Today's the day we tried a longer track on blood only (non diluted). The weather had been drizzling with rain for at least four hours, and had just stopped when I laid the track, although the soil seemed fairly dry the vegetation was wet. The line was more or less down the middle of the grass strip in the middle, and when I laid it I walked in wellingtons, well to the right hand side of it. Around 20m from the end I put in a turn (right handed) for the first time.
At the start she got off after a bit off backward and forwarding, and seemed to do OK. However there were a few occasions when for some reason she put her head up and just went off to the ditch line, well to the left of the line. I tried to keep quiet and let her figure things out each time, and she did get back to it on her own.
When she reached the turn, she stopped on the track and I thought she was on to it straight away, but then seemed to carry on, trying to figure out where it had gone. Again she got there, but went fairly wide of the track to start with. I guess this was because the wind was now coming from her right? She then got her head down and finished the job.
I am going to have to give this one some thought as to the way ahead. Am I doing too much too soon? Is she not quite ready for blood only and should I try tracking shoes with cleaves as well? Was the weather conditions not right for such a young dog?
Age of track: 1hr
Length of Track: 160m.
Type of track: Neat blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml (non diluted).
Wind direction: From behind.
Wind strength: 9-12 mph
Temp: 12ºC
Weather: Wet vegetation after drizzle, fairly dry soil, cloudy
Time: 10.00
Age of Dog: 13 weeks
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