Training in the rain, again.

On November 6th, Kelsy and I trained with Kat and Kody and Karma and Ryan.  This trail was two days old, near Military Road and S. 268th, at Greg Nelson Park.  The temperature was about 50 degrees, raining off and on, with little wind.  We started trailing Kody at 262nd and 42nd.  Kelsy started out at a walk, and walked most of the time, occasionally breaking into a trot.  Had this been a fresh trail, she would have run most of the time.  On this day, I watched her head, noting if she was using her nose or her eyes.  Most of the time, she was in a groove, just using her nose and plodding along.  When she started to look around, using her eyes instead of her nose, I put tension on the leash.  This kept her away from distractions most of the time.  The trail was about a mile long, and at about the half mile point, Kelsy perked up and took a trail into the woods.  I stopped her after about twenty feet, since this was not the trail Kat had drawn for me on the map.  We got back on track and didn't have any other deviations.  At one intersection, she took some time figuring out the direction of travel, but she used her nose and worked it out.  100 yards from the end, she saw Kat's bright green vest and started running toward it, cheating.  But Kody wasn't with Kat, so Kelsy had to go back to using her nose.  She pulled much harder at this point, being in the fresh scent.  Finally, she saw Ryan's green vest from about twenty feet away, and sprinted to Kody. 

I rewarded her with treats and a game of fetch with a stick.  Had this been an actual search, I feel that Kelsy and I would have done very well.  She went off track once, but I noticed her changed behavior and made note of the point of deviation, so we could get back to business.