"I had fun. I don't know what I was doing, but it was fun!"

I think this is Ian's motto for life. I have to credit Janet Ripley for this one, but she is so right after watching Ian track on Sunday. Steve and Janet were wonderful to lay two TD-type tracks for Ian and follow along behind us to help me read him. 

Janet laid the first track which was a U-shaped track of right turns. It was aged 20-30 minutes. Ian's nose was down more than it had been last week. He was also showing the "track for 5 yards and then get distracted" behavior he showed last week. 

As we were completing that track, Steve laid a second U-shaped track of left turns. On both tracks Ian "hit a wall" after the second turn and really lost focus. He started stronger on the second, fresher track; but he still didn't track very long with his nose down before wandering off.

The conclusion by all is that he really doesn't get the game yet. He is having a lot of fun, and he wants to do it. He just isn't really sure WHAT it is he's supposed to be doing! And he was enjoying himself so much, he really didn't care too much that he had two people following him. Of course, his barking and growling don't phase Steve and Janet, which confuses him all the more!

We also had another great discussion about teaching older dogs who have been competitive in other sports the game of tracking. All the other games we play surround me telling the dog what to do. The only two games Ian has every played are agility and rally. Both require him to absolutely focus on me and do what I ask. 

Tracking is the opposite. I need to rely on Ian to tell me where the track is and pull me through it - especially on a blind track. Often this training issue is solved by having someone else handle the dog through the teaching stage and then returning the dog to the original handler after the dog understands the game. We discussed this with Connor who has this problem, too (Connor's second problem is the lack of drive to push through a test). However Ian isn't a dog who can work for anyone else.

So, I guess Ian and I have work to do. We'll be running fresh tracks that aren't too long to get him to understand the game. The good news is just like agility, he really likes this fun new game ... he's just not quite sure what it is he's having fun doing! Sigh, I do love this dog!