Winter Tracking - two urban tracks
Last Sunday in Edmonton, Caden did a track during a blustery cold day. He managed 2/3 of it, but shortly after this leg, he lost his focus on the road. I was still proud of how he did up to that point, in those conditions!
Thanks to a Chinook, the weather THIS weekend was above freezing. I went out tracking with both Caden who is a year old this month, and River, who is working on her UTDX. We have been tracking at Red Deer College, which is about 10 minutes from home!
I love the visual you get in snow. You can see here he overstepped by one step at this turn. Look at his body language - ears and tail UP. This nice deep snow in the sun gave him a great start as the balance of his track was on a hard snow-packed surface, concrete, road and frozen veg - with a nice snowy field for a happy ending!
1. people following / people around
2. distractions in urban environments
3. article indications
4. Age and distance (but he is still a baby, so I will add that later)
Yesterday we went to the College and did a short fun track for motivation (since the last one was so difficult). He did the track, which was 250 meters, in 6 minutes! I did a track with River as well, to get her nose going again. River's track yesterday was almost 300 metres long and went in a line along the side of some of the main buildings and along a road. She did beautifully well. The only hitch was when she went to a doorway and a sensor caused the door to open. She went into the vestibule, and I had to re-open the door to call her back out!
Caden's Track today...
Caden's track - 40 minutes old - 300 metres long, mostly on snow and hard surface, with some frozen veg along the sidewalk. Picture snow on this Google Earth map! His track goes from left to right on this map. The first article was half-way, on the open angle, at the edge of the sidewalk. Last one was in the trees.
Today I laid a longer, more complex track for Caden, still with the goal of helping him to be successful. It started in snow, then went into a parking lot, along the curb, which holds scent. From there, it went along the edge of a sidewalk to the main roadway. I walked along a big crack in the sidewalk to the road, and crossed. From there, I turned and went along the veg edge of another sidewalk, then ducked in behind a bus stop to end in a snowy field.
There he goes, dead on...
I am so happy with how nose down Caden is when he tracks. I know this comes from his introduction to tracking last summer through the Schutzhund Club in Thunder Bay, and with some coaching from SCH master Wallace Payne from Georgia - who gave a seminar in Thunder Bay last July. In the slideshow of Caden's track, you will see his nose is down on every surface, bless his heart. There were lots of people around today, and cars, to provide some distraction. And I began to ask for a down at his articles. You can see in the slideshow that he oversteps his turns by about one step. I also attribute this to how I started him in SCH. The only place he overhot a turn by more was when it went downhill from the turn, and in some tire tracks behind the bus stop. Those tire tracks work just like ruts in a field - they must trap scent.
I love tracking in the snow because you get such a great visual. At the first article, he did a crazy circular cast - I think because he could smell the article and wanted to find it! I was happy with this, because he is becoming more article focused. He tracks for the tug game at the end. I put some treats in good spots to reward him for getting past particular challenges. He scoops them up, but at the end, he goes into major tug mode. Today it took Caden 9 minutes to run his track, and it took us about 15 minutes to get back to the car because we had to play the whole way back!
Caden LOVES the tug, and I have to be careful that he doesn't realize I have it in my fanny pack when we go out, or he gets obsessed with it.
River's Track
River at her first article. It wasn't until she crossed a road and looked back at me that I realized her harness was hanging around my neck. DUH! I guess I needed to get out an practice again too! I put her harness on at this article. Maybe that is good practice too - training for anything that might happen!
River's track was aged longer at 1.5 hours, and about 340 metres. She was so anxious to start, she ran down a little knoll and found the track and was off before I could even say find it. It was not until she had crossed the main road, that I realized her harness was hanging around my neck! Did you notice when you watched the slideshow? I put it on at her first article.
That looks better! As I put it on, she yelled at me, and pulled to keep going. What a good girl!
Notice that when I track with River, I use a very loose line because I like to watch her choose her way, rather than have it taut, which I find encourages her to pull. So in all of the photos I have taken (and I didn't cut any out) she is the one deciding what she will do, with no line handling from me except to keep it from tangling. I love how this works with River. It may not work with all dogs, but she loves to track and sticks with her job. She overshot her turn into the parking lot, and came at the 2nd last leg from above, cutting the track there.
River's track mostly on hard surface, with snow at the beginning and mid-way, was 340 metres long and 1.5 hours old. I like linear tracks because you don't create any funny boxed in areas that trap scent. You need to work on that, but where possible linear is best! Her track goes from right to left, because I laid it after laying Caden's, which ended in those trees. I know how to make the best use of my time! When I get to the location, I plan ahead before laying my tracks, and have a general idea of where I am going before starting off. Her first article was on the sidewalk after the double road-cross. Second was in the snow after going right away from the sidewalk and third was in the parking lot, near the curb.
Here is a photo of River coming back to find a turn, after over-shooting it. Notice the loose line. With River, I find that a loose line works well because I can see her decisions, while a taut line makes her pull ahead (sort of pushes her along). In urban tracking, you want a slower and more thoughtful approach and this works for me.
As she searched around the top end of the lot, she really poked around. But when she made up her mind where the leg went, she took off at a trot, which you can see in the photos! The parking lot had weird berms with little lots opening off the centre road. River seemed to waver back and forth into these openings. Throughout this part of the track, she constantly went off to the right. There was no wind, but there may have been some current pulling the scent that way. After going to the right at the last turn, she did a little cast and came back to make her last turn to the glove. By this point she was really panting, and I wished I had packed some water!
I like this photo (above) because it shows how River started off after her article and veered onto another trail beside mine. For those of you who think they just follow the footprints, look at her correct herself to the right track! Deeper snow can release lots of bacteria that has been trapped in the layers, especially on nice warm days like today!
And here is a photo showing her decide where the track is, after carefully checking things out at the top end of this parking lot. After poking about, she suddenly took off back for the track, and nailed it dead-on. I learned in the Steve Ripley seminar I organized last summer to just let her think about things and be PATIENT as they are sifting information when they are just standing there, sometimes. Sure enough, River decided and was off again. Notice the loose line - again. This is her decision - and she knows her job. On her way back to the car, she followed my track out to where I had parked 2 hours before, when I laid the track. She loves this part of tracking - the cookies in the car!
I knew at this point that my big thing this winter/spring will be to work on River's conditioning for longer tracks. She was very tired at the end of this track, but a good kind of happy-tired.
All in all, a great way to spend the afternoon.
Today, River and Caden were my Two Wolves!
(see my licence plate!)
Category Article Caden, German Shepherd, River, teaching tracking, tracking maps, Tracking training, Training theories, urban tracking, winter tracking
