11/21/25
- Maureen Woolley, Duck & River
- Nov 21, 2025
- 2 min read
Continued the scuff 5 in and out of the turn that we did at class. One good drop per leg. Intended to do only 2 legs but ended up with 3.
Total track length was 215 yds.
Positives, negatives & concerns, questions:
On leg 3 there was a black piece of cloth almost on the track and then as we did the track there were people walking their 2 dogs towards us along the trees about 15 yds away. Neither distracted River . After her last left turn, she got distracted by the flattened dog poop nearby but she left it.
Down indication at start and finish was speedy and did not require any prompt from me. I gave her some food after both. After end article I sent her in search of her ball, so she had some of her favorite game fun.
She seemed to cut the turns a bit early with the scuff in. Next time I will just maybe scuff out only or eliminate the scuff. Anyone have any thoughts on this? She does not let my lack of prompt following deter her from doing the track so that’s a real positive for me. I am admittedly hesitant to follow when there could be a turn so her willingness to insist helps me.
I was concerned at class that River followed her nose off toward the bushes and did not readily want to disengage when I told her to leave it and track. Not sure how to work on the skill of leaving the wrong scent and getting back to the right track scent.
Blue dot on image below is the end of the track.
You tube link- zoom in but still hard to see us
That looked great! Her commitment to the track was so nice - particularly when the two dogs and people walked by! Instead of scuff in/out only see what happens when you do the five treat drops into and 5 treat drops out of the turn. Her indication looked great! Regarding 'leave it' - practice that away from the track from varying distances (remember start easy then work in harder, then return to easy throughout). Ask any of the instructors or assistants if you need some pointers on setting this up. Then remember, the reinforcement on the track is also ideally helping over time "tell" the dog this scent is the good one...not that scent over there :).