Today Edgar and I did 2 single turn starts. It was cloudy to drizzling. We were at Trevette Elementary School, I practiced the sit at the start flag. I had to prompt the sit. I had put food every 10 paces. I was about 10 feet back on the line. He ran over a good amount of the food. On this track I had done the 5 food drops into the turn and 5 out. On the second leg he crossed the gravel track. Weeds are starting to pop up on the track. His end article indication was very nice. He did search for his track once or twice and I just back upped a few steps. On his second track he sat at the start article on his own. He had a lovely start. He crossed the track twice. He had no problem with my drunken sailor walking. He made the turn like he was on train tracks. There was food every 5 steps going out of the turn. He wasn't bothered by the drain grate. I had gone onto the asphalt for 3 steps and had no trouble making the transition. With the article only 4 paces onto the aspha...
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Today in class the dogs played a game called article and now the second word escapes me. The idea is to teach the dog to search off of the track for an article and then get back on the track. I was thinking it over after class. If the dog is on a very short leg that has the article and then there is a jump back to the track either to the left or the right of the article that goes in the same direction, should there be foot steps leading up to the article?
Yesterday I ran a track in my neighbor's lot. My cat helped lath the track. The track ended up being 62 minutes old. I was aiming for 45. There were random food drops. Edgar had a strong start. I stayed up close to him. He wasn't bothered by Ralph's foot steps. At the first turn, 90 degrees to the right another neighbor walked across his second leg, third leg and last leg. He was a bit distracted by her but he got back to work. When she walked back he didn't pay any attention to her. He ignored the cross tracks. His fourth and last turn was open angled and in true Beth Goodbody Shepherds' fashion he cut it. The other turns I had to back up. He did need a prompt to indicate. On a very positive note, I had to drop him off at the vet. He didn't car sick. On the way out to Golden Dome it was the same. We will keep playing the car game. He didn't like me leaving him so I hope I haven't undone all the hard work.
11/21/2025 Edgar's aborted track I had permission to use one of my neighbors front lawn for a short, aged track. I had put in 25 paces, which with my variable gait might have been ?? yards. I was going to run the track after I got back from running some errands. Then my car wouldn't start. After it was jumped I did the sensible thing and bought a new battery. Blah blah blah and yesterday's root canal I aborted the track. As all dog trainers know, if your mood goes in the toilet don't train. I'm planning on tracking tomorrow. Tomorrow will be better.
November 15 2025 There were 2 short tracks. Poor Edgar has me for a handler. The first track didn't have enough food drops. The second track, which I put in, I was so busy watching him I forgot where I put the second turn. Edgar seems to be one of my dogs that likes to overshoot the turns. I'll have to remember to back up. My line handling has gone to poop. I kept getting tangled in the line. Oy Vey. Edgar gets car sick and Mary Ann gave me an idea for the car sickness. It was to put him in the car and let him chill and don't drive. Build up the time he spends in the car. I hope it works. This evening Edgar and played an article game. He was very good on sitting at the article. He got high value treats on his articles.