Our track today was in a place I'm familiar with, but have not tracked through. Sometimes, we need to do a "motivatonal" and more of a fun and successful track with our dogs. Constant difficult tracks and stress can become demoralizing for them. I decided to put some special treats in some places that I felt would reward her, or encourge her through any tough places.
And tracks, especially urban tracks, are not always done perfectly. So much comes into play, the long aging, things happen while you're gone, weather, etc. So I hope to show in these pictures, and in some of the previous ones, how the dogs (particularly with Trust) handle and problems.
In the above picture, the orange line is the track, the broken blue line is where she went while tracking along...only the dog knows (often) what pulled them over to a specific area...
We were tracking in very high winds today. This was a plastic article, that I felt may blow away, so put a small rock on top of it. She flipped it up, as there was a treat underneath it. This is the same track leg as the first photo, which is the second leg of her track, and her first article.
I knew she had missed the other treats I had left on this track. She also seemed drawn to a few "odd" places. As we went up the hill and were moving towards the open area where trails begin, I think I figured it out. A vehicle was parked, and most likely, they had a dog they were taking for a walk on the trails. I expected it had likely picked up the treats, perhaps 'visited' a few places, before moving away.....but who knows?!!! She moved out into the grassy area and made a right turn onto her third leg.
Trust has found her second article, another plastic one, and indicated by sitting. In training, I use many different types of articles that would not be used in a tracking trial. The orange line indicates a road crossing, working up the edge of the grass/gravel road, towards the paved area.
Here we are moving from the gravel road onto the paved parking area. Again, the blue broken line shows where she was pulled off the track by "something", but goes quickly back on the track again. We had strong, swirling winds in this area.
Trust has taken her MOT (moment of truth) turn on the hard surface pretty much dead-on.
And she heads right to her metal article at the edge of the pavement, before changing to grass.
A short stint over the grass and across a sandy area before turning onto grass again. We move up the grass, and then out onto the paved drive and across it.
She heads off at the correct location, into pine needles covering the ground under pine trees.
There is a little walkway through it, which she turned and began to follow, but quickly indicated loss of scent, and turned back in under the trees.
This is where she has to find the track again, and works around the trees back to the track.
There were two more legs after coming out of the pines. Once again, we hit strong, swirling wind. The orange arrow shows the track ending pointing to the article. Trust had come around from the right, and working with the wind curved around past the article. She could smell it was close, circled around and back to it.
Here, she happily indicates the article, directly in front of her. Working at the UTDX level is very grueling work. It is super interesting, seeing what the dog(s) can do, and trying to understand it all. But everything 'has to align' for a dog to pass in a trial at this level. As of this date, I believe there are still only twelve dogs that have earned all four tracking titles, giving them the designation of Tracking Champion. That is across Canada! It is an amazing achievement for a dog and handler.
We are walking in from the road towards our start - marked by the left blue arrow; the other blue arrow shows the directional flag. We will cross a little ditch and then head in straight towards the start. Blast already has his harness on (put on inside van) as he's "one of those dogs" that makes it too difficult to harness at the start.
The yellow arrows show the wind direction. In this area, near the bush, it was actually swirling around. I am clipping the long line on his harness - to walk him in it was on his collar. He is already scenting.
Blackfly at top of photo! Wasn't going to include the "bum view" but wanted to show the "giant" blackfly and Blast going down on the scent pad. I need two hands holding him walking towards the scent pad so he doesn't race off. This is training, so I am hanging on tight to keep him on it for a few seconds until I feel he has taken the scent well and is focused.
Here we are nearing the first corner (left). Blast was tracking a little to the left of the track with the wind pushing him over. If he had his nose deep into the track, he wouldn't be moving to the left of it.
He has taken the corner, but it "checking" it right now. I am confident he is on it so am about to turn myself.
Here's our "friends" again, flying about. Thank goodness they aren't as large as they appear! Blast is tracking very nicely here, at a good clip, and nose down - exactly what we're looking for.
There was a plastic pot to the right of the track (blue arrow) which he 'spied' and began to go over and check out. He realized it served no purpose, and moved back on the track (yellow broken line). Whenever he goes off the track, to check something out, I follow, moving closer up the line, to see what it is. I don't want him eating "who knows what" and just say "Good Dog" when he goes back onto the track.
There they are again - blue arrows! Blast is at a corner and about to turn. He is near what appears to be some burned garbage, so I am ready to move up if necessary. In this case, I would NOT let him get close to it - verbally, and if necessary, stopping him - it's a safety issue.
This is a long leg heading toward the road. He has checked out a couple of taller grassy areas where I believe a fox left his musky smell overnight. I verbally convinced him to continue on the track.
The blue arrow here points out a skinny birchbark tree that marked the direction of the track. He is right on it, although he is air-scenting here with his head up. Before we reached this point, it was obvious to me that he smelled the article and was trying to move to the left. I stood my ground, as I knew this, and told him to get working again, which he did. But he knew darn well where that article was to be found. He would probably have made a good Search & Rescue dog!
Last leg, heading towards the article - red X. He is moving along the track nicely.
And there it is. He stopped and picked it up, sometimes he does, sometimes he just pauses briefly. Either is fine - it is clearly an article indication to me, or to a judge. I quickly walk up to get it, praise him, and then we play.
I have removed his harness (track is complete) and switched the clip onto his collar. Dogs can never be loose at a tracking trial. Blast loves to play tug with the article and then we will do a few retrieves with it. Having a dog that loves to either tug or retrieve the article or both, is well worth working on as the reward. You can never take a toy or food onto the tracking field in a test or you will be disqualified. And since reward/motivation is key for the dog (he doesn't care about a title!) playing with what you have - article - which will be leather, is his big reward. In training, I will also present a yummy treat, but never carry in your pocket at a test. You can treat when you get back to your vehicle.
