Back To Tracking
We finally were able to go tracking yesterday after about 5 weeks off. Going to PCA, my mom was in the hospital, and everything else that came up we have not been able to go. It ended up working out well with Joyce and Jean's schedule also, as they were doing vacation and shows at the same time.
We met up at the usual place, The Boot. Joyce had her 2 goldens and I had Chauncey and Blueberry. It was already about 85 degrees and was in the high 90's by the time we were done. We started at the bottom and middle field for our first tracks. Joyce laid Blueberry's, I laid one for Ziggy, and Jean went to the bottom to lay one for Henry. I wanted Blueberry's and Chauncey's short because she hadn't been out in a while, kind of a warm up track. Maybe 300 yds and 2 to 3 turns, nothing real difficult. There were rolls of hay stacked at the edge of the middle field, so Jean suggested running Blueberry's track by them for an extra obstacle.
I laid an article track for Ziggy, who has his TD and is training for TDX. It was a U with 9 articles and 2 turns, with change of cover in the middle.
We got all the tracks laid and then Jean went to the top to lay one for Chauncey. We let them age a little. Joyce ran Ziggy's when it was about 30 minutes old and he did very good and located all his articles.
We let Blueberry's age about 50 minutes and then ran hers. She started out well and circled for her first turn and went down the correct path. The second turn was at the end of the line of rolls of hay and they had been there a few week so had a strong odor. Blueberry went around a couple, but kept to her track, she made it past the hay fine and work the tree line to the third turn. This turn went back uphill and it took her a little more work to pick up this leg. about halfway up this leg Blueberry started slowing down and lifting her head and showing signs of not wanting to go on. She has done this in the past and it is like she thinks the glove should be there already and is concerned she can't find it. I gave her some encouragement and she found the last turn. The last leg she worked it some and with more encouragement she found the glove. After discussing the track with Jean, we are going to try and give her 300 yd tracks and gradually lengthen them. I know having a longer track after being off did not help either, so I am going to try and get her out more often and wamr her back up. I think she also is a little air conditioned spoiled and likes her crate fan. For that I am walking her in my neighborhood and getting her hot and more conditioned to the heat.
I then watched Joyce run Ziggy's, who is doing much better and concentrating better on his tracks.
After Ziggy was done we went uphill for Chauncey's track at the top field, which was aged a little over an hour. I had Chauncey out of her crate and harness on when a truck went by us. By the time we got around my truck we saw her drive across the track followed by a tractor. There was another set of hay rolls in this field and Jean had used them as an obstacle for Chauncey. So, we sat there and watched the tractor load hay into the truck, with 2 people walking all around and their dog hopped out of the truck to wander around. This happened right on top of the first 2 legs of her track. Jean mentioned relaying the track, but I made the choice to go ahead and run Chauncey on this one. Chauncey started well and had no problems on the first leg. It took her a moment at the second turn, as it went down in to a hollow area and was where everyone had been, but she picked up the scent and headed for the rolls of hay. She stayed on the track with little diversions to sniff in between each roll. Finally we were past the hay and all the extra scents did not phase her at all. The second leg continued past the hay and came to the edge of a wooded area and halfway down that area was the 2nd turn. Chauncey likes to hunt and kept sticking her nose in the woods looking for varmints, so I gave her a "leave it", followed by a "find it" command and she left the woods and worked her turn for the 3rd leg. She did beautifully in the field and found the last turn and about 60 yds down her glove. It was one of the best tracks she has done in a while. I think she is really settling into the tracking and working her nose.
We met up at the usual place, The Boot. Joyce had her 2 goldens and I had Chauncey and Blueberry. It was already about 85 degrees and was in the high 90's by the time we were done. We started at the bottom and middle field for our first tracks. Joyce laid Blueberry's, I laid one for Ziggy, and Jean went to the bottom to lay one for Henry. I wanted Blueberry's and Chauncey's short because she hadn't been out in a while, kind of a warm up track. Maybe 300 yds and 2 to 3 turns, nothing real difficult. There were rolls of hay stacked at the edge of the middle field, so Jean suggested running Blueberry's track by them for an extra obstacle.
I laid an article track for Ziggy, who has his TD and is training for TDX. It was a U with 9 articles and 2 turns, with change of cover in the middle.
We got all the tracks laid and then Jean went to the top to lay one for Chauncey. We let them age a little. Joyce ran Ziggy's when it was about 30 minutes old and he did very good and located all his articles.
We let Blueberry's age about 50 minutes and then ran hers. She started out well and circled for her first turn and went down the correct path. The second turn was at the end of the line of rolls of hay and they had been there a few week so had a strong odor. Blueberry went around a couple, but kept to her track, she made it past the hay fine and work the tree line to the third turn. This turn went back uphill and it took her a little more work to pick up this leg. about halfway up this leg Blueberry started slowing down and lifting her head and showing signs of not wanting to go on. She has done this in the past and it is like she thinks the glove should be there already and is concerned she can't find it. I gave her some encouragement and she found the last turn. The last leg she worked it some and with more encouragement she found the glove. After discussing the track with Jean, we are going to try and give her 300 yd tracks and gradually lengthen them. I know having a longer track after being off did not help either, so I am going to try and get her out more often and wamr her back up. I think she also is a little air conditioned spoiled and likes her crate fan. For that I am walking her in my neighborhood and getting her hot and more conditioned to the heat.
I then watched Joyce run Ziggy's, who is doing much better and concentrating better on his tracks.
After Ziggy was done we went uphill for Chauncey's track at the top field, which was aged a little over an hour. I had Chauncey out of her crate and harness on when a truck went by us. By the time we got around my truck we saw her drive across the track followed by a tractor. There was another set of hay rolls in this field and Jean had used them as an obstacle for Chauncey. So, we sat there and watched the tractor load hay into the truck, with 2 people walking all around and their dog hopped out of the truck to wander around. This happened right on top of the first 2 legs of her track. Jean mentioned relaying the track, but I made the choice to go ahead and run Chauncey on this one. Chauncey started well and had no problems on the first leg. It took her a moment at the second turn, as it went down in to a hollow area and was where everyone had been, but she picked up the scent and headed for the rolls of hay. She stayed on the track with little diversions to sniff in between each roll. Finally we were past the hay and all the extra scents did not phase her at all. The second leg continued past the hay and came to the edge of a wooded area and halfway down that area was the 2nd turn. Chauncey likes to hunt and kept sticking her nose in the woods looking for varmints, so I gave her a "leave it", followed by a "find it" command and she left the woods and worked her turn for the 3rd leg. She did beautifully in the field and found the last turn and about 60 yds down her glove. It was one of the best tracks she has done in a while. I think she is really settling into the tracking and working her nose.
posted by Kim at 9:14 AM
1 Comments:
Better to have little dogs tracking dirt in than big ones, much bigger mess. You would be surprised what your guys are able to do if you ever try it with them.
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