Jet's TDX training - finding the holes in my bucket
This morning I tracked at Pam's place west of Bowden. It is tracking heaven there, with so many big fields! We used this field with hay bales as other fields still have hay lying on the ground to be baled. I was excited because I have been doing so much urban - it was good to get Jet out working on TDX elements. Today I worked on a short track of 425 m with only 3 turns and one article, and aged it 1:45. The soil was damp and the grass was wet when it was laid.
By the time we ran it, it was quite hot and getting dry. I wanted to see how Jet handled the field compared with lawns in urban tracking. As well, I asked Pam to help me do an exercise to make Jet think a little...it is an exercise I learned from Search and Rescue tracking. I've tried to show it in the pictures plus have drawn a map (below)
Above is Jet's start - and it was a GREAT start and first turn! Today I gave her line, to see how it went. I was really pleased with the first three legs, but I admit I was a little disappointed with that last leg.
As always, in hindsight, I wonder if I should have placed my article at the end of the third leg, because my GOAL was for her to solve the problem you will see below. I hate to waste field or a walk, so I threw in the fourth leg, which turned out to be a little problem. But I learned at the Ivan Balabanov SchH seminar that if you push a little, you will always learn where your weaknesses are, and I guess that is what happened today! If we had laid and ran it earlier, it may have worked out better, but it is good to push a little to find the holes in my bucket - and with good training I hope to plug those holes!
By the time we ran it, it was quite hot and getting dry. I wanted to see how Jet handled the field compared with lawns in urban tracking. As well, I asked Pam to help me do an exercise to make Jet think a little...it is an exercise I learned from Search and Rescue tracking. I've tried to show it in the pictures plus have drawn a map (below)
As always, in hindsight, I wonder if I should have placed my article at the end of the third leg, because my GOAL was for her to solve the problem you will see below. I hate to waste field or a walk, so I threw in the fourth leg, which turned out to be a little problem. But I learned at the Ivan Balabanov SchH seminar that if you push a little, you will always learn where your weaknesses are, and I guess that is what happened today! If we had laid and ran it earlier, it may have worked out better, but it is good to push a little to find the holes in my bucket - and with good training I hope to plug those holes!
As you can see above and below, it is a simple track, but with tricky elements. I wanted Jet to "lock on" after the first corner, then asked Pam to come in from one side and walk behind me for 50 meters on a 100 meter leg. At the corner, Pam went off on an open angle, and I turned left at 90 degrees. By the way, two people from the same family or household should not do this exercise as your scents will be too similar. Pam walked single file behind me, but I drew the lilac coloured line beside the yellow for visual purposes here.
The interesting thing about that leg is that Jet tracked BETTER where we walked together. There was a good breeze blowing Jet to the south (left) and it did not help that the ruts ran that way too. It may be that the track was double-laid there. Jet's track is in blue. As you can see, she indicated the correct corner (and cut it, likely helped by the wind.) However, she came back and investigated Pam's track before coming back to the correct leg. You can see this sketched out in the photo below.
I was very proud of how Jet was doing at this point, and she really did the third leg well, but at the corner, kept going! If it had been a test, I am quite sure we would have heard the whistle here. She was going with a rut and with the breeze. I was not going to let her go too far, but wanted to see how she recovered. As you can see from the map I drew when I got home, she kept trying to go downwind, but the hay bales actually helped bring her back to the track. Each time she reached a hay bale, she would sniff around the base and come to the correct side. Do you think her urban experience helped her to work this out? I found it fascinating to watch. She did get back to the track and found her big work glove at the end.
I am not one to over-practice crosstracks as I don't like to make them an issue, but I do like to give my dogs problems to work out. Jet really worked hard on this short track! It was also a chance for me to develop a PLAN for the next two months as we get her TDX-ready. I can see that we need more big, open field work. Also, some work on different terrain and changes of cover, as well as work in the wind (as always). I will go back to a short line and build her up again using some of my SchH ideas. Eventually she will be in a test where she will have to complete a 900 m track with lots of turns, varied terrain, and two crosstracks made by other people that is 3-5 hours old! I know she can do it. But it takes practice.
I realized today that I have not trained or trialed a TDX dog for four years since River passed! I really have to think about how I trained in the past, and what I will do differently with Jet, as my ideas are always evolving as I learn. I can hardly wait to track with her again!
We did serpentines and straight lines today with Caden, Pam's Sting, and Michelle's Ash today too. Stay tuned for those reports!
Here is Pam's little foal, and his mom Missy. He is so beautiful and getting bigger!
And as I was leaving, I snapped this photo of a canola field and the faint outline of mountains in the background. Beautiful! I have to go back with my big camera and take a proper photo...canola is so beautiful. But surprisingly, it smells kinda funny!
Category Article Border collie, Jet, TDX training, Tracking training
