Today is MAY the 8th....

Early this morning, just as the SNOW began to fall, a lovely male rosebreasted grosbeak appeared under one of the bird feeders. We haven't seen one for a year, so hope there will be a nest nearby. He was alone, and able to eat as much as he wanted, before the HEAVY SNOW arrived, and then a huge number of various birds came to the feeders as well.

Yes, it is MAY the 8th !!! The bluejays were fighting for the food..

...and the evening grosbeaks were also fighting for it. There was plenty for all, we ended up going out four times today with food, in various places. Feel very sorry for the birds that have come back, especially the ones that depend on bugs like our phoebes.

We had about 6" of snow, and high winds. The snow was so heavy, many of our small bushes are bent over to the ground, the perennials that have been growing are buried. I hope we don't lose them. These are huge trees (above) and you can see how the branches are weighted down.

Of course, Blast had a great time, he adores the snow. Look at that tail! Bad boy was after some poor thing trying to hide under the tree. I called him off to continue on our walk so he didn't find it. Something is wrong with this picture, though....it's MAY THE 8TH !!!!

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY (TOMORROW) whether you're a human mom or a dog mom or both!

Motivational Urban Track

This track was designed as a motivational one for Trust. It was in a nice setting, not too busy, and I only intended to age it a bit over 2 hr. As well, after some recent conversations with friends, about painted lines and curbs in parking lots, and a few things I've noticed previously, I wanted to totally avoid any paint and see what happened. Of course, "something always happens", and in this case, I was glad it was Trust I was working.....
I have my track outlined in red, some of her little excursions away off the track in yellow, and wind or other 'notes' of interest in blue or burgundy.
We were about 1/3 along the first leg, the grass had just been cut on all the veg. surfaces, so that was not expected, but not a problem. Lady that she is, Trust decided to pee (shes's a marker) beside this box thing to the right of the track that she 'just had' to check out.

Nearing corner on first leg, she ignored these two 'things' as she passed and took the corner nicely.

On the second leg, Trust is just beginning to sit to indicate the wood article. As she does, her head lifts and she sees someone way ahead. I had previously noticed this man wandering around, figured he had a dog with him, off-leash. Sure enough, shortly after this picture, the dog popped up out of the ditch. I told Trust to wait, walked up and stayed beside her, waiting for the man to put his dog on the leash. He finally did, and began to walk to the right. This was at a hotel, and I figured he was a guest. All was well..........hmmmm.........so I told Trust to start working again, which she did, just fine. We had gone a short distance when she and I notice the dog running at her from the right. I swear she lifted all 4 legs off the ground and flipped sideways in the air and barked, landing on all four - at the same time I was yelling "Giiit" as the man was calling the dogs' name. It paused, then instantly came on. Trust hadn't moved. I yelled again, so did the man. I had moved up to her and was ready for the dog. Luckily, whew! the dog decided to turn back. I paused, told her what a good girl she was, allowed my heart to return to where it should be, the man never said a word. Lucky for him, in a way, I did not feel like being very tactful or gracious! And on we go, like nothing happened. Trust is such a good girl.

Here we have passed the end where I first spotted the dog/man, no doubt having walked and peed all over this area. On the previous picture, right of the man, there is a mound with growthy things and we've just passed this area. Trust went up to smell the tree, which I told her sternly to "leave it", she did, as this has been an issue with us. When she's tracking, she has no need to smell where another dog marked - not a good girl, this time! But she came back, moved on to corner which now was right beside the red car. She smelled along, and around behind it and then out onto gravel then pavement.

So, here I laid the track on the right side of this island on gravel, she's tracking along the left side on pavement. She IS working the scent. Then I cross the next grass island, and out onto the pavement.

You just wonder sometimes what the heck is going on in this urban work. Trust is tracking, but is not on the track I laid at this point but joins up with it a little further ahead. It's just fascinating watching these dogs work.

And here she is almost dead on when she begins to turn (the MOT turn) on the pavement. Note wind in blue arrows (when I laid it).

The scent would have collected along the edge of the grass by the fence. She moved the whole way up here to the corner and then came back to the pavement. We are nearing the man entrance, people and cars going through here and turning. I stayed totally away from the parking lines and just couldn't resist crossing this little tricky busy spot, which was also under an overhang.

I left the pavement, up onto the cement walk and left this article (sock) at the edge of a bush. This spot was actually open to the other side as well. This was in front of the main entrance doors where cars drove through. She did really well in this area, I was very pleased with her.

We crossed the driveway, and up onto a veg hill, making a turn near the top. She did this area perfectly, and then we moved down behind a few pine trees toward another driveway.

She's moving very deliberately now and no doubt, knows we're getting "close".

And I just love this picture! As you see, she was tracking about 2' to the left of the track I laid.

I totally walked on the little break in the curb and over it, on purpose. She was clearly drawn to it, paused to smell there, and then up and over she went

And there it is...a small piece of light brown leather tucked between two rocks (circled). This was a good track. Although originally designed as a fun/motivational track for her, we ran into the freshly cut grass, and the dog incident, but it was obvious she was enjoying this track and did very well with it. When she found the sock as well, you could almost see her glee as she zeroed in on it. These dogs are just amazing how they work in urban settings. And of course, Trust is the most amazing of all.......she says without bias, ha.ha.ha.

Happy Birthday Blast !

These two pictures were taken yesterday after Blast did a track. When we came home we went for a romp in the front field and Blast was pooped enough to "pose" for me....

Carmspack Blast turned one year of age on Tuesday, May 4th - a pretty handsome fellow.

A Step-by-Step TD Track

Most of the tracks I've been adding to the blog have been advanced or urban tracks. I realize there are some "newer to tracking" folk who look at this, and I thought a less advanced-type track or a "Tracking Dog" type track might be of interest. So I have added this one of Blast working this morning and point out the features of the track, from before the start to the finish. We were out early to beat a predicted thunderstorm (didn't happen!) with temp. already nearing 18, it was muggy. Lucky us - we had blackflies. In Northern Ontario, the nasty little biting blackflies don't usually come out until mid to late May. They are very early this year. I will outline each photo, and just to let everyone know, you can double click any picture to bring it up larger in case you can't see the features. Hope this will be of interest. The track was approx. 350m and aged 40 mins.
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.

Field Tracking today

This is Maurita and her Standard Poodle, Thomas. They took classes with me last spring and earned a Tracking Dog title in the fall. They are hoping to be ready to enter a TDX this fall, and I was evaluating their progress today. They did great! Aren't we lucky to have so many lovely fields with great views to work in!!!

It was so cold this morning, the winds were extremely high and gusting, and we even had snow blowing in at times. My camera did not like the weather and was 'sticking' so I'm afraid I didn't get too many pictures. I had hoped to have Maurita take pictures of Blast and I tracking, but it wasn't to be. I believe Thomas is on his 3rd leg here, after making a nice start. Maurita said he tracked faster than normal today, even with the high winds, his nose was down and he was motoring along.

They have just come out of a dry marshy grass area with no problems on the turn in there. Maurita looks frozen, but Thomas is certainly having a good time. He has a couple of more corners, which he did really well, before his article. Maurita will be adding more length, aging, and a second article to work forward toward the TDX.

On the way to the tracking field...

Isn't this just too pretty? I have spent the majority of my life with horses and this was a sight I had to stop and watch. I've never seen a five-horse hitch before, and it was just amazing. I can't imagine being in control of five gorgeous work horses at once. It was a sight to behold.

Just too pretty. Words cannot truly describe watching them. I'm so glad I had my camera with me. The breed of these horses is FJORD.

A few years ago, some Amish families bought farms in our area and work the land with their horses as well as travel by horse and buggy. It is like going back in time to watch them. It is a peaceful way of life that most of us have lost or have never experienced.

Urban Tracking with Trust today

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.