Article Track

2/9/2023 - 10:45 am

Location: Holly Ridge Farm

Weather: 60 degrees, mostly cloudy, wind 2 mph WSW with 6 mph gusts, 66% humidity, 49 dew point

Cover: Grass

Age: 3 hours 15 minutes

Tracklayer: Kelly

My plan was an article track with food in every 5th article. When I got to the first 5th article I realized I forgot my food in the car. Oops. So I the track went in at 7:20 and I re-walked it adding food at 7:30. The first 12 articles were 20 steps apart. The last 9 were 15 steps apart. There was food in approximately every fifth article. There was food in article 6 because it was a new article. Saber did really well. She has come to expect food for every article, so I need to work on that. The list:

1. Start flag: Glove Liner - indicated. Looked disappointed she was not rewarded with food.

2. Coozie - excellent indication. Again miffed with no food.

3. Baby shoe - Saber: I did my job WTF??

4. Phone case - again great. Saber annoyed.

5. Christmas cloth w/food - Saber channeling her inner Lizzo: It's About Damn Time

6. Plastic Cauldron - new article, excellent indication. I gave her a hot dog. She agreed she deserved it. 15 steps past this was a flag. 5 steps past that I did a big side step to the right. Saber was unphased.

7. Green scrub pad - weak indication. I rewarded her because this has consistently been a hard article for her and she did indicate without being prompted.

8. Leather square - same as the scrub pad, although usually indicating this is not a problem.

9. Plastic Egg with food - she almost missed this. She found it, opened the egg, ate her hot dogs and fortunately no plastic.

10. Burgundy knit glove - excellent indication

11. Sunglasses bag - excellent indication

12. Leopard change purse - good indication. 10 steps past this was flag. 5 more steps and I took a big step left. Again this did not phase her.

13. Black glove with food - Excellent indication. Happy Saber!

14. Pill Bottle with food - new article, excellent indication

15. Bike Glove - good indication

16. Altoid tin - good indication. I can tell she is starting to tire of this game.

17. Fork - weak indication. This is consistently a hard one for her. Poor planning on my part - I put several hard articles at the end. It was just the way I pulled them from the bag. I rewarded her.

18. Comb - she missed. This article is consistently a tough one. She was definitely losing drive and motivation.

19. White Scraper - excellent indication! I was very pleased with this one because it tough one. Yes I gave her food - I'm weak.

20. Black sunglasses bag with food - She found it. She ate her hot dogs.

By the end, Saber seemed a little mentally fatigued. There had been a water break somewhere in the middle. I definitely think this was mental fatigue. Next time I might try half the number of articles to keep her a little peppier. Overall, I was very pleased with her. It was warm and article indication is not her favorite.