Wednesday, September 26, 2012

MORE FB PHOTOS

Here is another set of FB "cover" photos.

















PHOTOS FOR FB

Facebook's timeline has an area at the top of each user's page where they can upload a 900 by 300 pixel photo as background to his/her profile icon. I've been having fun taking pics around the yard and cropping them to this long, narrow size.

















I guess I'll keep the others for a future post.

Friday, September 21, 2012

MORE TRACKING

Sept 14th

Pleasant day with sun & cloud. I waited too long to drive to the tracking fields. The clouds arriving overhead were rain clouds. Grabbed my rainproof jacket just in case -- it's a good thing I did!

I didn't wait long after laying the track before I put Terri's harness on her and invited her to drink. She turned her head away from the bowl. She stopped at the scent area to eat the pieces of kibble and then her nose moved around for some seconds before she decided on a course. It was the correct one. She followed the 1st short leg nicely and swung around counter-clockwise beyond the 1st left turn but not far enough. I had to encourage her to keep looking for the 2nd leg. Once she found it, I was able to watch how she tracked towards the tall power pole that I had selected for sighting along. She stayed mainly 2 to 4 feet to the right of the track but also swung left & right of the track. The wind was blowing scent in that direction but I don't know if she was following scent blown from the track at that time or scent blown off me when I laid the track.

She amazed me by taking the 2nd left turn without any problem :-) Her speed was great - not too fast but certainly not hesitant. At the 3rd left turn, she just breezed along and soon found some kibble halfway along the 4th leg. Then she started to have trouble and wandered around quite a bit until she reached the post I had aimed for. The prize - more kibble - was just beyond the post and she found it immediately. A successful track!

We continued to walk towards the car and had almost reached it when the rain started. In a few seconds (after Terri was inside but I wasn't) it turned into a downpour.

Learned to pay more attention to clouds in the sky ;-)


Sept 19th

Damp vegetation really does help a dog follow a track more easily. We had a heavy rain the day before our tracking practice and Terri had no trouble at all getting those turns. Here are photos of parts of the first 3 legs.

LEG 1


LEG 2


LEG 3


Terri had no trouble making the last turn but didn't follow the track as closely as she had done the first 3 legs. Instead, she swerved left and right of the track a lot. I have no explanation for this. Confusing wind? There was very little wind that day. Other interesting scents? A possibility.