopped on his own and came back to me and sat in front. I clicked and treated. I was surprised because people and food are his number one and two distractions. I praised him and told him “check” as I pointed toward the ground and he got the scent again and continued down Main Street. The whole time the long line is totally loose and dragging behind him. I have no guidance system at all.

He did miss one of the diversions I made into a small lot to test his “no scent” indication but I didn’t bring him back because the trail was still there he was following. Sometimes I have brought him back just to say “check” and see if he picks it up, but if he is steady on the trail, I don’t stop him. I let him keep going.

He followed the track down Main Street and made the left turn down the side street and made the cross to the other side of the street. He was trying to find the track when a young boy walked right up to him and wanted to play. The mother was right there so I couldn’t say anything to him. The boy wanted to keep playing, but I finally told him that Dino was working and needed to keep going. He wanted to go with us but, thankfully, the mother said “no.” We kept going up the street toward the park.

Here we came to the dogs loose in their yards behind the chain link fences. Dino had a tough time and was very distracted, but I kept telling him “check” as I pointed toward the ground. He tried very hard but the dogs were putting up a good display of barking and carrying on. We made it past the three houses and kept going up the street.

At the right turn into the park, Dino lost the track. By this time it was pitch dark with few street lights, so I had to be careful where I was walking. Dino crossed the street and wanted to keep going, but he stopped on his own and sat in front for a click and a treat. We went back to the track and tried again. We tried a couple more times back and forth on the corner and finally he found it going up the street toward the park. We had to veer off to the right a couple of times to get out of the way of cars, but finally we got to the park’s parking lot.

He followed the track up into the parking lot and crossed the lot to the other side but then lost it and made a right instead of a left. He kept looking and then found it again in front of the nursery school and followed it up into the park. He got it into the park and then lost it at the point where three paved paths come together. For some reason he insisted on going off to the left without stopping. The only reason I could see was that the car was visible off in the distance. He checked several other areas all around and I kept telling him “check” over and over as I pointed at the ground where the scent was. He would get in for a couple of feet and then raise his head and go off to the side. He would find it again, raise his head and then go off to the side a couple of feet. Finally he found it and went straight toward the restrooms. This was across thick uncut grass in a busy park with a track of an age he had not seen, so I was thinking it was just lack of experience. But I did like that he kept trying and didn’t stop.

When he got to the restrooms, he went right past them and kept going up the paved path. Here he made a couple of detours first off to the right and then the left toward the playgrounds. We had done tracks in those areas in the past, but I don’t think that was it. I kept having him “check” the ground and finally he got it straight through the trees and into the grassy area. Here it was pitch dark with only light from a distant road. I noticed that he would follow it for a couple of feet, then lift his head and veer off to the left or right. Then he would come back, follow the track for a short distance and then veer off again. I kept saying “check” over and over to keep his nose on the ground instead of lifting his head. He seemed to be paying attention and focus on the ground.

Here we both got lost in the darkness and I had made a mistake in the beginning when parking my car again the second time. I thought I had parked the car in the same spot as when I walked Dot, but I discovered that there are two identical looking gates from the park to the parking lot, and I had parked at the further one when I walked Dot and I had parked at the closer one when I walked Dino. The towel was left at the wrong gate compared to where the track was. We lost the track coming through the grassy area with the trees and when I realized I was in the wrong spot, I decided to just find the towel and get it over with as soon as possible. We found the towel and Dino jumped straight into the air. It was very cute. I gave him the bag of treats and threw the rawhide bone.

That was the first time I had combined those two tracks together. In the past I had done the track around the park and the track down on Main Street and up to the side streets. I decided to combine the two and then do the track in the dark. Plus the track was older than he had done in the past. I thought everything went great. I need to have a flashlight that works and I need to park the car in the right spot