Tracking Journal - two Golden Retrievers, a German Shepherd and a Border Collie work beginners and advanced tracks on a beautiful winter's day
Katie and I went tracking today. It was a beautiful, warm sunny winter day. We met at Lakehead University, by the education building. The snow is still crusty enough that you can walk on top. Mind you Katie found the ONE spot where she went in over her knees - she backed up, making a great dead end on Dawson's track. We each laid tracks for Dawson and River - both about 350 - 400 meters long, and both aged about 1.5 hours. In the meantime, we laid shorter tracks - about 250 meters - for Ted and Henley and aged them close to 30 minutes.
PHOTO ONE: Henley (pictured above) has been tracking since he was about 10 weeks old and it sure shows! At 9 months of age, he is getting pretty track sure, not deviating much from the primary track. Photo by Karen Boyes
Dawson sits at his articles, but Katie is teaching Henley to lie down now. At the beginning of his track, Henley took awhile to warm up to things. There was a westerly wind, and it was quite warm. I think the warmth in particular caused both Ted and Henley to lose focus a little as new and exciting smells are starting to emerge from the cold winter snow. Today, Henley definitely outdid Ted in the focus department though. That's what you get when you start a pup at such a young age.
Ted started tracking last fall, at 2.5 years old. He learned quickly but is still at this stage where he thinks it is a great GAME. I am starting to work on convincing him that it is business. After working Ted today, I have a new game plan in mind. The next time we go out, I will make his track longer, as I notice he settles in and gets more business-like as the track goes on. I will also lay a short, straight line track to run him on prior to doing the main track, to let him get his sillies overwith before we move on to the main track.
Today, Ted was over-excited and so he kept losing focus with all the other great smells out there. The last time we were out, I noticed that Ted did a nice job on his corners, but he was checking to make sure I was following before committing fully.
Ted started tracking last fall, at 2.5 years old. He learned quickly but is still at this stage where he thinks it is a great GAME. I am starting to work on convincing him that it is business. After working Ted today, I have a new game plan in mind. The next time we go out, I will make his track longer, as I notice he settles in and gets more business-like as the track goes on. I will also lay a short, straight line track to run him on prior to doing the main track, to let him get his sillies overwith before we move on to the main track.
Today, Ted was over-excited and so he kept losing focus with all the other great smells out there. The last time we were out, I noticed that Ted did a nice job on his corners, but he was checking to make sure I was following before committing fully.
Since Ted is the second Border Collie I have taught to track now, I am developing a theory about how they are
a) fast learners and a bit too smart sometimes
b) very visually aware of their surroundings and movement, easily connecting it to related activity and
c) very pressure sensitive, reacting to your body language so easily.
Today with Ted I tried to do what I had done with Jet back in the winter and spring of 2006 (was it really two years ago?) At each corner I tried to face direction we had been going, with no clues for him. After a few circles without getting anywhere, he would put his head down and get to work. I laid a track with lots of corners. Once he chose his own direction, he only had to go about 20 metres to a glove and a treat. Like last time, I took each intermediate glove away, encouraging him to get back to business, only playing with the last one.
MAP #1 (above) Shows Ted's track (top) and River's (below). Picture these areas blanketed with crusty, white snow! The roadways and parking lots were bare today. As you can see by Ted's path in yellow, he was quartering a lot, with me trying my best to keep a shorter, tighter line. The wind affected him a little, but he was also very interested in the fresh spring-like smells. The hardest time he had was emerging FROM the treeline back onto the open field, fanning back and forth. When he finally got past the treeline, he was fine and right on track.
I laid a track with 6 corners, and by the 4th corner, he stopped trying to see which way I would follow, and more or less buckled down. On the last corner, he had the scent of the glove as the wind was coming from that direction, and he cut a corner, pulled to a clump of bushes where he was clearly finding scent, then lunged forward to intersect the track again. He nailed the last article, which I put out on parking lot. This was a pretty advanced move for him, so I was pretty proud! I think I will do a longer track tomorrow for him, because the longer he is on track, the more business-like he gets. I was not happy with my line handling today (with my new line, too!) Ted was very busy but needed a lot more focus and flow. All I can do is keep working at it, and I know it will come.
I remember Jet in her early stages of tracking training. She was such a brat, and too smart for her own good. At corners, she watched for my body language cues. I am sure she thought she could just train me, of course. Instead of me learning to read my dog, my dog was learning to read me!! In her early days of training, Jet would get to a corner, lose scent and try every direction, watching to see which one I would follow. I have never seen this behaviour in my German Shepherds, who tend to lunge into the line early on in their training. With my Rough Collies, I have been very hesitant to ask for too much pull, always just following right away, as I have found them much more sensitive to my hesitation, and also sensitive to too much drag on the tracking line. They like a lighter touch (at least mine have.)
In tracking, you want your dog to HAUL you along and take charge, and in tests of course, you need this because you won't know where the track goes. It is difficult in training when you lay your own tracks, because you have to find that line between rewarding your dog for finding a corner by following right away - and asking for more pull from your dog at a corner (and pretending you don't know where it goes.) Bear in mind that not every dog has the same style, and what "haul" means to one dog, is different to another. Mainly you want them to take charge and pull ahead expecting you to follow.
MAP #2 (ABOVE) I think Dawson is destined to be the next UTDX dog in Thunder Bay. A bunch of us had him pegged as our next local Tracking Champion when we saw him pass his UTD so easily last fall. He loves to track. And little Henley is the up and comer! As you can see, Dawson barely deviated from the primary track today. Dawson and Henley's tracks were adjacent to River and Ted's. The four maps can be pieced together and comprise the entire front grounds of Lakehead University. We parked in the centre, and barely had to walk 20 steps to each scent pad.
PHOTO #2 BELOW - This is a photo of Dawson doing a demo track for the Winter Class, on February 2nd. It was a warm, snowy day. Check out how similar Dawson and Henley look (Henley's photo is above). Photo by Karen Boyes.
When first training a dog to track, you have to spend most of your time at corners just following the moment they take the turn. The more you do this, the more your dog will believe in himself and realize you trust him. If you build in too much hesitation at a corner, even artificially, you will create a corner dance, where your dog doesn't take off on the new leg because you have created a behaviour pattern of hesitation and not following. So I only ask for more pull strategically and rarely.
River and Katie's UTD dog Dawson were all business! Their tracks were both 1.5 hours old. Dawson literally nailed his track, which was half on snow (which would have been veg) and half on non-veg. Since it was so warm today, the non-veg was truly non-veg and non-snow! He checked Katie's deadend, and came back in seconds, to confidently make his way down a little gravel road to the main road to find an article. He then turned into the parking lot, and turned again to the last article, which was a great rubber squeaky toy! Dawson was so delighted he played with his toy in the snow for awhile. Finding a toy instead of a glove clearly impressed him. Katie did this, because he is getting in the habit of 'eating' his gloves when he finds them!
River (pictured above) did a nice job too. As you can see in her map (Map one, above), there are two areas where she went off track (marked in yellow). Going down the sidewalk, she kept leaping on and over a snowbank, following the scent drift in the direction of the wind. She overshot her turn on the parking lot near the end, but easily came back on track as she winded the glove. I was especially happy with how deep River's nose was again today.
Julie and I have been working using more articles and lots of food rewards at the articles. I can see the results. Today River had 5 gloves - I am keeping the articles simple for her right now as I WANT her to be rewarded for having her nose down - I am not making it an article exercise. It is working so well, that she practically looked like a schutzhund dog, going from step to step in the snow.
Category Article Beginners tracking, My friends, River, Ted, tracking maps, urban tracking, Urban Tracking Training Journals, winter tracking
