Meet “Riffle”

The word is probably out, for those of you who haven’t heard, Clint and I have a new puppy. It was a pretty spur of the moment decision, and we are thrilled. Riffle came home July 1. Fletch is a good big brother. It’s been too hot IMO to start him tracking, but today wasn’t bad, so we gave it a go.

Tracking—training session one

I took my puppy out for his first training session today. I’ve included 3 videos, with written commentary on each.  The third video demonstrates how I laid the tracks, as well as how I take the dog from the holder and start the track.

1.   https://youtube.com/shorts/4uKyFpBE7JE?si=QJye0fxhiO-pbkX- Please first and foremost notice my silence. I do not want the puppy thinking about me—he is learning to sniff the ground and find food. I ‘help’ by keeping the leash very, very short, and letting him take his time finding the food. When his leg is tangled I try to fix it without disturbing him!!  I’m not in a hurry! I am actually thrilled that I can hear him sniffing!  At one point, he decides to check back—no problem!  Go get that cookie—it is lying in the same scent—he’s still learning what I want him to learn. At another point, he forgets what we are doing and stares off to the left. No problem—I just stand still, shorten the line even more, keep my hand over the track, and wait. He comes back to the track, finds food, and continues on.  There is no glove at the end, there is a food scatter.  Riffle was 24 hours post extraction of a shattered tooth, and not allowed to put anything in his mouth…so we are working on article indication in the house, and ending the track with a simple food scatter.

2. Second track is a little better—he shows a tiny bit more inclination to move forward. https://youtube.com/shorts/acjUQ9ZGBoo?si=jeUKWJFou9Wujit5  Again, I can hear him sniffing which makes me happy.  He moves, I move (never ‘I move, he moves’).  Again, total silence.  From the very first effort I want this skill to be 100% the dog—I will shape the skill, and I will do everything I can to not draw attention to me. I attempt to train independent thinking from track 1!

3. I LOVE the third track! https://youtu.be/w1YV4rSK1fk?si=WjarzKShvjBC2JTF You can see he understands there is food at the flag, and he takes me to the start flag. His forward movement is much more consistent.  As he’s eating the final scatter, I move his line to his collar and remove his harness—I’m building in the “all done” cue right from the beginning.

All tracks were put in facing him, making a fuss about each food drop. If he decided to check out a piece of grass instead, I just kept putting the track in.  The food drops were about 6 inches apart, and some were placed by my right foot, some by my left one.  I slid my feet back and set the food down. Much of it fell down to the dirt below the grass—that’s fine. I am confident he can still smell it.

Tomorrow, more of the same, with a tiny bit more distance.