22
October
2007
Made the most of a beautiful day on Sunday and while we (I) are still able, decided to go for a walk at Giljastølen, and collect a few Tur-O points on the way 
Mist had a whale of a time - she was able to be offlead almost all the time. There were sheep by the road at the start, and we came across one small group of sheep up on the tops, but otherwise the hills were all ours.
2 1/2 hours gave me 150points for the NRH Tur-O competition!! The Ålgård pack is definitely the one to get - and I’d only done one course from it so far. Must try to find time to go to Brusaknuten before the posts are taken in….
A beautiful day!
* NOT FOUND *
One man and his dog…
* NOT FOUND *
Still plenty of energy left…
* NOT FOUND *
Posted: Orienteering / Orientering
19
August
2007
A very wet day! But I’d decided to do the Tur-O at Bue (before the controls are taken in in advance of the hunting season) so just ignored the overcast skies and drove south. We stopped at Bråstein on the way for Mist to have a walk. It took a little longer than intended when she decided to go for an extra walk with a couple and their 9-month old rottweiler who Mist thought was great fun 
Despite being dry at Bråstein it was very very wet at Bue and I was soaked within 5 minutes. I was grateful for my waterproof jacket but wondered about my choice of orienteering trousers that, although great in warm summer weather, don’t exactly keep the legs warm! Managed to remember my compass for the first time this year, and used it! And also managed to forget a pen/pencil again, so had to memorise the 15 3-letter control codes The terrain higher up is lovely - lots of marsh, rock, water, heather. But getting up there, and down to the road again, is typical ankle-breaking Rogaland terrain. I don’t know how Aud & Kåre managed to not break something (theirs or the dogs’) orienteering there with the dogs on-lead last weekend. The forested hillside was wet, slippy, vegetated boulder-field/scree with lots of fallen trees and branches in the knee-deep grass 
On the way down I wouldn’t have minded having decent walking boots on instead of fell-running shoes with no ankle support. I think next time I should tell someone where I’m going too, or at least take my mobile
PS - Aud & Kåre, I didn’t see/hear anyone hunting, but I did wear a bright orange jacket just in case
Posted: Orienteering / Orientering
22
July
2007
Decided to enjoy the nice weather with a run around Melsvatnet, collecting a few points for the NRH O-Cup. In fact, they were definitely the fastest points I’ve got so far! 140 points in 70minutes! It was meant to be 150, but for the last few I folded the map badly and didn’t see one of them Mist got a good blast in the forest first - we walked along from the carpark to a peninsula where the main path didn’t go, so I let her off lead and we played in the forest and by the lake. She almost swam! She loved playing around in the water and wasn’t at all hesitant about going out until the water was past her tummy and she was almost floating. I don’t think it’ll be long before she wants to swim, but there’s no rush - wet dogs smell and Jon doesn’t like wet-dog-smell 
I bought her some bouncy balls yesterday (oops! I’m not supposed to buy her more toys :??) - only about 5-6cm diameter, so more suitable for her current size - and they were a big hit. I want to teach her to bring the ball back to be thrown again, without having to swap for another - it’s ok for the learning phase, but only needing one would halve the number of toys I have to carry around. Her ‘takk’ (thankyou, i.e. drop it) command works quite well and she was very good at bringing the ball right back. I did have the other one in my other hand, ready, in case, but didn’t really need it. When we weren’t playing, I changed direction lots in the forest, to keep her paying attention to where I was. She is no ‘velcro dog’ but her range is a lot shorter than Thule’s at the same age. It’s only when she gets tired and starts zooming round, tail tucked under her bum, out of control, that she seems to forget she needs to keep an eye on me. At that stage I normally put her on the lead to avoid any incidents with other people, dogs etc. - not that i have much control of her in the presence of others anyway, but I definitely wouldn’t have any at all at that point.
Having begun to learn tracking, Mist has her nose glued to the ground as soon as we walk on a path where others have recently been She’ll probably give up when she realises she never finds anyone that way (I need to make sure she doesn’t!). She also sits hopefully, ears back and tail wagging whenever anybody comes in our direction. What is interesting is that she often stays sitting until after they’ve passed and only then lunges at them on the lead - ‘herding’ behaviour or just a last-minute change of tack to try to get their attention. What’s good is that if they don’t pay any attention she immediately looks at me, for which she usually gets something. As she gets older I’ll work more on this - see people => look at Helen (as opposed to see people => look as cute as possible and jump in their face if they get anywhere near). At the moment it’s finding the right balance between encouraging her love of people (essential for SAR work) and tempering her enthusiasm to give everyone she meets a snog
After my run, back at the carpark, I almost managed to negate all the feeling good about having been for a run, the nice weather etc. ….. by locking the car key in the car I’d left the boot open a bit when I went for my run, so that Mist would have some fresh air. When I got back I’d lifted the boot without unlocking the car, and had placed the keys in the boot while I had something to eat and changed my shoes etc. Ready to go, I closed the boot 
Aaargh! My house key, mobile phone, money, everything….. including Mist, who would not have lasted long if the sun had continued to shine, and had moved round so the car was no longer in the shade Fortunately, I’d left some windows open a little. Although I couldn’t reach in to open the door, with the help of a kind man who had been intending to go for a walk with his family, I managed to find a suitable stick and he was able to lever the handle open. Phew! 
Just shows how easy it is to break into a car even with the windows open only a couple of centimetres. But I was very grateful today 
Posted: Orienteering / Orientering
8
July
2007
Sunday morning soon became almost Sunday afternoon before we actually did anything! The weather was miserable - grey and raining. But Sunday is a day off, with no commitments, so we had to make the most of it. Jon and I drove to Alsvik to go running/orienteering. Mist got half an hour playing in the forest first. We did lots of recall practice between the two of us - she loves racing back and forth. The hard thing is getting her to stop - food is mostly not worth stopping for (maybe for squeezy cheese), but a bite-leather or rope ball is worth a quick play! And we took turns to hide behind rocks or trees while Mist was held out of sight, then with a small sound cue (clapping or calling) she was allowed to hunt them out. She thinks it’s great fun!
With Mist back in the car, Jon set off to run home (a slightly circuitous route, of course ) and I took the Tur-O map and ran off to collect a few orienteering points for the NRH O-Cup. It wasn’t long before I realised I’d forgotten to take a pen/pencil to write the codes down so had to make do with a stick and mud….. needless to say, there wasn’t enough space to write too many with this method, so that was my excuse for only doing half the ‘course’ and returning to the car, soaking wet from long grass, bogs, streams and rain, after ~50minutes. Still, it was nice to be out - fingers crossed for improving weather….
In the evening, I took Mist up to the sheep field again. I let Mist go loose as soon as we got into the field, and I ran away so she’d follow me. She was definitely not as cautious about the sheep this time. When she moved towards them, I called and ran away, and rewarded her for following with a quick game. However, this time the sheep were even more inquisitive too. I could hardly chase them away (that would only encourage Mist to do the same), so I just stood and watched while one slowly walked right up to Mist. I stood close enough that if it decided to butt her, I could step in. No such problem, though. Mist put her ears right back and licked the sheep’s nose The sheep just stood there - not particularly impressed, but sufficiently bemused to stay put . In the end, I just walked away and called Mist, showing her a toy. Fortunately the sheep didn’t follow. It will be interesting to see Mist’s reaction next time. I must go back to the farm and ask permission, as it’s not actually allowed to have a dog off-lead at the moment! But I’d love to be able to continue to walk up there often….. and do some simple ‘training’ so she learns to ignore sheep altogether. Maybe some tracking…….. but the trail-layer would definitely have to avoid the freshest sheep-poo or Mist would be far too distracted
Posted: Orienteering / Orientering, Socialising & Environment Training / Miljøtrening
1
July
2007
I’m not managing to do much exercise since getting Mist, but couldn’t resist the lovely weather today, so took Mist in the car to Dale and after 20-30minutes wandering in the forest, we did some ‘lead training’ on the football pitch (I’d actually forgotten her lead, so it was a piece of cord/string I had in the car ). Then I made sure the car was in a spot that would stay shaded for the next hour or two, and went for a 1 1/4 hour run/orienteering. Most of the posts weren’t far from paths, and the paths at Dale are mostly nice and not too rocky, so the running was a lot easier than my last orienteering at Lundekvam. Running through the open forest with the warm smell of pine was lovely 
. I need to try to get out each Sunday while Mist is too small to do proper walks.
On the way home we stopped off at Aspervik and wandered to see the boats, including a trip out along the floating pontoon. Lots of squeezy cheese as encouragement and Mist was quite happy The noise of some of the boats rubbing against the tyres at the side was of interest, and a bit too scary to go right up to check out…… maybe next time.
Have started teaching Mist to lie down, by tapping two fingers on the floor. Most of the time she slides backwards from a sit, into a lying position…… if she’s in ‘crocodile mood’ she pounces on my fingers and grabs them with her teeth She does try both sit and lie down now to get my attention.
I have also started teaching ‘targeting’ with my finger. I hold my first finger out and when she touches it with her nose I click and reward. It’s an easy thing to train at the same time as other things, since it doesn’t involve any voice command and is very simple. It means I can get her to move into places I want. Unfortunate that my arm isn’t long enough to ‘point’ right at the back of her crate when I want her to go in and she’s not so sure I’m trying to get her to go in without seeing me throw a treat in - she still gets the treat - it’s either in there already, or I give her it immediately she goes in - but I don’t want her to learn to refuse unless she sees it first!
Posted: Orienteering / Orientering, Socialising & Environment Training / Miljøtrening
17
June
2007
There’s not much opportunity for running/cycling with a young puppy to look after, so I took the chance today to get out in the hills a bit…. Drove to the Lundekvam orienteering area (near Vårlivarden) and took Mist out in the grassy/heathery area near the carpark. There were sheep nearby but not visible, but they’d left plenty of (tasty ) evidence for Mist. Given a chance, she’d have eaten her own weight in sheep **** We wandered around, changing direction to keep her attention, playing now and again. I’ve started using a whistle for recall so we practiced once or twice and she got to play with the bite-leather as a reward - a definite favourite.
Then on the way back to the car, she managed to fall head first into a dark brown smelly bog . Not content with having half her face and shoulder a darker shade of brown, she looked at me a little surprised….. and set off to run the length of the bog clearly having the time of her life.
I then ‘ran’….. in a sense - this is Rogaland terrain we’re talking about, and once off paths, it’s mostly boulder field and thick (painful) juniper bushes, bog or crags! - for about 1 1/4hrs and collected a few orienteering posts, presumably the same ones Tone got a few days ago. Although it wasn’t hot today, it was still, warm and damp and the midgies were out in force….. not a time/place to be hanging around in one spot. There are 3 posts I haven’t got in the Lundekvam map, having been there a few weeks ago from the Hommersåk side too, and I suspect there will still be 3 I haven’t got at the end of the ’season’. Of course they’re the furthest away from the parking options and I’m not sure if I can be bothered - will have to see if I run out of other options….. I doubt it
* NOT FOUND *
Trying out a mudpack
Posted: Orienteering / Orientering
