Canada Day Tracking: Four dogs, SIX hours!
OMG there is something wrong with this picture!
Calm down, it is after tracking - Jet likes to play tug and gets the rope wrapped around her body!
Yesterday I spent SIX hours tracking my four dogs! It is part of a long-standing tradition - while other peopls go camping and enjoy fireworks - I developed a tradition of spending Canada Day alone with my dogs. So, at 9 AM I laid tracks for Jet and River, and while they aged, I tracked with Caden and Ted. In-between I bought plants for the yard!
Below is a description for each dog and some video.
Jet
My goal with Jet was to put in a lot of elements and age, but keep it short, then see how she handled it. She did VERY well! A five hour old 450 m track...with loads of distractions! She still stands off to the wrong side of a track to think about things, then clearly makes a decision and takes off. You can see it a couple of times here. I love how she was very nose down on her hard surface. She had the hardest time in some LONG grass beside the parking log and I suppose it spread scent.
Below is a description for each dog and some video.
Jet
My goal with Jet was to put in a lot of elements and age, but keep it short, then see how she handled it. She did VERY well! A five hour old 450 m track...with loads of distractions! She still stands off to the wrong side of a track to think about things, then clearly makes a decision and takes off. You can see it a couple of times here. I love how she was very nose down on her hard surface. She had the hardest time in some LONG grass beside the parking log and I suppose it spread scent.
Jet to first article:
I deliberately made a turn on the boulevard before the road, then tried to handle Jet in such a way as to have her check the road but find the turn, so she doesn't assume all roads are for crossing. You can see her work this out here while I stay back out of her space (great suggestion I got from Darlene Barnard). *That was how River failed her Calgary UTDX test - last turn* and so we are adding this to our training plans now!
I deliberately made a turn on the boulevard before the road, then tried to handle Jet in such a way as to have her check the road but find the turn, so she doesn't assume all roads are for crossing. You can see her work this out here while I stay back out of her space (great suggestion I got from Darlene Barnard). *That was how River failed her Calgary UTDX test - last turn* and so we are adding this to our training plans now!
Jet to second article...
I deliberately crossed over a series of transitions - grass, road, sidewalk, in a short span of time, as I keep seeing this in tests. Congested area with some sign construction and cars, but she sorts it out.
Jet hard surface and end, nice nose down spots here...the wind was coming from the south (from the right) and you can see it push her to the curb. There is a treat on the manhole, which was actually AFTER the turn, so that tells you where she is in relation to the track - about 5 steps downwind thought she goes back to the primary track to check it once, which is neat to see...I LOVE watching this stuff after. I miss this when I am following!
River
River finds her final article. Such a good girl!
My goal with River is to do tracks with her every few weeks, some long and some short. Since the College was deserted today, I did a long one. She was visibly tired near the end but made it to her last article. My memory card kept bleeping that it was full so I deleted some old photos and gave her rest half way. That means not much video though...
Since I was having memory card problems, River's videos are all cut short, so I am just posting links here. They will take you out of the blog so please use the back arrow to return!
Since I was having memory card problems, River's videos are all cut short, so I am just posting links here. They will take you out of the blog so please use the back arrow to return!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxBAWGSMECM (use back arrow to return to blog) - River's nv turn (I missed the part where she reaches the little leather SchH article)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jzylwahHfw (use back arrow to return to blog) - River's second nv turn part 1 (I hit stop accidentally so it continues in the next link!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jzylwahHfw (use back arrow to return to blog) - River's second nv turn part 1 (I hit stop accidentally so it continues in the next link!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Nrhj-zQKI - River's second nv turn part 2. I ran out of memory card for more.
River has had good starts lately, but at her two tests, her starts reverted back to being very shaky. In Calgary she recovered and did an awesome track just missing her last turn. In Thunder Bay, she spent a long time on the first leg, trying to negotiate the direction in a crosswind. She finally worked it out and cut a corner to get to what I thought was an article. She pranced around with a sock, but sadly the article was a light switch over to the right of the sock. She locked on to the track and was feeling 'on' but as we rounded the corner past a building, we were called off as it was clear we would not get back to that light switch. I learned a lesson about how to handle things when your dog indicates articles and next time, I will try to scan the area as well as ask my dog a bit more through my handling before roaring off. Every time we fail, we learn a lesson!
At the end stretch beyond this, River was visibly tired. I took this photo of her resting while I cleared up my memory card and you can see she has been foaming at the mouth from working so hard on these surfaces.
Short, tight line as I ensure River does not cast on her start
At the end stretch beyond this, River was visibly tired. I took this photo of her resting while I cleared up my memory card and you can see she has been foaming at the mouth from working so hard on these surfaces.
I think I need to focus on conditioning and some shorter tracks, and tracks in cooler weather. I watered her constantly through this track at articles. She loves to track and is good at it, but she is showing her age too, at 10. The fall will be much better for her!
Two regular articles, and two SchH articles - a small wood and small leather. They are so much more convenient and my dogs have no trouble finding them, now that they expect to find smaller items.
Caden and Ted
After I laid Jet and River's tracks, I did tracks with Caden and Ted. First I laid a track for Caden - 5 turns, and about 400 meters. I aged it for 30 minutes. He did well. I decided not to come down too hard on him today and let him sort out his corners and take responsibility for them. There was quite a wind but he coped with it very well. I only videotaped the last two legs. Sometimes a dog puts more pressure on itself and when they do this, it is a good sign! You can take it away from them through over-handling, IMHO.
Caden always looks the same when he tracks...tail up, nose down...
Caden doing his thing.
What is interesting about the last leg is that it was in a crosswind from the right (south). He is tracking slightly to the downwind side and finds the treats I left ONLY on the right foot to pull him back to the track. As soon as he reaches the benches ahead - watch the trouble he has! These benches either cut the wind or deflected scent, I am sure of it. He has to adjust and then gets to the end. The glove just holds a jackpot, I don't expect an indication for now.
I put a jackpot on a big glove but don't make him platz. I am just building an interest in the scent for him and then, we use it to play tug, which clearly is very satisfying for Caden!
Since Caden tracks so dead-on, I laid a similar track for Ted and let it age for 45 minutes. I feel like Ted gets the short shrift because he doesn't really "get" tracking. But I always include him and hope for the best. I have been playing around with my own version of HITT combined with SchH style tracking for Ted, in an effort to slow his feet down and make him more serious about things. Well, today he did so well! I video-taped the same two legs as Caden's above. Ted had the advantage of a double-laid track but it was windy with short grass.
This is Ted at the very end of his line, way off his corner and being super-stubborn about continuing. He got wind of his article and wanted to go from the corner over to the last leg.
At the corner of legs 3-4 the wind blew the scent of the glove to Ted. I realize this is a 'track pattern' issue, but decided it was a good moment to focus on the track scent. So, I had quite a stand-off waiting for him to play along and follow the track to the end. It was a fight all the way up leg four, as he whirled and faced the glove's direction. But on leg 5 in the video above, he realized the ONLY way he will get that glove is to play by my rules. I felt like it was quite a break-through today. Good on you Teddy! (and I learned too, didn't I? about how to set Ted up for more success with the tracks I lay).
This is the leg we fought along, leading up to a left turn at the white line. Below is the video after that...and you can see, he did very, very well!
Ted, the surprise star of the day (this happened once before, last year!). I need to take him more seriously in tracking, perhaps, though he would rather herd sheep.
Tracking is a time-intensive and space-intensive sport. Even though this took me 6 hours (with a noon run for groceries while the advanced tracks aged) it was a fantastic way to spend Canada Day and we were all happy and tired when we got home. For various, odd reasons, I have spent the Canada Day weekend alone with my dogs for many years, so it has become a bit of a tradition for me to spend the day with them this way. Funny how so many of my traditions are with the dogs! What would I do without them?
Mr. Ted was in a MOOD yesterday. When he realized we were heading back for the trailer, he tried to hide behind this concrete barrier with his glove. But, I found him. What a quirky guy he can be!
Category Article Border collie, Caden, German Shepherd, Jet, River, Ted, Tracking training, Tracking Video, urban tracking
