The Two Faces of Blast..

After a short run and returning to the house, Blast takes a detour through a tunnel.....look at the calm, happy face!

And here's the determined face, full speed, whizzing around a corner finding the "prey" - me - trying to hide in some trees.

Interesting Dog Walking...

I often see the lady on the right walking her dogs when I drive through a local town. I'm always impressed at how well they all walk together along a busy road. I've talked to her a few times, the dogs are really friendly, and obviously just adore her. Most are rescued dogs. This day she had a friend walking along with two more dogs. Very nice.

Brown Thrasher

I "thought' I was taking a picture of a Wood Thrush, and realized later this was a Brown Thrasher. I believe we have both as we are certain we hear the melodious singing of the thrush in the evenings. Both of these pictures were taken through the living room window.

The most noticeable difference is the thrasher has two white stipes on its wings, as clearly seen in both these pictures. Considered a 'secretive' bird, this one was perhaps the exception. They like to nest in thorny bushes, so we believe they are nesting in one of our hawthorn bushes.

After a two week break...

This was the first track that Trust has done since our "really, really, really close pass in the UTDX test"...ok, enough of that one...So, just a fun track, it was steady rain when she went on it and we were soaked. But we badly need rain here, so not complaining. Some pictures aren't very clear because of the rain. The hard surfaces were all gravel, 4 articles, aged only 1 1/2 hr.

She is on her second leg here and just discovered a plastic Tim Hortons' card in the grass.

She flipped it up, sat down, and yawned. So here's the choices! Is she saying "this is just too easy, stupid" or "boring, let's get going, I'm getting soaked sitting here"!?!?

Continuing on the second leg, she makes her next turn heading up to the gravel road and then a left turn. She fringed along the edge for a bit, checked out the other side, and ended up moving along near the middle where I had walked.

A left turn takes us through a short grassy area, (below) heading out onto the gravel road again as it curves around. There is another corner on a wider section of this road.

She was dead on this turn. I have let the line lie along the ground here as she was getting tangled in it when turning. It was wet and heavier and then picking up dirt from the roadway and not easy to handle. Trust is not a puller, so it was easier for her to walk over it. Note to me to check her harness as it was twisting, whether because of the rain, or it needs adjusting.

After this turn, she continues on the gravel towards a fenced in area where soccer nets are set up. She is coming up on her second article, a very small plastic tube that I left a few inches beside a rock.

She made a slight detour to the right before heading back to the article. There was a drainage ditch that needed checking. You can see the rock (above) but her nose is on the plastic article.

She headed right for the opening, was dead on the track. Trust often "marks" her track when she's confidently right on it, rather rude and lifts her leg, but she's quirky. However, in this instance, she turned around to smell something....and then didn't want to go over this spot again. She spent a bit of time circling around three times, and finally decided, like it or not, she'd better continue on over it. Next article is the "x" ahead.

Steady up this leg to the cloth article and sits for her indication.

She's made her last turn and is on the last leg here. We are heading towards a narrow opening in the fence at the corner.

Of course, "something" needs sniffing at the edge here before we can just continue on our way!

Her final article, glove, is shown by the arrow. Her start was on the other side of the drainage ditch, so we've come pretty much full circle on this track. It was a good (wet) track after a short layoff.

Sandhill Cranes

Enormous birds, and so very weird. Sandhill cranes stand between 3 and 4 feet tall and the wingspan is approx. 80". That's one big bird! We always have a few each year, nesting nearby, but have never been able to pinpoint the nest. The one on the left almost looks like an albino, certainly it is "colour deprived". I believe the two on the right are young ones. These were spotted (naturally) as I was out tracking in the field across the road from us. Usually you hear them, before you see them, flying high above you with the most strange cackling/croaking noise; it is very distinctive, and once you recognize it, you'll remember it forever. On the ground and in the sky, they are a sight to behold. If you're ever lucky enough to come across them during migration, feeding in a field, the noise when they are startled is almost deafening.

Tracking Reese the 'wonder beagle'

Rosemary and Reese are working at a corner and Reese spotted us! She quickly put that cute little nose down and moved out on the last leg to her article. Such a cutie. This is the ONLY picture I took where you could actually 'see' anything more than the tip of her wagging tail in the long grass. Tacha and Emma were also tracking today, and there wasn't a single place you could see Emma, wee little long haired miniature doxie. Both dogs worked great in the tall grass/weeds/and tangly vetch.

Trusts' really, really, really close UTDX

On Sunday, June 6th, Trust and I were entered in an Urban Tracking Dog Excellent test at EPS trials in Powassan. Trust was very well prepared for this level and I had high hopes. I felt confident and relaxed; after over a month of dry weather, it had rained the night before, which is always helpful for urban tracks that are aged a minimum of three hours. She started happy, strong and confident on the track and I was so pleased with her attitude.
Above, we are on the first leg of the track, nearing the first turn. Trust was trotting along on part of this track, she was so enthused. I don't know where these ladies came from, but they were walking over our first turn and towards us. Trust did not care, she was happy to see someone make a fuss over her. I told them what we were doing, and told Trust to leave them and get back to work, which she did. Apparently, the tracklayer, judge, and others watching were a bit aghast when they saw the ladies!

She is working smoothly along our second leg in this picture where she found and indicated her first article, a metal circle.

Ahh, and here's the 'glitch'. As she approached the next corner (which of course I didn't know at the time) she spied a plastic childs' shovel, which was a few feet off the track turning right. She went to check it out, indicated it 'was not ours', but I went and picked it up anyway as is the norm. Just as she was moving back, a groundhog family, living behind the wood pallets, began to shriek at her. She had to go and investigate. I told her to leave it, and she moved out to the left and forward. Now If I hadn't been frazzled by the rodents, I would have encouraged her to back up instead, and I'm sure we would have picked up the track again. Instead, I moved ahead with her. We went across a driveway, and she indicated no scent, so we began to work in circles to get back, but the judge whistled us off. So sad. Once we moved back to the track, she had no problem completing it, through all the variable hard surface work around the school. She zeroed right in on her wood article on pavement and was anxious to continue.

We had come down the brick walkway here, and something pulled her over to the grass before moving back onto the brick and pavement. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of most of the hard surface work, around the back area of the school. My friend, Tascha, was taking the pictures, but was a long way off and out of sight of most of the hard surface. Just to the right in the above photo, there is a left turn before the road and it leads on brick to the final article, a glove. At that turn, 3 little kids on bikes crossed in front of us, and went to pick up the glove. Our tracklayer called to them to leave it, and Trust went up to find the glove.

Trust was very pleased with herself! And to top it off, there were 3 little kids waiting for her to pat her and receive kisses. They thought she was so pretty and she just ate it up.

I was very, very proud of how Trust worked and especially happy with her working so enthusiastically all along the track. I was not happy with me, but she did an amazing track. I couldn't have asked more of her.

Our track was nicely laid out, and Trust obviously liked the scent of our tracklayer!