Way to go Beth and Denver!

Last Thursday I had the privilege of laying a blind track for my friend Beth and her 1-year-old Golden Retriever boy Denver. Beth has tracked by herself and was curious to see if Denver was ready to certify. I laid a 475 yard track with 5 turns that was aged 35 minutes.

I told Beth to go ahead and start thinking I'd catch up with them on the first leg; Denver was a green dog. Well, Denver was off like a shot, trucking down the track with his nose down! Clearly he knew just what he was doing and I had to jog to keep up! Beth and Denver have worked hard, and when he reached his article, I told her they were 95% of the way there! 

Beth just had to work out a little issue with Denver's confidence on turns. Occasionally when the going got tough, Denver wanted mom to help.  Giving your dog that little bit of "confidence" is really easy to do when you lay your own tracks and work by yourself. I've done it to all three of my dogs; if you look back to the beginning of the month, you'll see Devon and I had to work that issue out, too, on MOT turns!

Beth did her homework, and so did Denver. On Saturday, she met Steve and Janet Ripley out tracking. Little did she know, Steve was going to pull a fast one on her! He laid a blind track as she'd requested. Denver and Beth did a fantastic job and when Denver laid down on the final glove, Steve asked Beth when she was going to start entering tracking tests. Beth said, "Well, I have to get Certified." Steve grinned and said, "You just did!" Steve laid a certification track for her but didn't bother to tell her. Why get her all nervous?

So congratulations to Beth and Denver. You worked hard and it all paid off - now go enter some tests and make us even more proud!