Posted on Tuesday, April 13, 2010
by Canine Dog Training USA
On April 3 I took the gang to a nearby field for some fun field tracks. I like the idea of having a day like this to remind my dogs that tracking is easy...in particular this works for River who learned field first. In this photo (above) you can see my neat dog trailer in the background. I feel so organized and my training goes better with this - compared with the "clowns in a volkswagon" scenario I had with everyone in my car!
Below is a map showing River's track. I had just done a difficult track on a windy, dry day at Olds College. River did well, so on this track I wanted her to have a good time. It was roughly 400 meters long with 4 articles, 5 turns and was aged for one hour only. The articles were cloth, plastic, wood and leather *I forgot to mark plastic on the 3rd leg in this map below. In an actual field track (TD, TDX) you would only find leather articles.
My other dogs have all been taught to track on a variety of surfaces. But in the field I expect less wavering from the track. On hard surfaces in urban tracking, and especially around buildings and structures, scent behaves eratically. I train my dogs to stay as close to the primary track as possible, even though I know that at transitions and in certain situations the dog will have to go off track to find scent clues.
**Aging is a funny thing, because on a humid day, aging is different than on a dry day. This field was so dry that my shoes were grey with dust afterwards. I think a tumbleweed went by! So one hour on this field might seem like 3 hours in a lush field.
Here is the track:
River did well. She has never been a dog to do much of an article indication (and is the last of my dogs to track like this). This day, she gave articles a nod and pause and I accepted that - except at a wood article which she had ignored at Olds College! I dropped my camera here, so sorry about the dirt smudge that eventually falls off, LOL! On the last leg, she went off to the downwind side of the track. In the video you can see my line blowing in that direction. I tried to keep her ON the track by holding my ground and making her pull me more than usual.
I did a very short track with Caden...his first veg track of the year. It was a U with a serpentine built into the end. He did great but lifted his head a couple of times. Because he is doing SchH style tracking, I want a very different style - nose down, focused and calm. He lifted his head where the direction changed and he had a short stint with a crosswind. This is something I will bear in mind for next time.
Jet did a little veg track. Unlike her urban track the day before, she did not do any standing and thinking - she was all business to the end.
She indicates by lying down, but always turns to face me. I think this is because I trained her with a clicker in my kitchen one winter when she was a puppy. So she thinks she has to face me. In SchH the dog must lie in the track direction. Obviously this is better for continuing on - and yet Jet just picks up and goes when I give the command.
As with the other day, Ted was the clean up crew. I did let him "re-track" Jet's track and he found skipped bait. He was so joyful and right on track.
At the end, he got to play ball. I am still pondering how best to work Ted. He is such a bright dog and so eager to please. I want to keep his happy spirit but have him a bit more business-like and focused.
And then, when we were finished working, we played. No wonder it takes me hours to practice when I go out to track! River and Caden played with two balls. For awhile I three a ball for Caden and as he returned, I threw a second ball. This works way better than trying to get him to out it each time!
