March 4

Brigid -- Easy two-turn (RL) track, but with some age on it (1:20). 225 yards (each leg 75) Mostly cloudy but warm (mid-60s), little wind.

Goal--to give her confidence following somewhat older tracks, and to give her something otherwise easy to do to see how she was performing while she was in heat.

She had a bit of trouble starting, but eventually made her way to the track without assistance. Good attention to the first leg after that, but had to work a bit harder than usual at the corners. Went very long (at least 20 feet beyond the turn) before registering loss of scent; she did manage to circle back to each new leg in the end, but it was a struggle. I need to work her more on longer-aged tracks and on starts.

March 5

Millie -- Completely blind four-turn 450 yard track over rough terrain with TDX-like cover changes. No food drops, but heavy rewards when she found each of 4 articles. Aged 1:30. Overcast, upper 50s, wind force 1. High humidity

Goals: 1. Reinforce article indication; 2. Get her more accustomed to rough and occasionally unpleasant cover and to work her over challenging terrain; 3. Use blind track to refine my ability to read her at corners.

A very good performance in almost all respects. Had no difficulty on all corners but one (and was fairly easy to read),  found and indicated all articles except one as well. The only difficulty was towards the end of the track when we descended into a boggy area with rough, sparse vegetation. She lost the track there on the fourth leg, and had trouble finding the fourth corner. Otherwise very good.

She has had trouble in that particular waterlogged area before, so we need to build her confidence in those conditions.

March 6

Brigid -- Four-turn (LRLR), 250 yard track. Articles on legs 1, 2, 3, 5, with "food from the sky" reward. 2 additional food drops on each leg. No scuffing. Aged 35 minutes. Misty, 54°, wind force 1. Humidity 99%

Goals: improve recognition of behavior on corners; reinforce article indication.

Given that the track was short and young, I was still exceedingly pleased with her performance today. She started with determination after only cursory searching around, and stuck to the first and all subsequent legs well. Every article was detected and indicated (with appropriate rewards). The turns were particularly encouraging. Just before she reached each corner I closed my eyes and waited to feel: 1) slight slackening on loss of scent as she stopped pulling; and 2) renewed committed pulling when she found the new leg. A very good exercise, and she did particularly well. Only once did I have to pay out more line until she realized that the scent was gone, and she recovered very nicely. (The next few times I want to go back to watching with concentration [and filming] how she looks when she gets to a corner.)

All in all a very nice performance from a girl who is still halfway through her heat.

March 7

Ilsa -- Short (230 yard) mixed surface six-turn track. Young (1:20) and easy track for her return from medical leave, but with four of the six turns on paved surface. Intermittent hydration on paved surfaces (spray 4 steps / no-spray 4 steps). Two intermediary articles as well as final. Food dropped on all articles (after indication).

Easy committed start in medium field grass, first leg onto paved road. Nice turn on asphalt into second leg, where she found small leather article. Again a good turn off of asphalt onto medium-to-long grass. Easy time on vegetated surface and two turns. Turned well again in middle of asphalt to find sixth leg. There she seemed inclined to try to follow the edge of the  road instead of sticking to the track, which was down the center, but drifted back over onto the track well before the turn, which she made and followed into grass where she found the article. An easy track, but well-executed. I was particularly encouraged by her work on hard-surface turns.