The journey...comments on River's tracking video
I always say that the time we spend training our dogs is the journey, and these are the hours we will always remember. The tests and titles are just evidence of the hours spent together. Some of my best moments in tracking have been when I am out alone with my dogs. I am hooked on videotaping now, because I get so much out of watching it afterwards. Often when I am following my dog, I get so into the moment that I miss some things that I can see afterwards.
Today I wrote a note to a great tracking friend, and thought it would be worth sharing a bit of it here. I was commenting on the video (in the post below) of River's track. I have edited it a wee bit for clarity here - and because I am a writer I can't help editing myself! Here is what I wrote:
On the video with River's track, I noticed that she stumbled once. I didn't
see it when I was following her. She is showing her age sometimes. She looks
slow, but it is funny because I know she loves to track. Caden did the same
track in less than half the time she took.One of my SchH training friends commented to me that he feels it
is crucial to keep doing veg tracks so dogs can go back to what they
do easily and are always reminded that tracking is easy. Based on his comments,
I think that in her early training, I have consistently allowed River to *think*
that urban is hard, by letting her cast too much, and even my 'motivational'
tracks for her can be challenging - even if she enjoys it and appears to
have fun solving the scent puzzle.I have been thinking A LOT about this. It might even explain why dogs seem
to lose their veg nose when we focus on hard surface tracks. It might
be that dogs start believing that tracking is harder, so when they get to veg,
they are approaching it with new behaviours and a different mindset, and it has
nothing to do with their ability. Really good food for thought.
I did a TD track with River a few weeks ago and she just aced it - she
was so full of joy and dead on. This was after spending time on scent pads and
starts with her, and using the footstep tracking methods. I don't expect her to
footstep track, but I am trying to tell her to stay on track and not cast so
much. I think we are having a breakthrough.
On her video, she does small circles at one point. She is not racing by any
means but I tell her 'easy, easy, its ok' to calm her mind. At the MOT
turn just beyond this, she overshoots the turn, looks one way, then makes this
totally decisive turn the right way.I know you will understand when I say how choked up I was. Especially every
time I see it on video.
Another new tracking friend emailed me these precious words..."Good job with River, you can teach an old dog new tricks. It was great to see the one turn where she just thought, hey, I have to go the other way and off she went."
Thanks so much for saying that! I thought it was a great moment, and I know that people who track understand. I also know that once River and I get over this hump of "re-training" we'll be a better team, for all this hard work!
Enjoy your journey...
Category Article River, Tracking training, Tracking Video, urban tracking
