What a difference a year makes! Sept 27 tracks with River and Caden
At this time last year I was concerned about River's tracking here, with a drier climate and higher altitude. In many ways she acted as if she had never tracked before, and was flustered - I was flustered too! There have been some very trying times, but I have plugged away, because I know she loves to track and I love to track with her! She turned nine in March and is no spring chicken, but awhile ago, I decided to retrain her starts. Last Saturday I laid a track for her at Red Deer College near the soccer field. It was deserted when I laid the track. However, to be safe, I did not go too far onto the field. I then went to track with the other dogs - everyone did a track last Saturday.
Sure enough, as I was doing a short track with Caden, a big bus pulled up full of students dressed in soccer clothes. ARGH! I watched as a few started to do leg stretches and situps right near my start flag. Another bunch started to job in groups RIGHT OVER RIVER'S 4TH LEG! At this point her track was about 2 hours old. I decided I had better run it before a soccer game started.River did so well ON VEG that I actually think she buckled down more because of all of the fresh scent from the runners and athletes crossing her track. It was a dry, cool, cloudy day. After I finished tracking with all of the dogs, there was a terrible thunderstorm. I don't know if that created more moisture in the air, but she sure impressed me.
In the above video you can see I am restraining her but she is being very dedicated to finding her treats and searching the primary track. This is despite the fact that runners had been all over her track about 15 minutes before.
In the above video, River is shown approaching the first turn, which is AT the curb, to the right. I walked with one foot up and one down along this leg.
She had another turn just past the trees and headed for the parking lot, but I decided to turn left to follow the curbe again! I think she saw the parking lot ahead and started to cast in circles and to me, she was not really tracking, she was worrying. I decided to lie her down (above photo), which is a SchH idea. I patted her and had her calm down. Once she was calm, she decided on her own to get up and go.
Here she is on the hard surface portion. There are two left turns. You can see her dip her nose, which is what I watch for. She also finds little pieces of dried liver in places.
End of the track. It is feeling like old times with River, now that she is more confident in this new climate.
I've also been working hard on Caden's SchH style tracking. At this time last year he was still such a baby. I was renting a house in Ponoka and was simply proud of all of the dogs for making the transition (and proud of myself too).
In the above video you can see I am restraining her but she is being very dedicated to finding her treats and searching the primary track. This is despite the fact that runners had been all over her track about 15 minutes before.
In the above video, River is shown approaching the first turn, which is AT the curb, to the right. I walked with one foot up and one down along this leg.
She had another turn just past the trees and headed for the parking lot, but I decided to turn left to follow the curbe again! I think she saw the parking lot ahead and started to cast in circles and to me, she was not really tracking, she was worrying. I decided to lie her down (above photo), which is a SchH idea. I patted her and had her calm down. Once she was calm, she decided on her own to get up and go.Here she is on the hard surface portion. There are two left turns. You can see her dip her nose, which is what I watch for. She also finds little pieces of dried liver in places.
End of the track. It is feeling like old times with River, now that she is more confident in this new climate.I've also been working hard on Caden's SchH style tracking. At this time last year he was still such a baby. I was renting a house in Ponoka and was simply proud of all of the dogs for making the transition (and proud of myself too). He has so much drive and is very strong. This is OK, as long as he has his nose down and is checking the footsteps. I am still trying three tracks, two straight ones, and one with a turn. Last Saturday I decided that on his third track I would do two turns. As you can see, he did a nice job, but was still a bit too fast.
Ted and Jet did short tracks too, but I was rushing because of the soccer players and got no photos!
Category Article German Shepherd, River, Schutzhund tracking, urban tracking
