Good Training this Afternoon

I ran two teams on little training runs this afternoon, and was pleased with both.  We are finally back to making good progress, I believe.  Here are the reports from my training journal, and some video highlights of our runs.

Date, Day, &c: Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011, Noon.

Mileage & Speed (M = Measured , ~ = Approximate):  1.5 miles.  Speeds not measured

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:  Boyce - Stricker Drive Loop.  2 laps around loop at top.  Dry dirt.

Weather:  Clear skies.  Temp ~ 45 degrees

Team:  Just Denali & Beau Selene Seamus & Nels

Narrative:  Very smooth hook up and launch and run past Ted's dog yard.  I had them hauling the machine in neutral more than in the past few runs, and they did well considering the weight of the thing.  Just missed the "haw" cue at top as we went into the circle but corrected very quickly.  Greatly improved over the past. As we came around I called for a "gee" to take a second lap around the loop.  Just didn't want to do it and I had to pull him back over several times.  Finally I pulled him over and asked him to line out.  He started to turn back toward the team and I growled at him.  He dropped to the ground, held the line out, and led us into the correct direction. The rest of the run was very smooth indeed with the dogs pulling the machine in neutral, against the brake, all the way down.  We had to stop on one of the hills on the way down, but not for very long.  They ran past Ted's yard with little distraction and then took the loop back to our own yard.  Just tried to cut left along the pens as we entered our yard, but again he was able to correct the error after a couple of repeats of the cue and then took us to the hook-up line.

Date, Day, &c: Saturday, October 8, 2011

Mileage & Speed (M = Measured , ~ = Approximate):  1.5 miles.  Speeds not measured.

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:  Boyce - Stricker Drive Loop.  1 lap around upper loop.  Dry dirt.

Weather:  Clear skies, ~47 degrees F

Team:  Orion & Capella Rose Grace Midnight & Cassie

Narrative:  The first time I've driven these two young leaders on their own, without the guidance of a more experienced leader to help them out.  Stinkin' Orion chewed through TWO harnesses before I finally got him hooked in.  My own fault for not hooking him in immediately after harnessing.  I left Grace hooked to the hook up line until the last second to prevent her line grabbing behavior.  Since she was running in a single slot, there was no running mate for her to snark at. Very strong launch and the dogs took the two powerline turns without issue, running from memory more than following cues, but I cued them anyway as that's the best way I know to train them to recognize directional cues.  Easy run past Ted's dog yard and up the hill. My plan was to let the leaders decide which direction to take the loop, and I would just cue that direction.  I didn't expect them to each chose a different direction.  They did, so there was some confusion on my part with that.  I really should have seen that coming.  In any event, we went around the loop counter-clockwise in good style, and they took the gee back onto the main trail without issue. I let the pull the machine in neutral all the way back, though they did have some difficulty on some of the little rises.  At one point I stopped them to let them build up enthusiasm, and that worked nicely.  Grace wandered off to the side of the trail but when I asked her line out she snapped into place and was ready to run. Coming into the yard the leaders cut toward the left, and each tried running on the opposite side of a post, clotheslining themselves.  I got them untangled from that, and then had some difficulty convincing them that "gee" means veer right to run to the hook up line.  They got it after three reps, and led the team down to the proper spot.