12/11/25
Recovery track @ Hidden Rock Park
42 F, 41% humidity, 9 mph wind gusts but pretty constant when Duck did the track
Aged 30 minutes.
S5W39F15
Positives:
Leave It exercise: We used this to maneuver away from the two large dogs in the dog park near the fence that Duck was interested in as he was looking to potty prior to the track. And, surprisingly he did better than at home. He left them, success…. He
trotted promptly to the treat near my ankle. What a good lil’ man!!!!
Duck did a wonderful job on the track. He was enthusiastic the entire way, slightly off to the right on the first leg but the wind was gusting diagonally along it.
He enjoys and works better in this colder temperature.
He did great down indications on every article. At the recovery area of the track he went forward from the article and quickly I saw his LOS, his head turned to left and he just went off in that direction and. Ack on the track.
At the turns he went only a yard beyond the turn and found the correct direction.
We felt very confident on this exercise track. I felt that Duck wanted to continue so next time his track will be longer.
Also, although this was the first time with this SWF pattern he did have to turn back to pick up the food drops. I am unsure but feel that it may need to be changed already.
Sounds like a good outing! I love that it helped with your confidence! I looked at your other posts on leave-it too. Glad it worked here, but if you're worried your prior training of leave-it as a cue to not go to an item is impeding this way of doing it, then pick a different word ;).
A few comments related to things you mention -
"I felt that Duck wanted to continue so next time his track will be longer." - I'm not crazy about your reasoning to make the next track longer...Maybe it was because conditions were ideal for him (you mention the cooler temps)...ask yourself, is there value in quitting a session when you feel like your…