Eli's Page
October 22, 2010
Eli arrived in
Seattle on October 21st, 2010 from
Lynda Webb's Southchase Black &
Tans in Oklahoma. He's a good little puppy who had an eye infection in
his right eye when he was just a baby and he lost most of the sight in
that eye. He needed a home, so he came here to Seattle to live with me
and Buckeye. Eli was born on May 23rd, 2010 and he's 5 months old now.
He flew from Tulsa to Dallas and then on to Sea-Tac, where I picked him
up last night. He handled the trip very well and he was still full of
energy when we got home. He was a little shy at first, but it didn't
take too long for him and Buckeye to become friends, and they played
together all night. Buckeye went to the vet and got his staples from
his surgery out today and Eli went with us to meet the vet. They had a
fun truck ride and Buckeye is teaching him everything he needs to
know...how to beg for sandwich bites, how to stick his head out of the
car window, and how to charm all the nurses at the vet's office.
October 26th, 2010
Eli suffered a little case of bloat yesterday and I had to
take him to the hospital. He spent the night in the hospital getting IV
fluids to flush out all the dog food in his stomach. $700 later and
he's home and acting like nothing happened. I gave him too much dog
food and he started having problems last night. He was pacing, drinking
a lot, shaking, ect...all the symptoms of bloat. While we were there,
the doctor gave us a referral to a veterinery ophthamologist so we can
have his eye looked at. She thought the eye could be repaired and he
could regain some vision in it.
Friday, November 12th, 2010
Eli, Buckeye, and I went to our first tracking class yesterday
down at Flaming Geyser State Park near Auburn. We met our instructor,
Aileen, and some of the other people and dogs. Eli did a good job
working his first few tracks. We did a couple of short ones on concrete
and a longer one over concrete, asphalt, grass, and gravel. It was a
long day and the dogs were tired. I think Buckeye is a little sore
today...he's limping on his right foreleg a little. Buckeye didn't get
to work, but I think I'll start with him myself soon and have Eli
participate in the classes. I took Eli up to the Senior Center today
and we ran a couple more tracks on concrete/asphalt and he did fine. I
just completed getting health insurance on the dogs through VPI, so
they are both covered now in case of any more problems. Eli is starting
to get more comfortable and confident. Clicker training is going good.
He now knows a few basic hand commands and he's learning to focus on
me. We have an appointment to see a veterinary opthamologist on Monday
to look at his eye and see what can be done about the secondary
glaucoma.
Monday, November 15th, 2010
Eli saw the opthamologist today at Veterinary Specialty Center
in Lynnwood. The good news is the pressure in his right eye isn't so
high that it's causing him pain and problems. The bad news is that he's
completely blind in that eye and it will eventually be best to have it
removed to prevent problems in the future. There is no hurry, since
he's not in pain from it, so we'll just wait another few months so I
can save up a little money.. As long as it doesn't get worse, we're
okay. He was a little shy at the vet's office and he didn't want to
walk up the stairs when we got there, so we took the elevator...that
didn't bother him. The people were very nice there and they liked Eli.
He walked down the stairs just fine when we left, so we'll have to
practice walking up stairs someplace. We've been reinforcing hand
commands for the last few days and working on focus. He's focusing on
me a lot better now and answering to his name most of the time. We have
another tracking class on Thursday.
Sunday, November 28th, 2010
Took Eli up to Shoreline Center and had him run a couple of
tracks today. Made things a little harder on him this time...treats
further apart and variable surfaces...but he did just fine and
completed both tracks. We got a lot of work to do, but he's getting
there. We ran a short track about 50 yards long between the Senior
center building and the building next to it. It had a couple of 90°
turns and a couple of 45° turns in it, was mostly on the concrete
siewalk, and Eli finished it in about 4 minutes. The second track ran
along the parking lot and down between the next two buildings and was
about 75 yards long. It had several 45° turns and a couple of 90° turns
and was on concrete, grass, old blacktop, old blacktop covered in moss,
and a heavy fallen leaf cover on ground. He seemed to have a hard time
getting started on both tracks, but once he got set on them, he
followed them pretty closely. On the second track, he had some trouble
at a 90° that led into the thick leaf ground cover. It was only a patch
about 5 feet long, but he had trouble making the transition from
concrete to that cover. He overran it a seemed to give up temporarily.
He finally got on and across it, but the next part was old blacktop
almost completely covered in moss. He seemed to get completely lost in
that, despite it being a very small area...about 25 feet in diameter.
Once he finally found it, it was a 15 yard set of doglogs to the finish
and he did it in about 20 seconds. Might need to just use dog food to
motivate him. He doesn't seem to care that much about the hot dogs.
Gave him turkey at the end, on the scent article. Dogs had a good
Thanksgiving...lots of turkey and chicken. Added a few new pics to Eli's photo page.
Thursday, December 9th, 2010
Our last tracking class of the year was today, down at Flaming
Geyser. Eli was acting strangely, but he completed all the tracks. He
kept laying down and refusing to get up...he did it 4 or 5 times. He
didn't seem to be sick or unhappy...he just wanted to lay in the wet
grass. It was rainy and very wet down along the Green River and it's
about ready to flood. Our trainer, Aileen Logan,
is very happy with his progress and so am I. Aileen laid a trail for
Eli and then went and ran her dog for 20 minutes, allowing the trail
for Eli to age. He'd never tracked on a trail any older than a few
minutes, so this was a new challenge. It was over grass, asphalt, and
concrete in the back parking lot and by the time we got started, the
crows had eaten most of Eli's treats off of the trail. Eli seemed a
little confused, but he ran the trail and completed it anyways. Since
that was difficult for him, we set a couple of really easy trails with
lots of treats and just let him run those afterwards.
Monday, December 27th, 2010
We had a nice Christmas at home and celebrated the 7th
anniversary of Buckeye coming to live with us. Eli is becoming very
attached to me now...he follows me everywhere just like Buckeye used to
do and he runs to me when he gets scared, or beat up by Buckeye. Ever
since he arrived here I've been giving him treats when I call him in
from the backyard...in order to teach him recall (come when called).
Buckeye always comes when I call him, so when Buckeye beats Eli to the
back door, I give Buckeye the treat instead. This has taught Eli to
come immediately when
called. Now when I call him, he doesn't even think...he just bolts for
the back door as fast as he can. Buckeye doesn't care much either way,
but Eli is determined to get the treat and deny Buck. Between that and
the focus training, he pays a lot of attention to me. It's important to
get a really good recall on coonhounds because they'll just take off
after stuff and not think. Buckeye impressed the neighbors a few weeks
ago...we were standing out front chatting and a jogger with a labrador
came by. Buckeye started to go after them and I called him and he
stopped and came back right away. I don't think Eli is that far along
yet, but he's close. He is getting it into his head that there is
nothing better out there in the world than the stuff I have and that
it's always best to choose me. Or else, Buckeye will get whatever I've
got.
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011
Eli
has earned a lot of nicknames. "Little dog" is the most common, but
he's growing fast and he's not going to be the little dog for long.
"Left Eye" for obvious reasons. "Drooly Dog" for when he's been
drinking. I think all my dogs have had that nickname at times...they
all drool water a lot when they are puppies. They learn to control
it...somewhat...when they get older. "Tough Guy" because he's just
fearless and is always testing either Buckeye or me.
We
didn't get to go to our tracking class last Thursday...our new catering
company had it's second event...so we ran a couple trails at the Senior
Center last weekend. The training has been going very well and Eli is
doing tracks over a 1/4 mile long now. We're going to start working on
aging the tracks in the next month. Our trainer, Aileen is happy with
the progress he's making and it looks like he'll be ready for a TD test
in the Spring. Eli just got his AKC registration in the mail the other
day, now he is officially "Southchase's Eli".
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
It's
snowing again in Seattle, so we won't be going to our weekly tracking
class at Flaming Geyser with Aileen this week. We've been getting in a
lot of practice around here, though. Eli has been running tracks at the
Senior Center almost every day for the last week, and we're doing some
work at Hamlin Park too. We ran a track this morning around the inside
of the practice field at Shoreline. It included a leg along the back
where two other dogs live. Eli got distracted by their barking and it's
the closest he's come to failing to complete a track. I had to coax him
past the other dogs and he picked up the trail and resumed the track.
Later this afternoon he completed a track around the outside of the
stadium and along the front of the Spartan building. We have an
appointment next week at Nordkyn Outfitters,
after our tracking class, to get Eli fitted for a good tracking
harness. I have a couple of different harnesses I use now, but they are
very old harnesses I originally bought for Bobdog. and they don't fit
Eli very well. Aileen and Ariel both use Nordkyn harnesses and I like
them better than anything else I've seen at the pet stores. I think Eli
will pull a lot better with a padded harness that fits him.
Sunday, February 27th, 2011
Took
Eli out three times today, twice to the Senior Center and once to the
greenbelt behind the mower shop on 185th and 10th. He did really well
on the first two this morning, but he kept breaking concentration
during the last track at the Senior Center. I might have made it too
difficult...there was a lot of transitions to hard surfaces and he's
been having trouble with those. I got some new treats to use as trail
bait (Zuke's Mini Naturals - Chicken bought at Great Dog
for a little under $12 for a pound bag) and they smell a bit, so that
helps. I've started using fresh roasted chicken as the final reward for
finding the item. It's the only way Eli is going to get fresh roasted
chicken, in order to help motivate him. I thought he was learning this
after the first two tracks this morning. He was very excited to go and
he pulled hard and wasn't distracted...even when we had to go past a
barking dog to find the scent article in the greenbelt. But then the
last track he kept breaking off to chase other smells. Maybe I'm just
pushing him a little too much...
Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011
Ran
Eli on a track around the practice field by the Senior Center this
afternoon. He's starting to handle distractions a bit better. There
were kids using the stadium for practice and the usual dogs barking,
along with some loud noises that made him jump a couple of times. He
had no problem following the track and he finished it out strong,
pulling me hard and fast. I think a new harness will help a lot...our
appointment is tommorow. He wore the red step-in harness today and it
shifts from side to side and can't be very comfortable to pull on. Eli
is starting to get over his car problems, at least on short trips.
He'll get in the truck on his own most of the time now and he doesn't
get sick on short trips anymore. Saturday, March 5th, 2011
Drove
down to Nordkyn on Thursday...it was a longer drive than I expected and
we didn't arrive until 4pm. I got Eli an adjustable harness for $40. It
seems to work good, except it shifts from side a side a bit. It's well
padded and Eli can pull hard on it. Buckeye got to do a little tracking
at Flaming Geyser...we started him out. I'm really focused on Eli right
now, though, so I don't know how much work I'm going to do with Buck.
We did a short beginner track this morning at the Senior Center while
aging a track for Eli. Eli ran 3 tracks today in total, 2 in the
practice field and 1 between the classroom buildings. All three tracks
were aged 15 minutes and Eli did just fine. On the practice field this
afternoon, two children saw the dog and came running over just after
we'd started a track. They were a good distraction. Eli greeted them
and I explained what we were doing. When I told Eli to get back to
work, he went back to the trail and ran it out to the end perfectly,
all with the two children following us. He's starting to show a little
discipline and maturity in his work, which is good. The last track of
the day was a short one through the buildings in the back, but it was
50% on concrete. He ran the first part...which was on vegetation...just
fine, made a turn on the concrete, and finished the track with no
trouble. He ran the concrete portion like it was grass. Conditions have
been wet and muddy, with temps around 45° today. Zume's for bait and
hot dogs for the treat at the end. Trying to eliminate the bait on
random legs now.
Sunday, March 6th, 2011
Four
more tracks for Eli today; two this morning and two at dusk this
evening. Used very little trail bait, and he skipped over a few pieces.
I'm just about to the point where he'll track without the trail bait.
We ran the first track this morning around 8:30am after letting it age
15 minutes. It was a simple track with 3-4 turns in the practice field,
about 150 yards long, with bait on 2 legs. Eli ran it out with no
trouble. After that we drove over to Ridgecrest Elementary and I laid a track
along the front of the school along 165th street. It was longer and had
more turns and was about 20% pavement, but I didn't age it. Eli took
his time on the pavement transitions but he was very deliberate and
finished the final couple legs of the track very strongly. Used a
little more bait on this track, just because it was so long (about 250
yards) and had 7-8 turns and transitions. After that the three of us
(Buckeye was along for the ride) went up to the Animal Hospital
and used their scale. Buckeye weighs 88 pounds and Eli weighs 70. We
relaxed around the house most of the day after that and went back out
around 6pm to run a couple short tracks at the Senior Center. I laid two tracks back to back: Track One
is a typical track between the buildings that I've been using since I
started training Eli. It's short and about 50% pavement, and the crows
usually steal all the bait before Eli can find it. It's between
buildings, so the scent probably holds in there better than most
places. It's only 50% pavement because of all the moss growing on the
pavement. I consider that vegetation. Tonight the track was aged 15
minutes. Track Two
is a rather short track along the back wall of Spartan Rec Center. I
usually lay longer tracks back here, but this one was aged about 20
minutes so I kept it short. This track is less than 10% pavement and it
was more of an ego run than anything. Eli found the sock very fast and
got a big handful of hot dogs as a reward.
Monday, March 7th, 2011
Ran two tracks
over by the stadium today. The first track in the practice field was
aged about 15 minutes. The dogs were out in thier yard in the northeast
corner of the field and Eli was too excited to track by them. We
skipped a 100 foot section and picked up the trail near the end. I put
bait on two legs but I don't think he found much of it. I put even less
bait on the second track and it was aged about 20 minutes. He ran it
like it was fresh. Both were pretty short, I'm just trying to get some
age on them now.
Saturday, March 12th, 2011
Ran
two tracks this morning about 4 hours apart at the Senior Center. The
early track was a loop through the buildings with a lot of surface
changes. Maybe I'm just noticing it more now, but he did well on most
of the transitions (surface changes, from grass to sidewalk, ect.). The
track was aged 15-20 minutes. The second track was around noon on the
practice field next to Shoreline Stadium. The field was very wet and
the track was 20-25 minutes old. It was a simple track with 3 long legs
and a short one, all 90° left hand turns. I started out next to a fence
and the track led directly away from the fence. Eli had a little
trouble figuring out which way to go to start...he wanted to follow the
fence. I need to start some tracks in the middle of the field and let
him find the direction of travel so he gets some experience with that.
He ran the track well, despite the standing water and very wet
conditions. He was a little distracted by the high school teams
practicing in the stadium, and he now anticipates the dogs in the NW
corner of the field. Even though they were not out, he broke off the
trail and tried to go over to their fence. I need to take a break from
training in that field and find someplace else.
Sunday, March 13th, 2011
Went to the Seattle Kennel Club Dog Show this morning. Only one Black & Tan there today...an old boy with a grey muzzle from WyEast.
The whole show was unchanged from the last time I was there in 2005.
Saw a nice Bloodhound puppy and talked his owner. They are members of Northwest Bloodhounds SAR and they were very nice. Picked up two books at the Dogwise booth: "Tracking Dog Theory & Methods" by Glen R. Johnson and "Reaching the Animal Mind" by Karen Pryor. Watched a K9 Noseworks demo by Miriam Rose. That looks like fun...she has classes in Woodinville at Positive Dog Training.
Went
home and got Eli and ran another track at Ridgecrest Elementary similar
to the one on the 6th, except longer. This time it was almost 400 yards long
and had a lot of transitions and a serious distraction. We let it age
25 minutes and then started out. There were some people working on the
front of the school and Eli wanted to watch them rather than make the
first turn across the road. Once he decided he was going to work, he
took off and tracked fast and close to the trail all the way down and
around the corner. He hesitated and cast around a bit at the driveway
crossing on 10th Ave, but picked up the trail after one circle and
pulled me hard all the way to the next turn. He had the most trouble
with the last turn across that wide swath of parking lot. The turn
itself was on grass. He overshot it by a few feet and came back and I
thought he was working normally, but he seemed to get confused and cast
around for a bit. The turn was about 20 feet from the parking lot and
when he finally did make the turn, he stopped again at the parking lot.
He treated it like water...he didn't even want to go out and cast
around. It was raining and the parking lot was very wet, with standing
water. I coaxed him out there and he circled once and struck on the
track and took off again. He found the sock at the end of the trail and
was very happy to be done. I stopped and let him watch the people
working on the school on the way back to the truck.
Monday, March 14th, 2011
Ran
a track at Ronald Bog Park for a change of pace. It's a swamp...been
raining on and off for weeks (centuries) now in Seattle. A guy and his
off-leash dog walked around the field right after I laid the track in
it, so that was a bit of a distraction. Aged the track about 25 minutes
and it was only about 150 yards long. Used black gloves as articles
instead of socks this time. After that we went over to the Senior
Center and ran another track
between the buildings...where it isn't muddy. This was a difficult
track so I only aged it about 10 minutes before we started. The first
part was easy enough...I walked on the sidewalk a little, then in the
grass. The first turn into the parking lot was a little tricky. Eli
cast about for a bit before finally hitting on it. The second right
turn was on the pavement and he made it just fine after circling once.
After that it was smooth sailing, except for one distraction. As we
passed by the main entrance, a janitor was working out front and
startled Eli a little...enough to break his concentration. He went
right back to the track and finished it just fine. His end article was
his little teddy bear and he seemed happy to find it.
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
Ran
a track in the practice field. About 300 yards, 2 turns, aged 30
minutes. Eli still getting distracted by people and other dogs. He
finished the track okay.
Sunday, March 20th, 2011
Eli
didn't want to track at the lesson on Thursday down at Flaming Geyser.
He failed to finish his first track...the first time he's done that. I
cut out the trail bait too soon and between that and the large amounts
of food I feed him, he just didn't have any motivation. He finished a
short second track that Ariel laid at Argus and I let him run off leash
in one of their fields for a little bit. So as a result, I've gone back
to baiting the track and I've cut out his 6pm feeding so he's a bit
hungrier now. We've been running tracks every day...one on Friday
afternoon at Shoreline Center, two on Saturday, and two (so far) on
Sunday. He ran a long fresh track at Hamlin Park on Saturday morning,
then ran a 70 minute old track at Shoreline Center. On Sunday morning,
I noticed a bit of what looks like water on his left front elbow. I
took him to the hospital and they didn't think it was anything serious.
It doesn't seem to be an infection and it doesn't seem to be bothering
him. If I persists, I'll take him to Aurora Vet
this week and have them look at it. We ran two tracks today that were
about an hour old. The first was at Ridgecrest Elementary...similar to
the other tracks we've run there except backwards this time. It was 50
minutes old, about 250 yards, and there were a lot of transitions. He
had some trouble getting started, but once he got going he pulled
strong and finished the trail with no trouble. Then we went over to
Meridian Park Elementary on 175th and Meridian and ran a track on the
football fields. It was an hour old and about 300 yards. Again, he
started slowly and then took off. He's a little more motivated now that
he's hungry. The tracks today were laid early and we were done by 9am.
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
Ran
a track at Hamlin Park this afternoon. Eli did fine. His new feeding
schedule has him a bit more focused on the trail now. His elbow is
unchanged and I still haven't taken him to the vet. We drove out to
Positive Dog Training in Woodinville and met Joan Fetty today. It looks
like a good place to go for lessons. I'm going to start with beginner
Nosework classes for Buckeye next month, I think. Eli had Monday off
and I took Buckeye out to teach him to track. I don't think I'm going
to continue with him, though...I think it's a bit much for him.
Friday, March 25th, 2011
It
was just Aileen and I on Thursday, so we ran some long hard tracks with
Eli and Apollo. They both did very well. Eli's track was a tricky one,
but he handled it great. Apollo is a fearsome tracking dog...we could
barely keep up with him. After 400 yards my legs were aching. Aileen is
planning on doing a TDX test with him later this month and she's
worried about keeping up with him over 800+ yards. Today, Eli ran two
tracks at Shoreline Center. The first was an hour old and on the
practice field. It was 3pm and pretty nice out for a change. He ran the
track well until we got to the distraction dogs in the corner. I had to
coax him back to work, and he did what he normally does: ran the
remainder of the track at a furious pace and found the lost glove very
quickly. Then I let him go say hi to the distraction dogs. The second
track of the day was in the buildings and was about 400 paces. About
70% of it was on pavement of some type, with the remainder on short
grass. It was only aged 50 minutes, as it was much more difficult than
the earlier one, with the wind blowing and swirling in the
buildings. He ran it out flawlessly. We ran it about 6:30pm,
before the nightly feeding, and I could tell he was hungry. He's very
motivated now.
Saturday, March 26th, 2011
Ran
two 1 hour old tracks today. The first was at Shoreline Center, another
400 yard track around and through the buildings. It was quiet and there
were no distractions. Eli worked well, except for a difficult
transition and turn where I had to guide him a little. It seems like
turns on vegetation that lead to pavement within a few yards cause him
some trouble. This track was probably a little more pavement-intensive
than yesterday's as I ran it through an area we've never tracked in.
The second track of the morning (first track: 8:45am, second: 9:15am)
was at Ridgecrest and was about the hardest track Eli has ever run. It
was about 400 yards with large sections of concrete and pavement. A
jogger with a dog, and two kids on bikes, both stopped to talk to us
while we were on the track. Eli handled two road crossings very well,
but he had some trouble crossing the east parking lot at the very end
of the track. He was also very distracted and I had to coax him back to
work. Once he got back to work he finished the track fast, which is
becoming his custom when he's distracted during his work. He earned 3
or 4 hot dogs this morning and he got to hang out with the two kids and
the jogger with dog after we were done. I try to take him back to
distractions after he finishes a track, so it worked out good. LATER...
We tried a pair of 3 hour old tracks at 6pm this evening. Eli had
considerable trouble with both of them...it was too big of a jump. The
first track was a simple 150 yard track with two turns in the buildings
at Shoreline Center. He was able to pick up the trail pretty strongly
in places, but he made the wrong turn in the courtyard. It may be
because scent was pooling back there in the closed end. I let him work
it out and he finally came out and finished it pretty well. The second
turn and last short leg was difficult and he worked it well. The second
track was in front of the stadium and there was some event going on and
a bus parked across from the stadium, so presumably there were many,
many cross tracks. It was about 120 yards and a dogleg right
turn. Eli started out okay, but was distracted by all the activity in
the stadium....and full from all the hot dogs he got on the last
track...and he just laid down and refused to work. I llet him give
up...he's had a hard day. This is his fourth difficult track of the day
and he's never done this much work in one day before. We'll work
tomorrow, but we'll make it an easy day.
Sunday, March 27th, 2011
Took
Buckeye to Shoreline Center this morning and ran a couple of short
starter tracks for him, one on pavement and one on grass with a
sidewalk crossing. They were only about 40-50 yards long and no turns.
Buck did fine...kept his head down and pulled well. Aged a 300 yard
track for Eli while we were there and came back any hour later and ran
it. Something nice and easy. Eli ran it out very quickly...it was the
fastest pce I've seen him track at so far. I was jogging behind him at
one point. Eli and I went down to Mom's house, then we stopped by Fuzzy Buddies
and met Dana. She was very nice, even when Eli growled at her big
stuffed dog. We talked about tracking and when I mentioned the cemetary
next door, she said I should go ask them if I could track there. So I
did...I went next door to Evergreen-Washelli
and they gave me permission to train there. Yay! Now I have a gigantic
new place nearby to train and I can lay 800+ yard long tracks in there.
So I laid a track for Eli and ran it right away. It was another easy
one, with only a couple turns and about 300 yards. Oddly, Eli wouldnt
eat the hotdogs when he found the glove. He ran the track just fine, he
just didn't want anything to eat.
Monday, March 28th, 2011
Laid
a long, 800 yard track in the east part of the cemetary and ran it
right away. Had a big stretch over dirt and rocks where they are doing
some construction. Eli did great...worked hard the whole way and had no
trouble. He's getting a little faster and he mostly ignores food on the
trail. He was working so hard he didn't even see a big, loud backhoe
drive right past him 5 feet away. He got a nice chunk of basil fritatta
for a reward. He seemed pretty proud of himself. After that, we drove
over to the west side and laid a 390 yard track and let it age for an
hour. He had a little trouble in the middle of that one...he missed a
turn and pulled me a long way off the trail. We were able to work back
and he picked up the trail and finished it...including a long section
on pavement (roads and sidewalks) and he got the other half of the
basil fritatta for that. Eli seemed fine...I think his mental endurance
is improving...but I decided to quit while we were ahead. I think we'll
start doing longer trails (800+ yards) at about 20 minutes and work up
a little every day this week.
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
Ran
a track 606 paces long and 30 minutes old at the cemetary this
afternoon. It was windy and rainy and Eli did great on such a difficult
track. He made several turns perfectly. It was mostly grass with 3 road
crossings and a section about 50 feet long on sidewalk. Later on we ran
a track about 300 yards long at Shoreline Center, back on the practice
field. It was 50 minutes old and there were a lot of distractions. Eli
didn't want to work as hard on this track, but I finally coaxed him
into finishing it.
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
Gave
Eli the day off on Wednesday. He didn't like it...he sat in front of me
most of the afternoon with a sock (scent article) in his mouth. We went
down to train with Aileen today. She laid us a track about 600 yards
and Eli ran it out pretty well. He works better when we don't stand
behind him and talk. I laid a 650 yard trail for Apollo and he ran it
fast. We're going to take next week off, but Aileen might come up and
track with us at the cemetary one of these days. Robert Urban, the
owner of Firefox, posted some photos of Eli's father and one of his
brothers and sisters, too: Ch. Firefox Fifty-Five Blues "Louie"
is Eli's father. We have an evaluation meeting with Steve White of
I2IK9 on Friday. He's going to take a look at Eli and we might start
training with him soon.
Sunday, April 3rd, 2011
Met
with Steve White on Friday and ran a track he laid while he videotaped
us. Eli had some trouble at a parking lot crossing and Steve showed me
how to use the video to assess the dog's performance and troubleshoot.
Looks like we're back to pavement for awhile. Steve has a good,
comprehensive reporting system for keeping track of our progress and
I'm going to try to start using it here. Friday was a long day; I hurt
my foot and wore out my legs, so we took Saturday off. Eli has had too
much time off this week and he's just full of energy. On Sunday morning
we went to Shoreline Center and worked in the maintenance area parking
lot. Both Buckeye and Eli got some work in. We ran 3 different tracks
90 paces long. The weather was cool and dry, with dry ground and wind
coming from the south. Eli was very excited to work and he charged up
to each starting article.
1) The first track
had one 90° right turn and one 45° left turn and was aged about 5
minutes. 10 inches of distilled water sprayed on the track with treats
every 10 paces. Eli worked the track extremely fast, missing most of
the treats (sausage dogs & Zuke's) and he blew through both turns.
He overshot the 90° turn by 15 feet before he finally came back and
made the turn. He went about 10 feet past the second turn before
quickly coming back and spotting the glove visually and running to it.
There was some trash around the second and third legs (next to a trash
dumpster). Eli was very excited to work and I think that contributed to
his sloppiness. Buckeye ran the same track afterwards, with the treats
spaced 5 paces apart. Had problems keeping head down and wandering.
Treats too far apart for Buck at this stage.
2) The next track
ran along the sidewalk next to the building, on the lee side of the
wind today. Scent was probably swirling along there. One 90° right
turn, 10" of water, and treats every 10 feet. Aged just a few minutes.
This time Eli hit about 75% of the trail bait and made the turn
perfectly, although the turn was forced by the buildings. There was a
set of stairs, about 6 or 7, in the middle of the second leg. Eli
didn't even seem to notice them, just trailed right up them. The glove
was about 10 paces (30 feet) from the top of the stairs. Eli went up
the stairs and worked for about 10 feet before spotting the glove
visually and running to it. I'm surprised at how much he is using his
sight on pavement, I've never really noticed before. Going to have to
try to hide end articles from his view when he's coming to the end of
the track. This time, the stairs obstructed his view and might have
helped some. Buck ran the same track with treats spaced 3 paces (about
10 feet) apart and did much better, keeping his head down most of the
track.
3) The last track
of the morning ran along a building and with the wind. Several 45°
turns, but nothing sharper. 10" of water and treats every 50
paces....so one in the middle. Since he missed the 90° right turn on
track #1 so bad, I thought a track with a lot of 45's in it would help.
He overshot all but the last couple turns on this track by several feet
each. He slowed down near the end because there was a lot of trash and
he was checking everything and that allowed him to make the last two
turns reasonably well. His nose actually landed on the glove this
time...he didn't locate it visually. Buckeye didn't run this track.
Obviously, we need a lot of work on pavement.
Later...
We ran three more tracks at Shoreline in the afternoon. The first was a
track on pavement weaving through the buildings on the east side. The
next two were curvy tracks in the maintenance lot. He did fine on the
first track, terrible on the two curvy tracks. He's going way too fast
now, overshooting every corner. Very discouraging. I guess we'll be
working on simple curvy tracks for awhile.
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
We've
been taking it easy the last few days. I hurt my foot last week so it's
been a slow tracking week. We met Aileen at Evergreen-Washeli on
Tuesday and ran 4 tracks, 2 for each dog. They were about 400 yards
each and relatively challenging. Both dogs did pretty good once they
got started on the short grass. I took Eli to Ridgecrest and we ran a
couple of pavement trails today. We ran a curvy track at the church lot
up the street and then tried to run a regular track on pavement at the
school, but gave up because of distractions. Videotape.
Saturday, April 9th, 2011
On Friday, we ran two curvy tracks on pavement in the ▼ Tabernacle Baptist Church
parking lot, up the street from Ridgecrest Elementary. Videotaped
both. Eli did very well on both. This morning we went over to the
Shoreline Center maintenance lot and ran what I'm going to call a
serpentine trail. It was a trail, but rather than corners it just wound
around some obstacles and buildings for about 100 yards. This worked
well and Eli kept his nose down right on the track most of the time. He
ran out at a couple of points but quickly recovered back to the track.
This pavement work is beginning to pay off, but it's not enough work
for Eli so we went up to the cemetary. I decided to try out a
serpentine track on the grass, since I've always laid straight legs. I
put down two tracks end to end. They were about 400 paces each and
increasingly more difficult. At the end it was wind in face, very curvy
trail running over concrete, asphalt, and short grass. We started out
with two short, square legs to get going, then crossed a street at an
angle. A guy had his two dobermans off leash and running around and
they were playing all over our trail. I coaxed Eli into working around
them at first, but then our trail turned right to them. We talked to
the guy for a few minutes and the dogs played a bit. I explained what
we were doing and he finally left us and took his dogs. I was able to
re-start Eli and he finished the last 100 yards or so as he usually
does after a distraction...at a furious pace. Two crows stole some of
his ham from the scent article. 50 yards away was the start of the
second trail. It was a bit more difficult and there was less
distractions. Eli worked very hard and made several nice turns,
including one on asphalt. He worked around water and up and down a
couple of little hills. Neither trail was aged much...the second one
was probably 20 minutes old by the time we got to it. Eli worked very
close to the trail most of the time...a result of the work we've been
doing on pavement, I imagine. LATER...
We went back to the cemetary around 3pm and laid a 500 yard trail and
let it age 30 minutes. It seems there is always someone with a dog off
leash on the west side of the cemetary and this time was no exception.
A border collie ran up to Eli while he was working. Eli is getting very
good at dealing with such distractions and he went right back to work.
It wasn't a particularly hard track, but I did incorporate some curves.
I think I'll include curved turns in all of our tracks from now on.
Next we went over to the east side, hoping for less loose dogs running
around. I laid a trail 500 paces starting in the construction pit and
ran it right away (no age) so Eli could get some work on
dirt and mud. I included curves and a turn on pavement in this track
and Eli did pretty good. He had some trouble with the turn on the road,
but he worked hard and eventually got through it. He worked very hard
on this track and got a little foamy towards the end. After that we
went up to the Senior Center and said hi to Janice and Jon Ann before
working a wet track through the buildings. I laid down a serpentine
trail with about 5 inches of spray, sticking to the pavement between the buildings for about 250
yards. Eli had little trouble once he got started and he finished the
track very well. He's getting better on pavement. No video today...we
need a helper.
Sunday, April 10th, 2011
We
met Aileen at the Costco in Issaquah at 11:30am for this week's lesson.
She has a great place over there to track, with huge open parking lots,
retail and commercial buildings, walkways and trails and ponds and all
kinds of stuff. We ran a few curvy tracks and some 90° turns on
pavement with both dogs before running an aged track we laid down when
I got there. Eli did very well on his corners track on pavement,
keeping his head down and making each turn without circling. Food was
spaced closely...about 12 inches...and we put down water, too. We
talked to a woman trailing with a Newfie for a few minutes. Eli had
some trouble on his aged trail. It was well over an hour old...probably
about 90 minutes...and it was pavement intensive. Eli handled parts of
it very well. There was a 90° right turn on pavement that led down a
set of about 15 steps and across a driveway and Eli followed the trail
there perfectly. But he also got lost and lost interest at several
points and I had to restart him 2 or 3 times. It was a very difficult
trail, with part of it passing in front of a movie theater at about
1pm, just in time for the matinee, so there were people and kids on the
trail. It was also very long...at least 600 yards. LATER... We went up
to Shoreline Center and ran a trail aged 45 minutes through the
buildings and out behind Spartan Rec Center. It was about 400 yards and
almost entirely on hard surfaces. Eli had no trouble, as there were no
distractions, and he finished the trail very quickly.
Thursday, April 14th, 2011
Took the first part of the week off from tracking. Eli and I went to Hidden Lake on Monday
and got some exercise. Eli got more than I did. On Tuesday it was
Buckeye's turn. Was busy catering an event at city hall on Wednesday.
Today I laid a trail about 400 yards at Hamlin Park and let it age
about 30 minutes. Eli is having trouble lately with other dog sign. He
got distracted and I had to re-scent him in the middle of the track.
After that he had no trouble and finished the second half of the trail
well. Many surfaces and obstacles...dirt/trail, bark, gravel path,
asphalt path, rocks, and short grass. At one point the trail ran down a
slight hill and over a short rock wall (along the back of the ball
fields) and Eli had to follow it down and jump off the wall and then
cross an asphalt path, which he did perfectly.
.Monday, April 18th, 2011
On
Friday we ran pavement tracks at Ridgecrest and Shoreline Center. On
Saturday we ran a couple of long tracks at Evergreen-Washeli. On Sunday
morning we went to Shoreview Park (Hidden Lake) and ran a track around
the gravel soccer field and up the stairs. Sunday afternoon we went
down to Fairveiw Library in Renton for the King County Search Dogs
prospective member meeting. Today we took the day off from tracking and
worked on some clicker stuff (take it).
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
Yesterday
we ran a track 335 paces and 45 minutes old at Shoreline Center. It was
about 50% grass, 25% dirt trail, and 25% pavement. Eli had to be
re-scented twice...that is becoming a habit now...and he does very well
once he is re-scented. I am learning to watch for his "I'm lost" signal
now. Weather was clear and dry, about 55°. Today I laid a track 460 paces long and almost entirely hard surfaces...pavement
and sidewalks. We let it age about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, someone
took our start article...an old tube sock...so I had to start the poor
dog on the trail. He picked it up quickly, though, and had no trouble
at any point on this long, difficult track. He made several turns on
pavement perfectly, without circling. He had to cast a bit on one turn
in the middle of a parking lot, but otherwise made all the turns in
fine fashion. The trail ran along the front of Shoreline Center, down
between the first two buildings, around the back and ended down in the
loading ramp on the Spartan side of the complex.
Thursday, April 21st, 2011
We tried a couple of new places today. First we went over to the Gateway office building off of Ballinger Way.
It is deserted and makes a great small area to track in. I laid a trail
370 paces long through the parking lot, out into a dirt and grass area,
back through the parking lot, up and down the stairs and along the
front of the building. Eli had some trouble staying focused on the
first half and I had to re-scent him a couple times. The second
half...up the stairs and along the walkway in front of the
building...went well. The track was aged 30 minutes and we ran it at
2:20pm in dry 50° weather. It took us about 15 minutes to complete.
After that we went to Holyrood Catholic Cemetary and got permission to
train in there. I laid a track 500 paces mostly on grass
and we let it age 30 minutes. I included an intermediate scent
article...an eyeglass case...in the middle of the track. Eli did the
first half of this track pretty well, then we crossed a road into a
section of the cemetary that was being mowed. A guy on a riding mower
mowed over our track while we were waiting for it to age! This was
certainly something new, and it caused Eli to cast about a lot looking
for the scent. He had a tough time but he managed to slowly work
through it with very little help from me. It took 20 minutes to run
this track and Eli was pretty foamy by the end...he had to work pretty
hard. LATER... Went back to Holyrood and laid another 500 pace trail
at 4:30pm...this time we let it age 55 minutes. It was about 50%
pavement, with some tough spots...a 90° turn in the open, a direction
change across a road at an angle, and a zig-zag down another road. He
had a little trouble on those transitions, but he worked them out. Eli
was much more focused on this trail and the next one than he was
earlier in the day...maybe closer to feeding time? The last trail of the night
was 310 paces at Shoreline Center, just up the street. This one was a
little different than what we've done before. The trail started behind
the Senior Center dining room and ran west between the buildings and
then out and around to the south, making a large loop through the
parking lot. There was a scent item (eyeglass case) in the middle of
the trail. There was some activity at the Senior Center and a lot of
people around. Eli worked very hard and had good concentration, but he
had difficulty with two high auto traffic areas in the parking lot...in
front of the thrift store and at the 185th St. entrance. Considering he
hasn't done many auto cross tracks, he did okay. This trail was aged 40
minutes and took us 15 minutes (5:15pm laid/5:55pm start/6:10pm fin).
Friday, April 22nd, 2011
Just
two tracks at Holyrood this afternoon, plus a wet S track in the
Evergreen Baptist Church parking lot. I laid a trail 400 paces in the
southeast area of the cemetary at 12:50pm. It was sunny and dry and the
trail was 90% grass with a couple street crossings. I left a midpoint
scent article (eyeglass case) and he found it just fine. The last
section was mowed after I laid the trail, so Eli had to deal with that
again. He worked better today and finished the trail only to find the
final article missing. I threw down a glove to finish and gave Eli some
treats. This trail was aged 1 hour and took 15 minutes to complete. The
S track was 5" of water, 5-6 curves, bait at 24". We ran it right away
(at 2:30pm) and Eli did just fine. He missed about half the treats...he
just wanted to go. He kept his head down and made all the curves tight.
The last trail was 466 paces along the northwest side of the cemetery.
It was almost entirely grass, with only one road crossing. We aged it
50 minutes and took off. Was distracted at the road crossing by another
dog leaving the area with it's owner, then when I got him back on he
jumped a squirrel from less than 2 feet away. Normally he ignores
squirrels, but he's never been that close to one. The trees are spaced
a bit apart, and the tree the squirrel was under wasn't big enough to
hide in, so the rodent ran for a bigger tree 25 yards away. Eli
followed. Even after all these years, I'm still surprised when I see
how fast a coonhound can run when it REEEEALY wants to. They started
out 2 feet apart and they stayed 2 feet apart until the squirrel got
about 8 feet up in that tree.. I *could* have held the 30 foot tracking
line and stopped Eli in his harness if I had to...but I didn't have to
so I just let him go. The whole area is very well fenced in and I knew
where they were going, anyways. I got him off of the tree very quickly
and explained to him that he shouldn't run squirrels...he huffed and
puffed and finally went back to work and finished the track.
Saturday, April 23rd, 2011
First
trail of the day: Holyrood cemetery. Laid a long trail 751 paces at
7:30am and let it age 55 minutes. Clear and sunny, 45°. We started at
8:25am and the grass was very wet with dew. The track was 80% grass
with some road sections thrown in. The dog was well focused and we
didn't need to re-scent. Overall he did a great job on one of the
longest trails he's ever run. Only took 10 minutes. After that we got
Buckeye and ran him on a couple of wet tracks in the parking lot.
Second trail of the day: Gateway business park area @ 8:50am I put down
a trail 572 paces...around the back parking lot, across the footbridge,
and around in front of the movie theaters. Aged it 45 minutes and
started at 9:35am. Eli did very poorly and gave up in front of the
movie theater. Re-scenting didn't help...he just simply stopped
trailing and gave up. He failed the trail about halfway through and I
just packed him up and took him home. No idea why he quit on me. LATER...Laid a track 901 paces at 6:15pm at Holyrood.
It has warmed up considerably and is 70° and sunny. This trail was
about 70% grass, with several hundred feet of tricky pavement worked
in. I placed a cloth scent article at about 700 paces into the trail.
We got 40 minutes of age on it and started at 6:55pm. The first part of
the trail ran through the upper parking lot and Eli become distracted
by...of all things...songbirds on the ground. He was completely
ignoring me so he got his first "correction", ever. I smacked him on
the butt. He was more shocked than hurt because I'd never done anything
like that before. He never gets any sort of physical punishment of any
kind. While I'm not likely to do it again anytime soon, it helped a
lot. I re-scented him and Eli finished the remaining 600+ yards very
well, head down and moving very quickly. He worked well and was casting
efficiently the whole way. Next we went over to Shoreline Center and ran a trail I laid there at 6:30pm.
It was 586 paces and had a scent article (Eli's beanie baby bear) at
171 paces. This trail was 90% pavement. We started at 7:25pm, so the
trail was 55 minutes old. Eli kept his nose down and ran the whole
trail very well. He even checked in with me 3 times (looked back at
me)...he's been trained to do this, yet he rarely does. Notes: The
last few days we've worked on longer trails and kept age around 45
minutes to an hour. In the next few days we'll drop the length of the
trails down to 400-500 paces again and start raising the criteria for
age. We need to work up to about 3 hour trails in the next week or so.
Sunday, April 24th, 2011
Back to Holyrood this morning at 8:50am to lay a trail 340 paces long in the southeast area.
Cool and damp, about 45°. Intermediate cloth scent article at 180
paces. 90% grass. We ran it at 10:20, so it was aged 90 minutes. After
some casting at the start, Eli got going and had no trouble with this
trail. He found the tan cloth scent article easily and then found the
glove at the finish. It took about 15 minutes to run this trail. After
that I laid another trail in the northeast part
of the cemetery 362 paces with a scent article at about the 200 pace
mark. We came back and ran that at 12:15pm and Eli had a bit of trouble
staying on the trail and needed to be re-scented several times. We were
also distracted by two groups of people directly in our trail. There
were a lot of people in the cemetery this Easter Sunday.
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011
Took
Monday and today off from trailing. Worked on some obedience training
instead. One of the nice ladies at the senior center gave us a toy, so
we practiced 'take it' and 'give it'. We've been working on that one
for a week or so, possibly as a start to a formal article indication.
We've got about 15 items that we practice with...a few stuffed animals,
gloves and socks, tennis balls and black Kong toy, dish sponge, rope
toys, bones, and eyeglass cases. 'Sit' was the first thing I taught
Eli, so he's good at that. But up until now it has been
indiscriminate...when I say 'sit', he might sit down where he's at or
he might walk over and sit down in front of me. So starting on Monday,
I began working on some differentiation. From now on 'sit' will mean
'sit down right where you are now', and 'front' will mean 'come to me
and sit in front of me close enough that I can touch you'. 'Side' will
mean 'come to me and sit at my left side'...that will probably be a
temporary command until I get 'heel' completely worked out. By this
afternoon, I had Eli starting to get the hang of 'side'. If I stand
next to a wall he'll sit nicely with his leg aligned with mine. He'll
take a few steps at 'heel' and then sit on his own when I stop, so I
must have done it right. Behavior chains can be hard to train and we're
off to a good start, so I'm happy. As for the other two, 'front' and
'sit', we haven't worked on them much yet...probably tonight and
tommorow. I taught Eli a hand signal for 'sit', too, so what I'll do is
cue the behavior with the hand signal and reward whatever behavior I
get and attach the verbal cue at the same time. So I'll give the hand
signal...if the dog sits where he is, I'll say 'sit', and C/T. If the
dog comes and sits in front of me, I'll say 'front' and C/T. Once he
understands the two different cues, I'll fade out the hand signal and
clean up the behaviors. Hand signals are really useful, so eventually
I'll attach new ones to each behavior. This is an added bonus...those
new signals will be much stronger than using what will soon be a
poisoned hand signal.
.
Saturday, April 30th, 2011
On Wednesday I laid a track 460 paces at Holyrood and let it age 50 minutes just to try out Eli's new harness from Ruff Wear.
He ran the trail without any trouble and found an intermediate scent
article (tan felt) easily. I lost my black pen while taking notes on
this track. We went over to the church parking lot on 5th ave and ran a
track 150 paces on the wet asphalt. We have completely eliminated
treats on the trail again, only feeding the dog at articles. We ran the
asphalt track immediately and Eli cast well and kept his head down in
about half the curves. At 6:10pm we ran another mixed pavement track at
Shoreline Center between the buildings with no bait. Eli trailed very
well and finished the trail fast. Flaming Geyser was pretty wet and
swampy so we skipped training down there on Thursday. We stayed home on
Thursday and Friday and worked on various obedience skills. We began
working on Sylvia Trkman's competition heeling excercises
on Thursday and by Saturday morning Eli was able to spin around in both
directions...although he's much better going clockwise. I think it's
hard for him to go the other way because he's blind in one eye...try
closing one eye and turning, it's easier to see things coming from one
direction than the other. Today we went back to trailing at
Holyrood. Started off with an easy track: 253 paces all on grass with a
scent article in the middle. We let it age 35 minutes and took off. Eli
ran the trail perfectly, making nice turns and finding the article
easily. Next we went over to the church parking lot on 5th ave again
and ran a trail 203 paces, partly through the grass. It was about 70%
pavement. The weather today was sunny and 56°. We ran this trail
immediately and Eli was fast and pretty accurate. He handled the
distraction of two dogs barking at him and continued to work well. For
the last trail of the day we went back to Holyrood and laid a trail 194
paces at 4:15pm. We started the run at 6pm, so the trail was aged 1
hour and 45 minutes. I put a hard 90° zig zag about 50 paces into the
trail and Eli handled both turns very well. Then he indicated an
item...except I didn't put an item there today. I went to look at his
indication and it was the black pen I dropped on Wednesday. Cool. He
then went on to find the tan felt intermediate scent article and finish
the trail beautifully.
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
Met
Aileen in Issaquah on Sunday. Couldn't get Eli started on the trail she
laid for him. No idea why he couldn't work. No trailing on
Monday or today...worked on heeling some more.
Saturday, May 14th, 2011
Took
some time off from tracking to work on various cues and behavior
chains. We started tracking again on Thursday with a short track at
Holyrood late in the afternoon. I laid a trail 232 paces with an
article at 100 paces. It was sunny and 60°. We only let it age 5
minutes...I just wanted to run a track and get back to work. The trail
was almost all grass. Eli was great and he ran the track very fast and
accurately. On Friday I laid another one at Holyrood and let it age 30
minutes. This time the trail was only 221 paces and no article in the
middle. This track was mostly paved...about 85%...and went up the
sidewalk in the middle of the cemetery and across the upper parking
lot. Another sunny, warm day. Eli ran this track very well, too. The 9
day break from trailing made him a little crazy and I could tell he
wanted to get out and do something. We're going to hold it down to one
trail a day for now in order to keep this level of enthusiasm. Today we
ran a trail 483 paces I laid at Holyrood at 12:10pm. We let it age 80
minutes and went to work. Eli had no trouble and he found all 3
articles. This trail was 90% grass and had a scent article at 300 paces.
Monday, May 23rd 2011
Today
is Eli's birthday! We've been working for the last week, but not
too hard. I just haven't kept this page updated with notes, so I'm
going to catch-up right now.
On Sunday the 15th I laid a trail
at 10am at Holyrood and then went to the senior center to help Janice
finish some catering. It took a little longer than I thought and the
trail was 4 hours and 30 minutes old by the time Eli and I got started
on it. It was a cold day and it had been raining all morning and Eli
could not get started on the trail. We ended up just walking it and
picking up the articles. Too big of a time jump for Eli to handle,
considering the weather conditions. We're mainly working on increasing
trail age right now as I'm concerned that Eli isn't trailing after
about 2 hours.
On Tuesday the 17th we ran a trail 251 paces at
Holyrood. The weather has changed and it's warm (60°) and sunny for the
next few days. I only let this trail age 70 minutes and Eli ran it out
well.
On Thursday the 19th we did it again...another trail at
Holyrood. It was 380 paces and laid at 2:10pm. 90% grass, 65° and
sunny. This trail was aged 2 hours and 15 minutes and Eli had trouble
getting started. Shortly after we began a car pulled up and a couple of
dogs and women got out. That distracted Eli enough that he lost his
concentration. It was a poorly run track.
On Friday the 20th
we went back again and ran an easy trail. This one was 517 paces and
only aged about 40 minutes. This was a confidence builder, since we
haven't had a lot of great successes lately. It was warm and dry, 70°
and a nice day for a walk. Eli did a great job.
Today we finally
got away from the cemetery and went back to Shoreline Center. I laid a
trail in the buildings 256 paces at 4:40pm. It was another nice, sunny
afternoon with the temps around 62°. We ran it at 5:45pm, so it was 65
minutes old...an easy birthday trail to improve confidence. Eli overran
one turn pretty bad, but he was able to recover fast and finish the
trail. He ran this one very well. We went for a walk by the stadium
afterwards and Eli got excited by all the activity and ran headfirst
into a fire hydrant. No apparent damage, but it looked like it hurt.
Friday, October 18th, 2013
It's
been a little while since I updated Eli's page...about two and a half
years...so here is an update. He's still doing great and we are still
tracking. He is a full grown hound now, weighing 97 pounds at his last
vet visit a month ago. He has a microchip now and he's getting used to
his new buddy Woody. I've been collecting photos of the dogs in Eli's line and I've created a page showing some of those dogs.
Sunday, January 12th, 2014
Eli got a Whistle
for Christmas and has been wearing it for about 3 weeks now. It seems
to be working pretty good. It keeps track of his activity and reports
it, via my home wi-fi network, to my iPhone. The device just came on
the market...I ordered mine in the summer before they were available.
It's kind of cool, but right now it doesn't do a lot. I'm quite
interested in seeing them develop it to do more things...reporting the
dog's vital signs or a GPS position, for example...and that is a big
reason I bought one. The charge lasts for about 10 days and it only
takes about an hour to fully charge. So far Eli has been very active. I
set his daily goal at 90 minutes, which is about double the
recommendation for dogs his size, and he meets that goal most of the
time.
Monday, May 26th, 2014
Eli's 4th birthday was last Friday and we celebrated by going for a car ride and doing a little Nose Work training. Eli's Whistle got wiped out a few weeks ago, but they are sending us a new one, plus WhistleGPS units for Woody and Hubert.
Eli is doing well but he hasn't gotten out too much yet this year. I
hope to start working Eli into the training rotation now that the
weather is improving and the other two are becoming older and more
advanced in NW. I want to do a little bit of tracking and also try to
get Eli at least to ORT
level eventually. We haven't done much boxwork yet...just a few fun
sessions. He's picking it up and on Friday night he understood what to
do right away when he saw the boxes.
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