Scent Tracking on Barley Stubble

Bank Holiday Sunday I took Cleo tracking in the big stubble field. The first section had already been ploughed the day before, but I laid a track (just by walking) over that as well. When I came back for Cleo she was already switched into scent tracking mode and she tracked across the grass field, though the car park, acroos the road and up though the woods. Once over the stile I let her go. Dry, freshly ploughed land is probably one of the hardest for scent tracking and she over-ran a couple of the corners, but self-corrected and got it right in the end. At the far side of the ploughed land I had left some chicken as a reward and intended to do the bigger stubble field as a separate exercise. Cleo, having scoffed the chicken, had somehow worked out that there was more to go, and she carried on with the barley stubble track. This was much longer, probably about a mile, with five corners, but probably easier from ascent point of view. Once over the rise, she went out of sight running hard. After several minutes of anxious waiting, she appeared on the final leg heading straight for the reward at the end. Walking back down the road she was a model of quiet heelwork, very different from the hyper-active dog that went out at the start.