Terri took a good sniff at the ground starting area and her nose pulled her along the track like a train engine. She turned left, left again, right and then was hanging a couple of feet south of the tracks. Before the next turn she lifted her head and didn't put it down near the grass. I don't know what she was thinking. Perhaps the wind was blowing the scent around too much? I had to encourage her along until she seemed to get the scent again and she was onto the next liver treat quickly. After that, she followed the trail fairly well, though not right on the tracks. She found her way to the next treat but couldn't see/smell the treat itself and was trying to go straight at the next right turn. I had to set her going around circles so she could find the tracks and she finally took the turn after several wrong starts. That was the last turn so she was soon at the stopping point — her toy, hidden by a shrub.
I should concentrate on the positive parts — her first 3 turns were super! I tend to get hung up about her bad parts though, and wonder if we will ever get good enough to bother taking the tracking test. We did once and failed terribly that year due to very dry bare conditions after practicing during a wet summer on green moist fields. Still, the important point is to go outside and play a fun game with your dog, even if she never runs a complete track correctly from start to finish.
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