Trust gave it her all....

We drew 2nd last UTDX on Sunday, the rain had let up by then. Here, she is just starting off from the scent pad. Although her start was described as solid, it was not her usual gung-ho, let's go.

The arrow points to the start flag, barely visible. We seem to moving along well on the long first leg, approaching a road. She is on the track, as it heads between the two trees in front of us.

We have crossed the road and she's made a left turn, moving along here very nicely.

Our first article, plastic. We then continue onward, onto a gravel driveway. This is a works dept. office and work yard.

Her right turn is on the driveway and taking us into the work and storage yard. This is where we began to have trouble...and the end of the photos. Our photographer, Tascha, backed off when she thought Trust may see her. This was a difficult area. There were only 2 ways out, the correct one was on the other side of this building. But wind was funnelling in that opening, swirling and bouncing around in the 'enclosed' area. There were two buildings on the other side, machinery at the end, and beside "our" opening to the field beyond was a high and long pile of gravel. The wind was coming over that and Trust kept working back and forth around here. She was frustrated. When she finally 'got out' there was a pond that wasn't supposed to be there, although it was not as large as the night before, apparently, but her track just circled around there and she didn't get it. Instead, she was trying to work up behind the building in the picture, and I couldn't get her back where she might pick up the right direction. She was missing 2 legs, a corner and an article by trying to go across the road again....which was right if she had been further down and followed the correct track. The wind was bringing the scent across the road to us, and she was trying to cross where there was another corner. So, in her mind, she was right, but not so, as she had cut off too much of the real track. I finally 'let her go' and as she moved up the ditch to the road, we were called off. It was a tough spot; more so than I would have thought just looking at it. We came home later, walked through the forest and she was perfectly happy again, forgiving her mom for letting her down.

New TDX!!!! Tascha & Emma - Perfection!

Yay! The first article. Always a confidence-booster for the handler. Emma just 'wants it back'!!! The start was strong, with Emma moving right off the scent pad on the track. We could see Tascha, the black line, but no dog....the growth in the first half of the track was very tall and very thick and very wet...

I took so many pictures, and hardly any showed even a hair of Emma! The black arrow points to her in this one, if you really look, you see a bit of her. Here they are actually in a shorter part of the field, on their 4th leg just chugging along...slow and steady.

After another corner, they headed into a different field, but first!!! there were giant puddles to almost swim across. When I walked through it - and yes, Emma went right across this spot and was totally soaking - the water was well above my ankles.

This field had been in grain, and a favorite of sandhill cranes and geese the last couple of weeks. Some straw rows were still left to plow through when you're a little dog. Emma has made another turn, are heading towards a road crossing, and have just crossed the first cross track...Emma never looked at it. She was dead-on her track and gaining even more confidence as she went.

One of my favorite pictures! This was actually out a ways in the field after the road crossing. The tall grasses are at the ditch by the road, the perspective is just a bit off here. Ditches on each side, tall and tangly growth, she checked out to the right of the road on the far side and then zipped back to the track opening into the far ditch and she was off. Once she hit this field and short ground cover, she was easy to see for the gallery. She was (obviously) ecstatic with her second article find, and then took off again along the track.

Emma has just turned her last corner and Tascha is waiting to make sure Emma is moving along it and confident it is the right direction. And it was!

She is about 3' from her last article in this picture. To the right is a 'groundhog home' which she did not go near. She suddenly dived over to it just after I took this photo. What a wonderful little worker she is

Happy little Emma with her glove! She was soaked and shivering after this track. She worked steadily along from the start and was somewhere over a 1/2 hour on the track. We forget sometimes with urban now, that TDX is still the longest track. It was cold this day as well and Emma worked her heart out. She LOVES obstacles in training, though, so it was perfect for her.

Orrin plotted a great track, and Treva, tracklayer did a great job walking it. Needless to say, Tascha was over the moon and I was as excited as she was. Emma got lots of towel-downs and was wrapped in a blanket to dry and warm up. She's a tough little dog.

Treva Reed, tracklayer, Tascha Gagnon holding Emma, Orrin Eldred II, judge. Thanks to all!

So Close....Rosemary & Reese

You can see by this picture what the conditions were like early Saturday morning for the TD trial (EPS in Powassan). Thursday were torrential rains and the foul weather continued through the weekend. U.S. judge Orrin Eldred II was up for his first Canadian judging assignment and it was unfortunate for him as well to not have nicer conditions. He brought a number of his model planes with him, hoping for good flying conditions, but that just didn't happen. Also our leaves were beginning to turn this past week and pictures would have been lovely....

However....it's typical tracking weather!

Rosemary and Reese did a wonderful track right to the last corner with only 30m left to the article. Reese moved along with speed on the track and was very enthused. The glitch was on top of a hill, with wind taking the scent over and down, the wrong way from the correct direction. Reese really worked on this, but twice moved off in the opposite direction. The judge kept hoping she would come back and pick it up, but finally had to call them off. Such a heartbreaker. He was mightily impressed with "our" pretty little beagle, Reese, and would have taken her home with him. I'm very proud of how both Reese and Rosemary worked this track.

Next time!!!!