Saturday's June 18th training: It was a stroke
of luck we chose to work at Green Valley Park
since many of the places we like to train are
closed. These reports are to keep Herb in the
loop but I hope all of you who have been
interested in our progress and have helped out
will enjoy these reports.
We started first with Greg's new puppy. I used
all the techniques that our original trainer
used when we first started with Ringo: scuffing
an 18" scent pad and then scuffing about twenty
footsteps, in grass, with bait placed in each
footstep. The point is to get the pup to keep
his nose on the ground and instruct him to
methodically go from right footstep to left
footstep, one after the other. This beginning
training is where you can use the leash to
direct the puppy's nose to each step. It's not
teaching him to "scent" anything, just to start
to connect the bait with the footstep and the
repetition of the training. It took Ringo about
three sessions to start to catch on so it should
be the same with the puppy if he shows the same
motivation. He came with the name "Chill", but
Greg called him Blue for awhile then went back
to Chill - so we call him Blue Chili Pepper (and
sometimes Chili Bear). At the moment his name is
bigger than he is. Greg is going to work him at
least one to two short baited tracks every day
like I did with Ringo.
Lewis did two recall/refinds and did well on
both. It's really important that the subject not
react to Lewis when he first finds them so that
Lewis learns he has to go get Jim. Every search
Lewis improves on this type of search - which is
kind of hard for him - he usually barks and
leaps all four feet off the ground when he finds
someone. So now he is doing this extra step
before he gets to celebrate.
Ringo had two good searches - the first Greg and
Chill went from north Green Valley Park clear to
the other side of the lake. Ringo led us through
the buildings, where he found a piece of bait
Greg had left, and then went speedily down the
sidewalk. When he got to the little concrete
flat spot he actually went out into the lake a
few steps and stared fixedly across the lake to
the benches on the other side, just south of the
boat ramp. Co said he wants to take a short cut
across the lake! Which is what he wanted to do;
instead he made the decision to continue on down
the sidewalk, headed south and found Greg hiding
behind the wall behind the benches just past the
boat ramp. Co read Ringo faster than I did - he
would have cut across the lake if he had had a
boat or water wings and snorkel gear.
Then we tracked Ringo back to the parking lot.
Co was the subject and I had her head back past
the Zane Grey cabin and go back to our cars. I
was tracking and Greg and Jim were following
with Chill and Lewis. Ringo veered off the track
and went into the buildings area which was
understandable because Co and I had just been
there. So Greg and Jim got ahead of me. When I
entered the parking lot here was Greg and Jim
with their dogs and then Co - Ringo bypassed
both dogs and handlers and ran straight for Co,
which was a good sign because it was Co he was
searching for.
Saturday evening I went back to the park for the
concert: my coworker Lisa and I wanted to see
how Ringo would do tracking her daughter with
all that distraction around. I knew it was a
risky experiment, but we have to see how Ringo
reacts and what he reacts to. He immediately got
very amped up with all the dogs and kids and
noise and people he knew - a bunch of my
neighbors were there, including a neighbor dog,
Hal and Kathy were there, and the biggest
distraction was Jim and Lewis. We tracked Shelby
from the north side of the lake back to the
pavilion area. Ringo started off well, going in
the right direction but got off track. I
redirected him and he started back up the
pathway where I had directed Shelby to go (she's
only eight and did a real good job). He sniffed
around the War Memorial and then headed back up
the path. Right past the food vendor I could see
the distractions had become too much - so I
unclipped his vest and let him ease up. The
positives are that not much bothered him, not
the kids running or the Frisbees or the band, he
just really wanted to join in (I haven't taught
him to play guitar - yet). But it's an
experiment I won't repeat right away, instead
I'll just take him and let him get used to all
those distractions.
If any of you know anyone that could come and
get lost for us on Thursdays and Saturdays, or
if you could come yourselves, that would be so
much help for us.
Thanks for your ongoing interest - Susan 566
