Kelsy did two practice searches on Sunday the 9th. The first was for Grover, who Kelsy searched for in December. Kelsy performed very well on this two day old trail. She stayed right on track for about 2.6 of the 2.75 miles. She went wide on one corner before coming back, and at the end there was some confusion, possibly my fault. I misunderstood where Grover was hiding, and I thought Kelsy had gone too far. I think I might have pulled her off when she was really on the right track. Also, the end was right near a busy grocery store parking lot, so there may have been transfer of scent and partial obliteration of the scent trail. (Not an excuse, just a note for future reference.) When she did find Grover, it was by going past him and catching the fresh scent and turning back. Kelsy got generous slabs of cheddar cheese for this effort. The corner where she went wide was a turn banked downhill, a natural cold air drainage. I would have expected Grover's scent to drift down there. She followed for about 30 yards and then turned back to the actual trail.
Temp: 37F
Feels like: 37F
Cloudy
Humidity: 93%
Wind: CALM at calm mph
Updated: 1/9/11 12:05 PM PST
| Name: | Track 023 | |
| Date: | Jan 9, 2011 12:21 pm | |
| Map: (valid until Jul 8, 2011) | View on Map | |
| Distance: | 2.75 miles | |
| Elapsed Time: | 1:01:04 | |
| Avg Speed: | 2.7 mph | |
| Max Speed: | 7.7 mph | |
| Avg Pace: | 22' 13" per mile | |
| Min Altitude: | 290 ft | |
| Max Altitude: | 515 ft | |
| Start Time: | 2011-01-09T20:21:36Z | |
| Start Location: | ||
| Latitude: | 47.629570º N | |
| Longitude: | 122.360898º W | |
| End Location: | ||
| Latitude: | 47.632355º N | |
| Longitude: | 122.360974º W | |
The second search was for Thelma in Woodinville. Kelsy found Thelma a year ago, as detailed here. Thelma walked this 1.25 mile trail with her brother Larry, about 24 hours earlier. Kelsy got off the trail right at the start, I'm not sure why. It could have been because she was tired, or because she was actually following Thelma's scent where it had drifted downhill, down another cold air drainage, or just because she made a mistake. When I took Kelsy back to the right trail, I could tell the point where she caught Thelma's fresher scent. For most of the rest of this trail, she got the turns right. She did go beyond a couple of turns, run out of scent, and then come back, which is to be expected. Also, and this is not the first time, she worked parts of the trail on the opposite side of the street. I have known her to do this on about a third of the known practice trails we've worked. The handler of the target dog will often tell me that Kelsy was right about the street and direction, but on the opposite side of the street.
At the end of this trail, Thelma and Larry were, understandably, a bit barky and snarly when a relatively enormous black dog came charging toward them. Kelsy didn't seem to mind. Her reward was chicken nuggets and ten minutes of ball fetching.
This concludes my planned week of intensive training. We didn't get quite as many practice searches as I would have liked, but we did manage 7 searches in 9 days. One of my main goals is to make this whole enterprise more fun for Kelsy. She was amply rewarded with treats and fetching and adventure, and I never forced her to search if she didn't want to. Not that I could anyway. Even if we aren't the ideal search team, Kelsy has demonstrated remarkable abilities. I wish I had started training her for this when she was a little puppy, and not waited until she was three.
Temp: 37F
Feels like: 37F
Cloudy
Humidity: 87%
Wind: CALM at calm mph
Updated: 1/9/11 2:25 PM PST| Name: | Track 024 | |
| Date: | Jan 9, 2011 3:25 pm | |
| Map: (valid until Jul 8, 2011) | View on Map | |
| Distance: | 1.25 miles | |
| Elapsed Time: | 30:07.5 | |
| Avg Speed: | 2.5 mph | |
| Max Speed: | 6.9 mph | |
| Avg Pace: | 24' 05" per mile | |
| Min Altitude: | 128 ft | |
| Max Altitude: | 246 ft | |
| Start Time: | 2011-01-09T23:25:39Z | |
| Start Location: | ||
| Latitude: | 47.768811º N | |
| Longitude: | 122.163519º W | |
| End Location: | ||
| Latitude: | 47.768317º N | |
| Longitude: | 122.168071º W | |
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