I have taken the small piece of escaped beef from Shaki who was left to wonder why.
I stuffed it into the waistband of my shorts which was gross but I did not want to have it in my hand while asking her to track on. Then I verbally praised and encouraged her to continue tracking. Frustration was evident for a minute, then Shaki decided to follow her nose on to hopefully better things. She displayed excellent effort over a couple of physical obstacles on the way. And she was obviously not 'hung up' by the heavy long line dragging behind her for the first time. I tried my best to keep the line from yanking on the harness. When it did, though, Shaki yanked back.
At the end of the track, Shaki again evidenced my actions. This was where I'd discovered the bag was empty. I had intended to go another 20-30 yards for a 200 yard track but decided to end it there. I had no clue how far back the meat was on the ground. I did not want to push an even longer footsteps-only hour-plus dry track on my puppy. Shaki's end of track behavior told me that another 30 yards would have been fine with her. It is easy, however, to take undue advantage of willingness and I am not interested in that.
So I'd stood there looking around, taking a step or two forward, then back again, considering my options. I am sure I left a pool of scent in the area. You can see it by Shaki's actions. When she arrived at the empty drag bag, Shaki received her just reward. Good girl, Shaki!
I stuffed it into the waistband of my shorts which was gross but I did not want to have it in my hand while asking her to track on. Then I verbally praised and encouraged her to continue tracking. Frustration was evident for a minute, then Shaki decided to follow her nose on to hopefully better things. She displayed excellent effort over a couple of physical obstacles on the way. And she was obviously not 'hung up' by the heavy long line dragging behind her for the first time. I tried my best to keep the line from yanking on the harness. When it did, though, Shaki yanked back.
At the end of the track, Shaki again evidenced my actions. This was where I'd discovered the bag was empty. I had intended to go another 20-30 yards for a 200 yard track but decided to end it there. I had no clue how far back the meat was on the ground. I did not want to push an even longer footsteps-only hour-plus dry track on my puppy. Shaki's end of track behavior told me that another 30 yards would have been fine with her. It is easy, however, to take undue advantage of willingness and I am not interested in that.
So I'd stood there looking around, taking a step or two forward, then back again, considering my options. I am sure I left a pool of scent in the area. You can see it by Shaki's actions. When she arrived at the empty drag bag, Shaki received her just reward. Good girl, Shaki!
