Quote: Betty Waldron

it is an airport community with the roads being taxiways to the runway so we will have a whole new distraction to offer the dogs.

Betty,

That property doesn't happen to be on the Suwannee River does it?

Howard

Not this one but I know there is one on the River. Actually this area is peppered with them and a lot of the larger farms have grass landing strips.

 Quote: AnitaGard

. Art, dude, dude, you really need to take a shower before the next session.

Did Art smell? People are going to think he is PigPen from Charlie Brown. It was car related anyway, and the blinking light was there.
Sorry I missed your dog working. I know you guys will do well in trials.

Thank God Wendy provided such good written directions to everyone. If everyone had depended on my typical country directions we would be sending out the search dogs for ya'll about now!

Made some good progress with the dogs this weekend. Last night Doc had another lesson in not being a butthead when he sees unarmed decoys, that no matter what he still needs to focus on me.

Raya is not only remembering that she is a Sch1 but is having the time of her life. For a small, daintly little thing she is turning into a firecracker!

First time I have worked a dog that is already titled and I'm really surprised that they remember it all after being kenneled for about a year. (kenneling was before I got her) Already she is doing much better then I ever thought she would do.

Today we worked on Princess Weasels hold and bark, she is doing great! Demanding a lot more ob from her in protection, heeling her away from the helper and such and while she is not thrilled with the idea she's getting it.

She tracked like a pro, I don't think she missed a footstep and we had added an extra turn. It's really neat watching her track, you can really tell that her brain cells are firing up. Never thought you could really watch a dog think, but I'm finding with tracking you can. It's really neat.

Doc today showed some of the those learning leaps todays. His hold and bark is looking good, and I was able to heel him away from the helper. It wasn't pretty the first couple times but we did it. Doc is different from my other dogs, I'm learning a lot with him. I'm finding I have to much firmer with him ALL the time. Amazing what a change in voice and body language accomplishes when I'm giving a command. With him I'm finding if I pause for a second, take a deep breath and FOCUS MYSELF things go much smoother. Kind of reminding myself that I'm in charge so I can convince him....

Come to think of it, I think it was me that took the learning leap today and not him...

Have I mentioned lately how much fun I'm having?

Ah yes, handler learning leaps.... I had one of those today, too. In contrast to last week's wonderful tracking under distraction, today was mega-embarassing. I wanted to concentrate on turns, so put a lot of them in, carefully marking each with chalk. But by the time I got Parek out, it had rained just enough to wash away most of the marks. Since I had paid no attention whatsoever to landmarks, and then didn't pay enough attention to his body language, I let him overshoot one of the turns by, heck, I don't even know how far. So I had to just stand there as he made a really broad sweep back and forth till he found the track again. Well, at least he kept trying. I guess I'll have to learn to walk and look where I'm going at the same time.

Yeah Betty this weekend was excellent for you and Doc. Everytime we work, you guys just keep pushing foward. He'll be Sch1 if all goes well before the winter is up. He really is a fun dog to train with.
Ah Anita you are not the only one that the rain has messed up the markers. I too also want to know how they moved that Chevron before you got there. I know it was there when I went by. But at least they did not move the dirt road.

I swear the markers move all the time. How can a pole move 5 feet during the short time between laying a track and bringing your dog out?

I must look at things lopsided sometimes......God I love dirt tracking.

 Quote: Betty Waldron

Not this one but I know there is one on the River. Actually this area is peppered with them and a lot of the larger farms have grass landing strips.

Our family had a place on the Suwannee River for about 25 years. It was a fly in community as well. Grass strips always spook the he** out of me!

Howard

We had 4 acres on the Suwanee right over the Suwannee line in Hamilton County and sold it about 3 years ago.

It was my dream property but building on it would be expensive and the area does flood once a year so just really impractical for dogs. Still broke my heart to part with it.

My dad swears by grass strips but all of his planes are antique ones so that is probably the reason!