2/17/26

River has been either downing or picking up and then downing some of the indoor articles, so returning outside plan was checking on article indication. Did Judi’s article track. Warm day and very mucky grass, dirt.

I tried to make this as positive as possible by dropping articles on driest spots. On the way to start, River avoided the puddling spots.

She did not try to pick up any articles. She did hesitate to down at the first two and looked back at me. I tried to not queue her. She gave me a down. Moving onward, she downed quickly but got up. Anticipating the reward.

I am glad she didn’t retrieve, but she does need to hold the down longer.

Did random down command just walking around afterwards and she dropped and maintained position.

She needs to stay focused on the task at hand.

And, I need to keep the right mindset to help her to do the task.

Hoping to do starts next.