Tracking with the PEEBs

Millie 11/21 Obstacles Goal--to give Millie experience working TDX-like obstacles on a young track, including crossing asphalt road and handling transition from one type of cover to another (in this case back and forth between groomed field and roughly bushhogged brush). Five turns, 364 yards, 2 intermediate articles. Aged 45 minutes. Cover groomed grass, medium field grass, rough-cut brush. Several very new accidental cross-tracks Cover slightly damp. Mostly cloudy, 63°, light breeze, rh 83%. Good start, stuck nicely to first leg (although here and elsewhere she frequently stops and looks to side searching for the food drops that she knows  must be there). Clear loss of scent at corner, but had to work a bit to find the line. Finally started in the right direction, although we had to stop to bark at a cross-country runner. My mistake in getting momentarily confused by the wrong line-up, but when she got the the road Millie corrected my mistake and crossed at exactly the right plac...

  Brigid 11/15 Class Relatively short (≅100-≅50yard), one-turn track; food every 10 yards. Scuff out of corner. Sunny, low 60s, light breeze, rh 42%. Fairly dry medium length field grass. I was very pleased with the way she worked the first leg. Good work at corner, although I started to follow a bit too early before she showed real commitment. For the most part a good second leg, although she was seriously distracted by something to the left halfway down the leg and needed to be restrained. Finished the rest of the leg well, although she missed the article completely the first time past it. Aside from the distraction on the second leg, she worked the track well. We have to work on article recognition as well as indication. Did well on short, straight-line track on soybean stubble. Brigid 11/17 Starts:  Four one-turn start tracks (30, 60, 90, 120 min old.) Each 75x40 yards. Sunny, 47°-53°, gentle (force 3) breeze, rh 24%. Short, groomed grass, dry. First and second tracks (30 ...

Thursday, November 13, 2025 Millie. Six-turn stairstep, 350 yards, articles on every other leg, food drops 15 yards past corners, and in middle of non-article legs. 45 minutes old. Laid by a third party--I knew where the corners were, but owing to the rolling terrain not the direction of the next leg. Medium-cut field grass. Sunny, high 50s, gentle breeze, rh 30%. Goals 1. to give her an easy confidence building track after difficulties on Tuesday; 2. to give her more work on corners; 3. to work further on isolating loss-of-scent behavior. Good start and first leg; easily negotiated the first two corners. At the third corner she showed loss of scent, but convinced me that the track went in a different direction that the actual track. Did well on all the other corners. What I liked--clear reaction to loss of scent when she got to each corner; noticeable and consistent behavior; stuck very closely to track with little distraction. What needs work--she still takes corners very widely, com...

New Season for Millie and Brigid November 11 -- Millie Class. Three starts, two with blind turns. Cover close-cut soybeans. Sunny. Cold (upper 30s-low 40s), strong breeze, low humidity. First track (≅1 hour?). Millie found the first leg with minimal effort at the start, and stuck to the track reasonably well. At the corner, however, both of us fell into confusion. She did register loss of scent more or less at the right place, but then had great difficulty finding the second leg--we both struggled (my handling hurt more than helped her through the problem), and we could only get back with assistance. Even after being put back on the track we had a hard time staying with the second leg. In consequence, the two remaining tracks were double-laid with considerably more food drops. Second Track  (again ≅1 hour after being relaid). A good start and first leg again. This time she found the second leg after going some distance through the corner, but showed discernable loss-of-scent behav...