Nature's big wind makes sniffing a person's track hard

Today my person took me to Mt. Doug and said the special words "go track". But it was very hard. Nature was making very strong winds was blowing the smell all over the place. The scent, by the way, belonged to woman-who-visits-lots-and-walks-in-forest. I knew who it was even before my person opened the bag because I could smell where she had walked on the trail already.

But it was hard to follow her on the trail. The wind was blowing the smell away and into funny places, and I was sure she had gone up a little path, even though my person said "no" and wouldn't let me go that way. I felt stressed. I ate some grass. My person asked me to try again. I did. But I was still stressed. I ate more grass. Have patience with me Momma B, this is really hard.

My person backed me up a ways and gave me the smell in the bag again. I decided to try again, just for Momma B. I put my nose down and worked very hard. We moved very slowly. This was okay, because my person still made pleased noises and said the word "good" a lot.

Then the track went into the forest and this was much easier. Less wind and more things to hold the smell in place. I moved fast. But then we left the forest and got onto open trail again. I knew which direction the track went, but then I lost her smell. By now I was getting tired. I looked at my person.

Oh Momma B, this is really hard.

My person backed me up into the woods again. I wanted to go all the way back, but she didn't let me go very far. She asked me to "check around". I did. I could smell where woman-who-visits-lots-and-walks-in-forest had gone, but I was feeling frustrated. I shook my body. That helped a bit.

My person said "back to work" and started walking in the direction of the big open trail. So I put my nose down and tried again. I moved slowly. I checked all over both sides of the large trail where the wind was blowing. By going back and forth and side-to-side I kept moving in the right direction.

And then something good happened. The track went back into the forest. There were bushes on the ground and lots of piles of prickles. The smell was stuck onto each of the bushes and each of the prickles. I could smell clearly now so I started going fast again. In fact, I knew we were getting really close. I closed my eyes and pushed through a big pile of prickles. And then, behind a tree, there she was! Woman-who-visits-lots-and-walks-in-forest! I found her!

She had handfuls of meat for me. Whew. That was really hard work.

My person took off my sniffing harness and we went for a wonderful walk in the forest. It was good to be walking and playing. It was one of the most fun walks I've had in a long time, with running and sniffing, and new trails I'd never been on before. It was worth doing all that hard work to get such a wonderful walk after.

Here I am with woman-who-visits-lots-and-walks-in-forest.