Shaking off the rust on Ian's tracking

Ian loves to track. I remember telling his breeder for the first time that I laid a track for Ian, and she thought I misspoke! In fact, most people still can't believe I'm tracking Ian. However, Agile Gold knows why I'm tracking Ian. When I got him out of the van, he was so excited to track (and yes, he knew he was tracking), he couldn't contain himself. He was all tail wags, moving black fur and excitement. I asked if Kathy had ever seen him this excited to do agility, and the answer was a resounding no. Ian likes to track better than he likes agility - and that's saying something!

Now, the key is for me to be able to read him well enough for us to get somewhere! I laid a very straight forward two turn track for Ian. The track was aged approximately 35-40 minutes. It was 60 yards (with a 30 yard flag), left turn (which was triple laid) onto a 50 yard leg to a right turn (which was single laid) and 50 yards to the glove. Now, I could have been nice and actually put some food on the track since Ian hasn't tracked since October. I could have also done only one turn, since he's only done three single turn tracks in his life. But I guess I wasn't worrying about the details!

Ian did a nice job on the start. He does circle a lot, and he drives me nuts by pottying on the track (he does BOTH - boys!). However, he does nose down track and really pull me. He knows his job and clearly the age didn't bother him.

However, having a single follower behind him did bother him. Agile Gold is very good about not being bothered when a big black furry beast turns and barks at you ... three times! One would think he'd remember she was back there, but as my mother can swear to, he has a very short memory. In the past he's been a demo dog for my Introduction to Tracking Seminars. While he noticed the gallery watching on those occasions, they were farther away and not "stalking" him. Clearly if we ever make it to certification, this will be an issue. 

Ian again presented the same behavior on turns as before. He gives nice "loss of scent" indication, and he circles to find the track. At some point, I believe he locates it; however, I'm not reading his indication. I wait and wait and wait. Finally, Ian stalls out always pointing in a 45 degree angle directly on the line of the track and he looks at me. I'm sure he's saying, "Hey lady, I've already told you three times it's right there, but you aren't following me. Since I don't really know this game well, and I won't go anywhere without you, I'll just stand here until you decide we need to go down that leg." If I take one step in the direction of the new leg, he goes nose down to the track. Clearly, we need to communicate better than we are! 

Janet gave me a good suggestion today to use rewards to get him pulling around the turn in a way I can read him. I like this idea. I also think I just need to work with him more (what a concept) to really learn to read him. I've also thought about asking others to follow us (which will help get him used to that) and observe him to help me see what I'm missing. Reading Ian is much more difficult than reading Devon. However, if I'm actually going to be a good trainer, I need to figure this dog out.

I remember one of the first things a very good dog trainer said to my friend Linda Smithberger when she got her OTCH on her Novice A dog Max. Linda was told, "Congratulations! Now let's see if you can do it again!" (BTW, she did do it again.) To me, the hallmark of a good trainer, is that they can repeat their success with multiple dogs. I have an incredibly talented tracker with Devon. She has taught me more about the sport of tracking than any text book. Now let's see if I can "do it again!"