Enthusiastic Tracking 274 meters

Urban track, 1 hour old, self laid. Complete contrast to yesterday's track, she was grass eating, and not "on" or engaged with to me at all. I think because she had a small breakfast which makes her thirsty 2 hours later even with water. Instinct to hunt is probably less when already satiated by eating. Today I used my scent which is easier for her to find in the urban environment, plus no breakfast today. She was ON! Way more over arousal and circles, but way more enthusiastic and clear indications. My scent has far more repetitions and reinforcement than novel human tracks, so this is something I will work on adding value to new track layers scent to improve her commitment to novel tracks. Since my scent was an easy component of our training track, I challenged her with the environment. Straight across the field, to a known p-mail mine field trouble spot near the gate, so I placed an article in the zone to help work through this. I have noticed most gate entrances into fields have the highest concentration of cross tracks and p-mail which can be really distracting. Then to the gate, I made a right turn into the wind, walked a few meters and then placed an article on the sidewalk so that there would be track scent and article scent blown to the left into the open area. I knew she would go left when I laid it. I wanted her to experience loss of scent in a controlled area, then work back and catch the strong scent and hit the article. In a test this would be guiding but during training I am trying to help her learn about different scent puzzles and how to work them out so if she takes a wrong turn on a blind track, she will hopefully know the signs of fading scent and how to work back. Plus it's the handlers job to remember where the last known indicated scent was, and which areas that your dog hasn't searched yet. You are not a dope on the rope, you are a team. I study her movements, the way she traced around the edge searching the fringe of the scent, then nose down, in the water valley, which would be where the scent would pool. If I was on a blind track, I would have been convinced she was on track. However when she popped her head up after a few meters, that indicated loss of scent. Then I help her, encourage her to search, I'd like her to hook into it on her own. This would be guiding on a test and a fail, but this is training and I'm trying to teach her how scent behaves in the urban environment. Dogs are a huge distraction, she is a multi sensory hound, so uses her nose and eyes to track game. Distractions are a work in progress, especially for a breed that has such keen and alert senses. Shikoku that didn't have quick response time, likely didn't survive hunting. A hunter in Japan said they can become specialist hunters, only tracking boar and not chasing deer. It just takes time and experience to know what pays out.