More open lot use

With the start of scent article use, I figured Z and I could use some extra work at home. We really should be practicing more on our own but there's just not enough daylight or people to do it with.

DH was our victim today and I used one of his dirty socks as the scent article.

We treked out to the empty lot and while DH hid, I distracted Z and tried to get her to "check" her scent item. It was a battle, but after about 2 or 3 mins she did take a good whiff so I released her to "go search". DH had walked about 100 ft out and hidden behind a slight drop off. Z headed straight for his spot, but overshot him a bit to the left. She got a negative about 8 feet in, turned and found him via sight. She did a decent refind, though I had to cue the jump alert this time.

Second search was L-shaped, about 100 ft in length. DH walked about 70-80 feet straight out and then turned right around the end of a hill. He remained standing about 30ft from the turn. I scented Z again for this rep, but it took much longer to get her to give a good sniff, probably about 5 minutes. As soon as I got the "check", I released her to "go search". She took off down the straight away, cast about at the turn, but picked the trail up and then saw DH. Her refind was a bit distracted by scent of some sort, but she did "leave it" and refind with a cue.

Our third search, DH decided he wanted to make his own course. He headed up the hill at an angle, looped back on the top and hid in the grass. Total track was probably about 200 feet. After scenting (where I finally gave up and just dropped a treat into the bag to get the sniff), Z hit the track going up the hill, but at the top she lost it, did a false refind alert, and got majorly distracted in a pile of rocks on the false refind, to the point she even ignored a recall. I had to go and get her, leash her and resend her on lead at that point. She appeared to pick up some scent again, hesitated, and then visually located DH. I had to cue the refind because I was only about 10 feet away from DH - we need to work on that some more.

Because the 3rd search didn't go so hot, I elected to set up a fourth one with more instruction to DH as the path he laid prior was too complicated for where she is right now. He walked down the hill at an angle, then doubled back at the base so his final hiding spot was almost directly below where Z and I stood on top of the hill. Upon release, Z picked the correct trail. She did appear a bit distracted by what I believe was DH's prior track, but reoriented and hit the base at the appropriate spot. At that point she started to sniff for his path but caught a glimpse of DH and found him visually. Her refind was better this time, but I still had to cue the jump alert.

Some frustration, but 3 out of 4 isn't too bad. :)