Musings while aging

Sitting in the car, enjoying the sound of rain, tracks in for both dogs.

Fletch: goal was to work on turns. Rain might add challenges as we haven't had a lot of that this summer. As I laid my preplanned track, I realized it was turning out to be harder than I anticipated. What now? Abandon it? Do it as planned and see how he does? (Hint-that is NEVER the right answer). No...I added some scuff in or after parts I thought would be hard. I added food on or after legs I thought would be hard. Fletch, not me, decides in the end what is hard. I am planning to reinforce him for working through hard decisions. I am staying at the planned age (1 hour), could be a mistake...but if it is, the track still has thoughtful reinforcement to hopefully make it worth his effort.

For Gusto, it's a bit more testing than training....except for the sea of election signs he will have to go past. Yes, I could have made it harder and gone down the sidewalk through the sea of signs....I'd rather go past them today, and save through them for another session.

I want both dogs to feel powerful and capable when they finish these tracks!

Are you, in your journal, clearly stating your goal for the day's session? Are you preplanning your tracks? Do you have a back up plan in case the planned track is too hard, or too easy?

Hint: if you're just going out and putting a track in, your dog's progress will be slow. Have a plan, know what you're going to work on, and how you're going to accomplish that goal. Your dog will tell you how you did!