August 2: A great tracking challenge and our first non-veg turn

Saturday we had two great challenges on our VST track that I'm proud to say Devon handled really well. We tracked near a church that looked more like an office building. The track angled from the parking lot across an island, driveway, sidewalk and onto grass along a white iron fence. The trick was the white iron fence was a protection fence for the stairs leading down to a below ground level courtyard. There was an article along the fence, too, so all the scent drifted over and down the retaining wall into the courtyard.

Steve was my tracklayer and said he'd never do something like this in a test, but it was a great scenting lesson for us and Devon. As Devon followed the track across all the hard surfaces, she didn't miss a beat and followed it right down the stairs into the courtyard -- and that was mighty brave because it was 10 p.m. and that courtyard was pitch black!! She checked out the courtyard, came back up the steps and searched on either side of the retaining wall. Then she traveled back to where she lost the track behind me on the sidewalk. She picked up the scent and again followed it right down those steps into the pitch black courtyard. I let her work all this out. After another minute of convincing herself that tracklayer didn’t go into the courtyard, she came back up the steps, and investigated around the retaining wall. Sure enough, she picked the track up and charged down the fence line getting the reward of the article she’d been seeking – a white plastic lid!

It was really amazing to see her diligently working out the scent patterns and eliminating the wrong choices. She was so proud of herself when she found that plastic lid!

Then we were off to our first non-vegetated turn. It was in a gravel parking lot at the back of the church complex. She lost the scent, and searched in large circles. She badly wanted to pull me 50 feet away to the nearest grass to see if our tracklayer flew over there, but I wouldn’t let her. Instead I gave her some water and rescented her. As soon as she made a good commitment in the right direction, I stepped in behind her to give her confidence in her choice. She continued on this line about 80-100 yards to her glove. I was really proud of her – she handled that turn just like she would have a normal turn, just struggled a little more. Hopefully next time she will have learned something and it will be easier for her.