2011 Flashback: CT Devon!

I cannot believe it's taken me this long to post about Devon's VST/CT pass. Devon is my first certified tracking dog, first TD, first TDX and second VST/CT dog. Devon and I have learned tracking together, and she has been a wonderful teacher. Without Devon, Page would never have earned her CT ... even though it was a year earlier than Devon's pass. I've told Devon since we got Page that her journey is going to take a different path than Page's - and that's OK by me!

Devon made the third draw in the Oct. 2, 2011, Glenbard Obedience Training Club's VST test in DeKalb, Ill., on the campus of Northern Illinois University. This was the second time I'd made the trip to this campus and this test. It was the site of Page's pass on Oct. 3, 2010, and of Devon's first VST test.

I was more than ready for Devon's VST journey to be over in October 2011. The first fall had been fantastic. Page earned her VST at her first test, and out of three tests in the fall of 2010, Devon nearly passed two coming within approx. 100 yards of the final article. I knew my dog could pass this test! I was content that most VST/CT journeys take several tries and a lot of time due to the difficulty of getting into tests and then passing them. I knew it was your track on your day, so I was fine to hold her over the winter.

But the winter of 2010-2011 was very cold and snowy without much tracking. Then we started entering spring tests and NOT making the draw. UGH! Here I had a dog ready and no tests! We finally made the sixth test we entered, the last test of the season in late May. It was a sunny day and the first 85 degree day and my dog was toast. At that point, I knew I'd have to hold Devon over the summer, and with work ramping up I knew it would be tough to track.

The summer of 2011 was HOT. I realized that Devon couldn't track VST above 75 degrees. As fall approached and the October VST test deadlines were looming, we'd only tracked about 7-8 times. Devon looked good ... but then I again was I dreaming she looked good? We'd hardly tracked, so was she really ready for the grueling VST test? I entered, trusting my dog, and we made the draw for the first test of our fall season.

It was good we'd been to DeKalb. I knew the area and was comfortable. It was also good I knew the route, because Sunday morning came with pockets of very heavy fog. There were times on my drive to the campus that I couldn't see past the hood of the van.

I got to campus very early and waited. I chatted with two wonderful people with Goldens, one new to tracking and working the test. Finally the draw came, and we got track #2! Yeah!!! I LOVE early tracks. I had hoped for an early track, because if it ran like the year before, the early tracks were on the west side of campus in the less populated areas. The down side of those tracks was geese, as I'd learned the year before. The downsides of the later tracks were people and squirrels!

In a last minute judging change, Darlene Bernard was joining her husband John as the judge because the original judge was ill. This was the same judging panel as I'd had the previous year. I stayed at the draw site, as they wanted each of the participants to stay there during the track before them.

I heard quickly that the exhibitor at track #1 failed, so it was our turn! I drove to the track, but there was no parking near the start, so I handed over my keys to a wonderful person in the gallery, got Devon, and we walked with Darlene to the start.

Here is where the test got REALLY interesting. Devon's start was almost exactly where Page's final article had been the previous year. I knew this was going to be tough for me not to want the track to be like Page's track. I was going to have to watch and trust my dog.


Darlene told me as we were walking to the track that they moved the start up because there was a bunny nest near it (i.e., don't let my dog go backwards!!). Then Devon saw a squirrel playing near her start as we walked up. I was NOT going to let her go squirrel hunting this year (an evil squirrel on this campus last year is why she didn't pass).

Devon started well, and indicated her first turn nicely. However, when she got halfway down the leg, she start circling. Unfortunately, she had to poop, which makes her very distracted while tracking. The first orange box on the map is the search area she made after she pooped. This was again very hard on me, because this was the exact search area Page had on this test the previous year. The track could have gone on either side of this street, and as much as I thought it was on the other side, I doubted myself as to whether I wanted it there because it was last year.

Devon finally dragged me across the street (the blue line) and came up with a plastic article. Later, Darlene said that was one of the nicest pieces of tracking she'd ever seen from a VST dog, and the fact that I followed her unquestioningly was a nice piece of handling. This was also the same location where Page dragged me back across the street last year to track to her pass. Things were very eerie for me!

Devon came up with the plastic article, but she did it coming perpendicular to the track. I suspected this, but when she started working forward, I let her explore. Again, I wasn't sure if I was reading her correctly or wanting it to be like 2010. Finally when she worked back toward where we found the article, I opened my shoulders toward either possibility, sat her, watered her and rescented her. When she worked along the purple line, I stepped out in confidence behind her. This was a difficult mental thing to do, because I had so many doubts.

We came upon a pavement pad between trees and a dumpster and imagine my horror to see the ground covered in broken glass (marked on the map in the red box). Lots of it! I took a subtle peek behind me and Darlene was still directly behind me as was the gallery (always a good sign), so I pushed Devon through the glass. When she wanted to circle, I guided her on through, not caring if I got a reprimand from the judges. I was not going to injure my dog! (I checked and washed her paws thoroughly after the test.)

Out onto the parking lot, and in VST, that means you are looking for an MOT, or Moment of Truth turn. For those non-trackers that's a 90 degree turn on a non veg surface where the dog cannot accomplish the turn by fringing on veg; typically it means no veg within at least 30 yards of the turn in any direction.

When Devon indicated a right turn, then double checked herself and indicated it again, I went. You can see by the blue line on the map, she turned a little early. As we tracked forward, I was searching the area for another article, knowing most judges will try and reward the dog with an article after the MOT if they can, and we had not yet had an article on non-veg (at least one article needs to be on non-veg). I saw the article about a split second before Devon winded it and headed that way.

At the article, I knew two things. First, I knew the track diverged from the 2010 track here, because Devon's article was at the spot of Page's MOT in 2010. Second, I knew the track went forward along the building and into the grass because we had no place else to go. We only had to find that last article, and we still needed one more turn, but we were close. In fact, Devon and I had been this close on two other occasions the fall of 2010, but I was determined we'd finish this time! We had only a little more parking lot and good lush grass in front of us!

After a water break and a rescent at the article, Devon tracked strongly across the parking lot to the grass. I could see the tracklayer's steps in the wet grass into the pine trees. Out of the pine trees, Devon started circling. The orange box shows you the search area, and the photo here is of us during the search. Devon looks confident, doesn't she? The final article is to my left up the hill, beyond it's crest and to the right of the two pines and shadows of the trees.

I think this is the only place I really almost panicked. We were so close, and we'd failed at this point two other times! My mental game slipped, and I was ready to put my nose down and find that last article myself!

What you can't tell from the map but can see in the photo is that we had to go up hill for the final article. After seeing the end of the track and the terrain, I do know why Devon struggled here. Remember I said it was very, very foggy that morning? Fog is damp and damp holds scent. I now know she was working the scent cone from the final article. It had traveled downhill with the fog and settled in that valley area, especially the taller cover she wanted to go into. The tracklayer's scent was trapped in the trees, but once she cleared them, Devon was exposed to this large fairly dense scent cone she needed to explore. Her early article search about gave me heart failure!

Finally we worked back to that pine tree area, where I knew the track was. I sat Devon and watered her and rescented her and she settled right back into her job, moving forward and uphill. As we crested the small rise, I saw a bright teal sock on the grass and as Devon crested the hill right after me, she saw it too. Devon made a beeline for it, and as soon as it was in her mouth I raised my hand in success!

Can you see me with my arm in the air on the hill in the upper middle of this photo? And Darlene with her hands in the air by the pine trees in the lower left. Darlene was all smiles when she saw Devon come back down the hill, sock in hand. She cheered in delight, as did John behind her and the gallery sent up a cheer, too. I think that's my tracklayer in the gallery with her arm in the air.

I was in tears as soon as Devon had that sock. I ran down the hill and threw my arms around Darlene and thanked her for passing both of my girls to their Champion Tracker. The first words out of her mouth were, "I know! And did that track look familiar???" What a hoot! I bet Darlene was floored when I drew track #2.

After a quick hug for John, Devon ran to the gallery to present her sock to each and every one of them. They all gave her the adoration she deserved! I was fortunate to have one other VST judge in the gallery, Beth Walker, who later passed with her Belgian Terv earning another CT. Jeanne Ramirez was also in the gallery, wife of judge Vince Ramirez and another multiple CT Terv trainer/handler. Both complemented us on our pass and me on my handling.

In addition, my tracklayer had Goldens and just started tracking. This was her first VST track she laid. She said several folks in the gallery remarked on my good handling. That's important to me because I've never wanted to fail my dogs by my handling. Several in the gallery also remembered Page's pass last year, and they were very impressed with both my dogs. At the end of the day, Darlene asked me when I was going to bring another Gaylan's Golden Retriever for them to pass to be another CT. I told them it would be a while! I had no more tracking dogs left in my house to finish!

Now for the details: Devon's track was 655 yards long, with 379 yards of veg and 276 yards of non-veg. It was aged 3 hours and 5 minutes. It had four turns (yes, really!), and leg lengths were 115 yards, 66 yards, 169 yards, 260 yards and 45 yards. Devon passed in approximately 25 minutes, which is very quick for a VST pass (Page took about 45 minutes). There were a total of 3 passes at our test, which is a very high pass rate out of 8 tracks.

As has been the case from the time Page entered our lives, Devon's pass is intertwined with Page's pass. Their journeys, while different, are so interrelated. The October Glenbard Obedience Training Club's test at DeKalb is the test where Page passed her VST/CT. For those of you who do tracking, you know that it is a random draw to even get in a test. Then, once you reach the site, you have a second random draw for tracks the day of the test.

There are 8 tracks at this test. Devon got the third draw and drew track #2. In 2010, Page had drawn track #3. Imagine my surprise when they took me to Devon's track, and the start flag was almost exactly where Page's final article was! The map here is an overlay of Page's track from 2010 (pink) with Devon's track from 2011 (purple). What where the odds that I drew that track when 75% of it was Page's track from the previous year backwards! It was incredibly difficult for me to handle Devon wondering if I was seeing what I wanted to see or she was really tracking what she was supposed to!

So that's Devon's story of her VST pass. While Page's was a great accomplishment, her journey was much shorter and straight forward. Devon is my first certified dog, and we worked for four years for this title. When Devon certified to track at 7 months, the first words out of the judge's mouth were not congratulations. They were, "Did you know what she did back there before the last turn?" My response was to ask if we'd passed; I'd never certified I dog before. Judge Steve Ripley said, "Yes you did, but did you see what she did?" I said no.

He then told me Devon indicated a 48-hour old cross track he'd laid in the field 2 days before. He asked me how far I wanted to go with this dog, and without really understanding what I was saying I said, "I want a Champion Tracker." Five years later, that dream came true! I have to thank Steve for teaching me what he knows about VST tracking. Steve and his wife Janet who laid hundreds of footsteps for Devon to track were an important part of success.

Devon and I learned tracking together, she taught me what I know about how dogs track scent, and she is my heart dog. Frankly, I'm glad our journey was longer; there was more to savor. What a great joy it was for us to accomplish this goal together! She is a truly wonderful dog.

Devon's first VST test

I think Devon deserves her own post about her first VST test. It was also on Oct. 3 at DeKalb, IL. Devon drew track 7. Devon's track was 686 yards long, with 389 yards of non-veg, or 57%. It was aged 4 hours and 22 minutes. It was warmer when she ran. Her track was in the heart of campus, and there was much more activity from people on her track. Devon was foiled by an evil squirrel at the start of the track. He not only sat directly on the track and teased her from the ground. But then he also jump on a nearby tree about 4 ft. off the ground and chattered at her. He was tormenting and taunting her to come get him. Since this was a university campus, the squirrels were quite bold. Had the squirrel just run up the tree, I'm sure Devon would have gotten back to work. However, the taunting really fried her brain. After much rescenting and the squirrel finally going up the tree, Devon moved on. Unfortunately, she got a double whammy on the distractions. While she was dealing with the evil squirrel, about 10-12 people walked across her first turn. The building on the right is the library and we started the track at 1:37 p.m. on a Sunday; lots of traffic to the library! Devon did search left and I could tell by the lay of the land the track went that way, but Devon was all for the trees where she could do more squirrel hunting. She went forward into the grass and got wrapped around a tree so I had to step into the area after her. Once I was in the grass, it was impossible to work her back and she committed to squirrel hunting under the trees to the right. The purple line is Devon's path and the blue line is the track.

Once back on track, Devon got her brain back after turn 2 when she got into the grass. There she finally committed to a strong track. The orange line indicates a sunken courtyard with gravel and picnic tables and the track when through this area (about 4 steps down). Devon handled this beautifully. After the courtyard, the track went into the grass along this well traveled sidewalk and Devon did a great job picking out her article among the trash littering the area.

The pink line indicates a concrete bridge over the creek, and the track when up across that. Devon once again handled this like a charm. She investigated the base of the stairs and below the bridge before popping right back up and across the bridge. I'm sure both the courtyard and bridge would have scared most folks, but Devon has done these things in practice tracks. I'm sure once she realized the scent was drifting down off the bridge, she went, "hey I know this one!"

I was really thrilled with Devon's MOT and the article right before it was great. Devon shot past it but only by 15 ft. or less. The map doesn't show it, but they've added in a concrete sidewalk through this parking lot and reconfigured the parking, and that's what Devon was on when she made her turn and went into the parking lot toward the building. Devon was dead on the track at this point, because my tracklayer told me her landmark when we turned. This was nice because it proved to me Devon could handle a test MOT.

Once on the grass, she easily found her last article. I felt really good about how Devon ran this test and where she is. She nailed this track once she got committed. Normally Devon has fantastic starts, but the squirrel was just too much for her. There is doubt in my mind that if Devon gets a good start, we'll pass a test soon.

Page is a Champion Tracker!

I am so proud of Page! She's only 19-months old, and she's passed her first (and my first) Variable Surface Tracking test. By passing all three AKC tracking tests (TD, TDX and VST), Page becomes a Champion Tracker.

Our test yesterday was in DeKalb, IL, at Northern Illinois University. The test was hosted by the Glenbard All-Breed Obedience Club; our judges were Darlene and John Barnard. Page's drew track #3, which was 708 yards long. It had 252 yards of non-veg and 456 of veg. It was aged 3 hours and 25 minutes when we started, and she finished it in 40 minutes. The wind was minimal and the sky was bright blue with no clouds; the temperature was probably in the upper 30s to lower 40s. Our track was on the far west side of the campus near the stadium and other support buildings; there was no football game that weekend.

The one thing I noticed as we started track #1 was the geese. There were thousands of them using this part of campus as a migration stopover. The noise was intense and when a large group took flight it was impressive. As I watched the first two dogs track, both Belgian Tervurens, I just hoped there would be no geese on either Devon or Page's tracks. I thought that would be way too much for either of them, especially with tasty tempting goose poop to eat.

As we pulled up to park on the south side of a large parking lot, I knew Page's start had to be on the grass around us, and it was filled with geese. They asking me to stand behind my car and wait while the two judges tried to remove the geese from my start. I am not joking when I say there must have been close to 200 geese in the field at the start. I could hear the judges yelling and blowing their whistles shooing away the geese.

The judges called me to the start and I walked up the hill with a very excited Page lunging forward in anticipating of finding a start flag. As I looked down at the start flag surrounded by feathers and goose poop littering the ground, I could either laugh or cry. I chose to laugh. How fitting: Gaylan's Wild Goose Chase goes to the flag amid the fallout from geese!

The blue line on the map is the actual track. I have always let Page choose her start, and she’s always been fine. However, I knew she’d need extra concentration on this one. I held her line when she wanted to blast off the flag after her initial sniff of the start article. She looked up at me questioningly. I smiled and then reached my hand down to the article (half of a leather moccasin), holding it for a few seconds causing her to give it another good long sniff. As she pulled her nose up the second time, I told her to track and she was off like shot. The green area on the map indicates the area where the geese were on her start.

Page tracked nose down straight as an arrow for about 30 ft., then she circled left all the way behind me. She dropped back down on the track and tracked a few more feet before snatching a mouthful of goose poop (she got a leave it command for that). She tracked straight for a few more feet and did one last small circle before dropping her nose down and tracking the first leg straight as an arrow, nose down and pulling as if it were a 10 minute old track.

Her first turn was a piece of cake, and she soon found her first article, a white plastic soccer toy that looked like a hockey puck. She was off and tracking again. Her second turn was against a hedge row/fence line, and she showed beautiful loss of scent indicating the turn. The turn was either right or left, and I figured it wasn’t left because that would take us back in the direction of track 2. Right would take us to the front of building with a parking lot beyond it. Since we had yet to do any non-veg I suspected it was a right turn. After investigating the tall cover for critters, Page quickly confirmed the right turn, and we moved to the building.

Before reaching the building, Page found a ground hog hole to investigate, sticking her entire head down to the shoulders into the hole and wagging her tail at the stories the scent told. I told her that she should be tracking, and Page quickly left the hole but clearly told me she thought it would be great fun to investigate! She also found a cross track at the side of building to investigate before moving across her first transition area onto the sidewalk.

Page told me that the track went straight down the middle of a sidewalk. However, she fringed into the ground cover in front of the building and spent quite a bit of time crittering in there. I patiently waited for her to get that out of her system.

Page finally worked to the end of the sidewalk and showed loss of scent. She indicated that the track went into the parking lot, but she worked the turn a lot before committing. The pink line is the line Page took, and I later found out that she turned early and was to the left of the actual track (the blue line) the entire time through the parking lot.

This is where fatigue started to show with Page. She worked the parking lot hard, expending a lot of energy. Halfway through the parking lot, she made a 90 degree turn to the right and investigated the grass (orange area) but couldn’t find a track there. I suspected by Page’s body posture she wasn’t finding anything, and looking around I didn’t see how the track could go that direction, so when Page worked back to me I backed up to where she had the track on the parking lot. At this point she looked up at me with tongue hanging out as if to say, "This is REALLY hard!"

Page got back to work in the parking lot but did a lot of searching. She started working left of her line, too (the other orange area). We finally made it to the grass in front of the parking lot and she did a lot of perpendicular searching, so I suspected a turn in this area. I do remember Page working both right and left through here, and seeing the actual track I now understand her working to the right but not being committed; she was actually backtracking since she came in to the leg left of the turn.

As Page worked this area, a man came out of the building across the street and walked up past us (yellow line). Page greeted him enthusiastically (the only way she knows how). I told Page to get back to work, and he asked politely if she was working. I said yes she was tracking. He said he wondered what all the activity was today. I then mentioned nicely that we were in a test. He said ok and wished us luck. Then he said he was going to go start his big truck and he hoped it wouldn’t bother us. I told him I was sure she would be fine, but thanked him for his concern. He got into the pick up truck parked behind us then went to the next lot to get his big truck. All this time Page was working the grass trying to commit to a track.

Likely because of his man and because I was facing toward the road with my back to the parking lot, Page decided to cross the street. She worked the grass to the left, so I stepped in behind her and we tracked long the far side of the street up to almost the corner (pink line).

When Page was almost at the corner, she stopped and flung herself at the end of the line toward a cup that was laying in the edge of the street and rolling in the wind. I waited to see what she would do next. Normally, if they insist on investigating something, I'll let them go to it to realize it's not their item. However, Page lost interest and started working the grass to the right. I could tell she wasn’t convinced of a scent, and I knew it was late in the track and we needed another article soon. I could also see something on the drive behind the cup that made me wonder. If Page turned that way again, I would have probably gone to investigate.

Page didn't continue forward, but turned right and worked the grass toward a parking lot beyond the grass. I could tell she wasn't certain and I didn't push her toward the parking lot but let her continue to work. I scented her a couple f times, and after the second time of rescenting with the start article, her head went up and she did a 180 and went back across the street and started working the grass on that side of the street.

As soon as we crossed over there and I saw the judges and gallery on that side of the street I about hit myself in the forehead. I KNEW what had happened. She had been paralleling the track on the opposite side of the street, and I suspected what it was I saw on the drive. Sure enough, Page dropped onto a solid track to her right, tracking like it was a fresh track. We came to a corner, turned right and tracked right up to that thing I saw on the drive – Page’s metal article, a metal switch plate.

I am fully aware that had I pushed her to farther to the right when she was working the grass across the street on the corner, I would have heard a whistle because she would have tracked past her article. I did think that the track could go into the parking lot beyond the grass, but I consciously waited until Page took me there. She never did, and she wasn’t committed to anything in that area but was doing a search for scent.

This is where I continue to be very grateful to my many hours of tracking with Steve and his mentoring me on handling. I learned very early not to push my dog, but wait until she tells me where the track goes. I think this is the hardest part of tracking; the patience. But to me it’s the most important lesson.

Page had caught her second wind as soon as she dropped onto the track on the correct side of the street. As soon as I picked up the metal article, she was off again. One more corner, and we were headed toward something white in the grass: her cloth article, a utility glove!

The judges had warned us not to cheer a pass until the judges had said it was a pass. So with tears in my eyes and hearing nothing behind me, I turned to look at the judges. They were both smiling and nodding, but I wanted to make sure. I said, “Did we pass: did we do it??” Darlene said yes and John gave us a thumbs up. I walked back down the track to the judges and gallery, crying all the way!

I got many hugs and congratulations, and immediately the talk started as to whether or not Page was the youngest Champion Tracker. Several knew of another person who passed with an 18-month-old male pointer, so she is not the youngest. But hey, that was never my goal. I have just tracked Page and entered her when I thought she was ready.

Interestingly, my tracklayer admitted to me that when she saw Page's age, she thought I had taken someone’s spot who truly deserved to be in the test. She couldn't imagine a 19-month-old being ready for a VST. I'm glad Page changed her mind!

So Page is now a Champion Tracker, and her AKC tracking career has ended. It's sad because she does love to track. I'll likely investigate working with the Mantrailing group again. Page really enjoyed that and was quite good at it. Maybe we can put her talent to use in other ways!

I’ll end this post where the dream began. When Devon certified at 7 months, the tracking judge who certified us (Steve Ripley) said she indicated a 48 hour old cross track on her track. He asked me how far I wanted to go with my dog, and I said to a Champion Tracker (not really knowing what that would take). He said he would help me, and that day a dream was born.

Steve has taught me everything I know about VST and how to be a good handler. His experience as a tracking judge has shown him everything that people do wrong, and I have worked hard not to make those mistakes. I owe a lot of our success to Steve sharing his wisdom. Steve admitted to me yesterday that he predicted Page would pass her first VST test. And Page surpassed his CT Zoe as the youngest CT Golden, so it has been nice to know that he has been so supportive of me, Devon and Page, knowing all this time Page would eclipse one of his milestones. But that's how the tracking community is. They give back, and they expect the same of you!

And I have to add that Devon was in her first VST test yesterday, too. Unfortunately her track didn't go as well as Page's. But there will be other chances for Devon, and I have a feeling she'll be getting her Champion Tracker post sometime soon!

This week's VST tracks

It's after June 1, so it's time to hit tracking a little harder if we want to meet our goal of fall tests. Both girls track well, but we need work. I've had a few people tell me they think it would be hard to prepare both girls to do VST at the same time. Actually, it's much easier to lay two similar types of tracks, versus one VST and one TD or TDX track. It's also lots easier to find good VST tracking areas then TDX grounds. I am again very thankful Page passed her TDX last fall. She did me a lot of favors when she did that!

And as I've said so many times, Devon and Page are so different, it's easy to treat them as individuals. Devon's strengths are the experience she has in tracking and her article indications. She also tends to track "typically" of must dogs. Devon's weakness is confidence. Page's strengths are her nose-down footstep tracking style. She is atypical in that she works until she solves her problem; she doesn't lack confidence. Page's weaknesses are article indications and her lack of "mileage" or experience under her tracking harness.

We've tracked twice this week. Page usually runs first, so I'll start with her tracks. Unfortunately the places I used for both girls on Sunday were too "new" to be on Google Maps or Google Earth, so no images. Page's track was very good; it was aged about 2 hours and 20 minutes. I did a very short track with grass, sidewalk, grass, curb, grass. I'm also trying to "wean" chalk with both girls. I'm making my chalk marks smaller (only 1-2 inches long) and placed on cracks or on paint lines where it's easy to get scent anyway. I'm hoping to teach the girls to look to these "scent holding" places for clues on their tracks.

Page worked her track well, and she worked her turns meticulously until she found the correct new leg. She shows no favoritism to vegetation versus non-veg. either on straight legs or when working turns. She tracks nose down no matter what the surface. Unfortunately she tracked right by a plastic article hidden just off the track under a bush even though it had kibble in it. More work on articles!

Tuesday's track was even better than Sunday's track. This is a track Devon ran a few weeks ago. It was aged 3 hours and 15 minutes; the track was 334 yards long with 37% non-veg. Page started strong and continued strong. She tracked nose down on the sidewalk, only getting distracted when a worker rolled a wheelbarrow within a few hundred feet to unload mulch. She wagged and barked at him as I explained what we were doing. He shrugged his shoulders and went about his work; and as soon as I told Page to do the same, she did.

The orange lines on the map show his various paths during his work related to Page's track. I was simply amazed how Page worked as if he hadn't been there. The only sign she was distracted by his scent was when she worked the turn and tracked toward the distant pile indicating she did check out his path once.

The nicest thing Page did on this track was the non-veg turn off the sidewalk into the curb. She worked this like she was working a vegetative turn; it was beautiful to watch. As soon as she found the new leg, she was off nose down in a straight line.

The worker did pick up her metal article (which I retrieved later). She did not give any indication it had been there, but then again I had to hold her to get her to acknowledge the bright white plastic article in the grass she wanted to track by, too.

The only part of this track that gave Page any problem was the angle across the last leg of parking lot. Angles are hard for dogs to work in field or in tracking; they want to square up. Page worked hard to adjust herself along this line and did a fairly good job.

I must carry high value treats and hold Page until she finds her article, indicates it and reward her. She will indicate the articles if I make her. I now have to convince her how valuable it is. I think Page is ready for me to introduce MOTs on her next track. I'll be interested if her turns in curbs help her transition to MOTs.

Devon worked well on Sunday. Her track was similar to Page's: short and only 2+ hours old with grass, parking lot under a roof (bank drive thru lane), grass, parking lot, grass. Devon struggled a little at the start. She also worked hard in the parking lot under the roof. She also overshot the veg turn before the second parking lot run. Her article indications were lovely, and once she was solidly on the non-veg legs she tracked confidently.

Devon's track on Tuesday awas 3.5 hours old. It was 423 yards long with 53% non-veg and two MOT turns. This track was much tougher than the one she had earlier in the week.

Devon really struggled to start in the short, sparser grass which was dry. Her first turn was also a real struggle. However, once she got into the curb, she worked the long non-veg section well.

As Devon works non-veg, she tends to track straight then lift her head and circle, checking out other options. I don't know if this is a confidence problem or if she's double checking herself. I've learned the rule of three with Devon. If she circles more than three times, it's time to call her in for water and a rescent.

Unfortunately the two MOTs were too much for Devon. She tracked well to the turn and indicated loss of scent but struggled to find the new leg. In addition, I had forgotten to bring water and she was thirsty. On both MOTs I finally pointed out the new leg, and once she found it she worked the new leg well.

Devon also struggled on the last vegetative turn, spending way too much time on it. I've heard this is typical of VST dogs, as well as forgetting how to start strong which Devon also exhibited. Because I want to keep Devon's confidence high, I plan to work starts the next time we track. I'll lay two to three 125 yard tracks that start, have one turn and end on non-veg.

After some work on starts, I'll next move to more transition work and build in some turns into curbs to build more confidence. As her confidence builds, I'll put the MOTs back in.

Generally both girls look very good in tracking. They love to track and get very excited to see their harnesses come out. I'm enjoying our work, so I look forward to working on this journey this summer.

Observing a VST test

Since one of my goals this year is to get Devon and Page test-ready for VST, I thought I should go watch a VST test to see what I was getting myself into. In mid-April, I went to Chicago to watch the Moraine Tracking Club's VST test at Lincolnshire. I even got to see one dog pass!

This is a wonderful tracking club, full of great and helpful people. The grounds at Lincolnshire are perfect; what a lovely office park they have to test in. Judges Ted Hoesel and Beth Walker plotted interesting tracks, and I was able to walk behind all 8 participants that day.

I think my greatest observation from the test is that thanks to training with Steve Ripley, we are on the right track (no pun intended) with our training. We're working on the things the dogs will be tested on, specifically transitions and "moment of truth" or MOT turns. I will always be grateful for the opportunity to learn from Steve and from all the tracking teams he's followed in his years of judging.

I got to see some great handling and some really bad handling at this test. It reinforced to me how important it is to trust your dog and how to be patient while the dog is working out scenting problems. Handler Allison Bently who passed that day with her GSD Meghan was the perfect example of patience and trust. After working out a MOT turn, Meghan cut the corner of the next turn when she spotted her plastic article in a parking lot. Meghan came up on the article from the south, but the leg ran east-west with the track going east to Allison's right.

After picking up the article, watering and rescenting, Meghan continued north in the direction she traveled to find the article; it was also the direction Allison was facing. However, after 15 ft. Meghan's head lifted, she circled, and she correctly identified the track to Allison's right and tracked off in that direction, 90 degrees from where Allison was facing and from the path they had taken to the article. The gallery knew this was correct, but Allison was running a blind track. When Meghan showed Allison tracking posture, Allison immediate turned and followed her dog across the parking lot and eventually through two more turns to the final article.

Following your dog in a different direction after picking up an article has got to be a hard decision. And in this case, Allison correctly chose to trust her dog and their team was rewarded with the coveted "Champion Tracker" title. Those decisions are easier to make when you know how to read your dog and you have had lots of tracking "mileage" under your belt.

Equally as educational but monumentally frustrating was following another team where the handler failed mightily in his job to read his dog. It was the team's first VST test, and this amazing Golden Retriever made the first leg of this track look easy. I learned from club members and seasoned trackers, that the leg full of transitions in front of a large building with the wind coming off the pond was extremely difficult. After turning at the side of the building, the dog didn't hesitate to track straight into the middle of a parking lot.

Even to me, it was clear when the dog indicated loss of scent and wanted to make a right MOT turn. The dog indicated this turn several times and the gallery became hopeful we'd see another pass that day. However, our hopes were dashed as the handler forced the dog forward ignoring more than a dozen indications of a right hard surface turn.

The ever patient judges allowed this team to work left and eventually the dog brought the handler back to the very same spot and again indicated the right MOT turn. This time the handler took it and our hopes soared. However, when dog and handler reached a grassy island and the dog indicated a left turn on the island, the handler again ignored his dog. Eventually the confused handler circled back around to the right and ended up on the previous leg (even walking right past the judges going in the wrong direction) and again pushed his dog past the MOT turn the dog had worked so hard to accomplish. That is when they heard the whistle.

As a member of the gallery, I got to witness first hand how frustrating it must be to be a VST judge. After seeing more than a dozen indications of that turn from the dog, I lost count how many times that dog told his handler where the track went, only to have the handler think he knew better. No matter how much you think you know, you must over-ride your brain and follow your dog. The dog has the nose and knows where the track is. Your job is to recognize when the dog is on the track and when he/she isn't.

Finally, I got to see several MOT turns on actual test tracks. I now have a better understanding of these turns and how they can be used. According to the AKC's Tracking Regulations, a MOT is defined as:

At least one (1) moment of truth 90-degree turn will be in an area devoid of

vegetation and will be plotted to allow at least thirty (30) yards before crossing

or returning to a vegetated surface.

I had always envisioned MOTs as turns in the middle of a parking lot or non-vegetated area and no vegetation within 30 yards in any direction. While that is an example of an MOT, I also got to see other examples which were turns that were devoid of vegetation, at least 30 yards from vegetation in many directions and could not be successfully accomplished by fringing the scent on vegetation.

Here is an example of two MOTs. Turn 2 is what I would typically think of as an MOT. However, Turn 1 is also an MOT. There is an island close to one leg before the turn; but the turn could not be successfully done with the dog working any vegetation and the track did not cross vegetation for more than 30 yards. Seeing turns like this gives me even more ideas for working MOT as we train.

Our trip to Lincolnshire was educational and worth the time we took. It encouraged me that our training is going in the right direction. And it gave me real life examples of how important it is to read your dog and trust your dog while tracking.

2010 Goals

Happy New Year! The end of 2009 brings with it club membership dues and submitting last year's accomplishments for various club awards. It's a great time not only to look back, but also look forward and think about goals for 2010.

I have one email group and one trainer who asks its members/students to submit their goals each year. I like thinking about both short and long term training goals, so this has been fun to do each year.

So how do you set goals? Jenn Crank of IncrediPAWS said her goals need to be S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based). I really liked that model.

I also think you need to look at long-term and short-term goals separately. Long-term goals include "career" goals for each dog. I start out a list of titles I want my dogs to have when they retire. Then I think about progression toward each different goal. In balancing multiple sports, which sport am I going to concentrate in first and which will wait until the end of the dog's career? Those are the big picture goals when I bring a dog home. Those goals rarely see big adjustments, other than in the timeline it takes to achieve them.

Next come the shorter-term goals, yearly, monthly, quarterly and weekly. This is where I add my resources into the mix, as well as balancing multiple sports. I start big picture and then work my way down. So, at the end of the year, what titles do I want my dogs to achieve? How much money and training time will that take? If I'm looking toward pushing to a big title, which other trials will fall into the background this year to make room for that accomplishment?

And goals don't have to be about titles, they should include training. For instance one of my big goals for Devon this year is to have a confident teeter performance. One of my goals for Page is to have her agility obstacle performances solid by the middle of the year.

Once you have your yearly and quarterly goals set, then the training begins. How do you organize your training? Do you journal? Do you plan out your training sessions each week? How do you track your progress?

I plan my training session on the calendar about 10 days out. I look at my work schedule and coordinate with weather.com to see what days would be best for outdoor work. Then I list on the top of each page in its own unique color what training session Page and Devon will have each day.

For daily training sessions, I use a checklist to track my progress. I write out all the steps or progressions of each thing I'm training and put an "X" beside it each time I train it. This let's me see at a glance where I'm going. And if I run into problems, I can look back and see where we might have spent too little time and revisit that area.

So, what are the girls' goals for 2010? Ok, I'll be really brave and post them! For Devon, I would like to get her VST in the first half of 2010. This is a huge tracking goal, so we'll start gearing up for it in late February.

In agility, I'd like Devon to earn her AXJ and if not her MXJ be on the way to it with most of her legs. Agility is one of those sports that often has to take a backseat to field and tracking, so she will only trial periodically. Devon's other big agility goal is to have a confident teeter by fall.

In field, I plan to work drills and concepts to set her up for her Master Hunter. I'd like to enter at least one or two tests this fall, just to get our feet wet. And this leaves obedience; poor obedience is once again getting the "leftover time." Our goals for obedience are simply training goals. I'd like to solidify Devon's Open obedience exercises and teach the utility exercises. I plan to continue to work her precision heeling.

And what about Page? Well, Page will also be pursuing her VST in the first half of 2010. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had to make a tough decision about whether to pursue Devon's MH or VST in 2010. What made the decision is that both Devon and Page are working VST, and I didn't want either of their tracking to stagnate.

Page's other titling goals for 2010 include getting her JH and WC in the fall. This will take a significant amount of training during the summer, but I think they are achievable goals. With her upcoming field training, she should be on her way to transition to Senior work by fall. This will set the girls up to dovetail field work in Senior and Master very well in 2011.

Page's training goals also include agility and obedience. For agility, I'd like her equipment/obstacle training to be complete by summer, so she can begin to sequence by fall. If I see any fall off in her agility performance due to her other sports, I'll back off her agility training to a maintenance level. In obedience, I am currently teaching heads up heeling and other novice concepts (fronts, finishes, etc.). I will maintain those skills throughout the year as we shift focus to other sports.

Those are our 2010 goals. I'd love to hear about everyone else's 2010 goals! Leave me a comment so I don't feel so alone in my planning!

Balancing multiple sports

I was going back through some of the comments on the blog this week, and I reread a comment from Lora asking I how balance training multiple dog sports. I thought going into the new year, it was a good topic for a blog post.

First, I think everyone needs to figure out what their personal dog training goals are. Some people just want to enjoy time with their dog. I commented recently to a friend as we watched another local competitor run his dog that he needed to be thinking about a new puppy since his dog was starting to show her age. My friend turned to me and said, "With him, it's not about doing agility, it's about doing agility with this dog." Wow, what an insightful comment.

Do you just want to do agility and excel in it? Do you love a particular breed of dog, and you want to do dog sports with that breed? Maybe you have family obligations and you can only attend local trials. Think not only about your dog and your life, but what are your resources (time, money, access to training, access to trials, ability to travel to trials, etc.)?

I think everyone needs to have a realistic goal for their dogs and their lives. Dog training should be about the Journey and not just about the titles and the trophies (but that's another post that I did back in August!). So I think the discussion about doing multiple dog sports or doing multiple venues of one sport needs to start with your goals and resources.

For me, dog training is about the accomplishment of working with a canine partner to achieve as high a level of training as possible. If someone holds out a goal in front of me and thinks my dog and I can do it, I'll go for it.

Here's a couple of examples from my situation. Ian is mildly reactive and people-shy, but he showed incredible performance abilities as a puppy. We tried conformation when he was very young, and he learned growling at judges made them go away (to his credit he really didn't know what he did the first time he growled at a judge, but it worked so he repeated it).

Since conformation wasn't my favorite sport, it didn't break my heart to end that part of his career. I knew he'd also never be an obedience dog, because to earn a CD he had to do a stand for exam where the judge goes over him. So Ian became an agility dog. I chose this puppy because of his performance abilities; and while we had several rocky periods, I knew he had the ability to be an excellent performance dog. His agility career speaks for itself, and when rally came along (another non-judge intrusive sport), he again proved his abilities. So for Ian, I considered his limitations, and we selected sports he would excel in - and he excelled to the highest levels.

Devon has been a completely different story. I originally got her to do agility and obedience; I wanted a MACH UDX Golden. Gayle asked me to put a JH on her, and I agreed. I figured what the heck I'd learn something new and it wouldn't take too long. I found an excellent pro trainer willing to give me private lessons, Mitch White. At our first lesson when Devon was 5 months old, Mitch was throwing a duck for her and she was retrieving it back to him like a big dog. Mitch said, "Devon you go tell you Mommy you want to be a MASTER Hunter, not a Junior Hunter!" That day a dream was born and a new sport was added to our list.

When Devon passed her tracking certification test at 8 months of age, she indicated a 48-hour old cross track. Steve Ripley told me what she had done, then asked me how far I wanted to take tracking with this dog. When I said I was thinking of getting a Champion Tracker, he said he would help me get there. That day another dream was born and another sport was added to our list.

And I love Devon so much, I jumped at the chance to get Page and work both girls in multiple sports. So now I have two amazing girls, and I have high level goals in four sports. Although I enjoy other venues of agility (USDAA, CPE), my goals are too broad based to do multiple venues of one sport. Because AKC offers me high level titles in all four of my sports, it has become my venue of choice.

I learned several years ago that achieving high level titles means foundation, foundation, foundation. So in the girls' early weeks they were started with foundation for every sport. At about 5 months, I began concentrating in areas depending on the season. Spring, Summer and fall have been about field work and tracking since those sports are outdoor sports, and late fall and winter have been about obedience and agility since I can do those sports inside.

The other thing to keep in mind when balancing multiple sports is that as you begin to train the tough, meaty content of the higher levels of each sport, other sports must take a backseat. It's impossible to train advanced levels in all sports without something slipping.

This year was a good example of that for Devon. In the spring her VST tracking looked really good. We worked hard on tracking from late February into early June, and I began to think about VST tests in late fall. But in late June I began a serious push with advanced field work to get Devon ready for her Senior Hunter tests in September. By August, Devon's tracking fell apart and she lost confidence.

I was frustrated, but I knew the problem was our focus on field work and training at high levels in both sports. As difficult as it was at the time (and I appreciate Janet and Steve Ripley forcing the issue), I decided to back off the tracking and push through on the field work. Devon was much closer to the SH in the fall than the VST. It was the right decision, because now that we've gotten through the SH and given her a break, her tracking looks much better.

And going into 2010, I'm faced with another difficult decision: getting the VST title or pushing on to the Master Hunter. The jump between Senior and Master is a lot less than Junior to Senior, and most dogs earn their Master Hunter fairly quickly after their Senior. However, pushing on to Master would leave Devon's tracking in limbo for at least another year, and I'm not sure I want it to stagnate that long.

The other factor in my decision making is Page. She isn't mature enough to handle Junior Hunter tests yet, but she is working VST very well right now. So it's looking like in 2010, field work will take a back seat to VST training (and that's a preview for another post on goal setting!)

When you are working multiple sports and getting into the higher levels, something has to give. You cannot maintain many sports and push the dog in all of them when the difficulty increases. For me that has meant less time spent on sports I really enjoy (agility) and pushing off other sports until later that my instructors would rather not see me do (obedience).

But in the end it all comes back to the Journey. And on my current Journey, I have two amazing girls, and I'm enjoying every bit of training we're doing.

Tracking: 2 out of 3 ain't bad

In the last three days, Devon and Page have had one bad track and two good tracks. Even though we had one bad track, I'm glad things are moving in the right direction - the good tracks have been the more recent ones!

Friday

I combined TDX tracking training at a state park an hour north with transferring our Belgian Sheepdog rescue to her foster home. It seemed like a good idea at the time, since I'd been planning all week to track there. What I didn't consider was the stress the girls had been under with the rescue dog. Page hadn't been feeling well and had gotten me up the previous two nights to go outside.

The day was perfect for tracking with rain the day before and drizzle that day. The temps were in the mid-60s. The cover was perfect. Due to our travel schedule, the track was 4.5 hours old when we came back to run it. That is older than Page has experienced, but not by much.

However, the wind had picked up and was blowing 15-20 mph. Page worked hard on this track, but chased the scent in circles with the wind. It took her 30 minutes to work about 120 yard down the track. When she found the first article, I ended the track.

I expected her to have worked out the issue with the wind blowing scent from our last track there. It was windier than our previous time tracking there, and I know the wind was a big factor. Page just couldn't lock into the track.

But I think stress was a huge factor, too. Page and Devon both had a big disruption in their routine with a new dog in the house. The rescue wasn't socialized with dogs, so she couldn't be integrated into the pack. Now that she is gone from the house, things are settling back to normal and I think the stress has dissipated.

Saturday

A group of us got together to do VST. With Page not feeling well, I gave her a break and just tracked Devon. Actually, I also got to track Archie, too! Steve was out of town judging a tracking test, so we put a track in for Archie and drew straws for who would run him. I got the privilege!

Archie was easy to run (especially since I laid his track so I knew where it was), but the squirrels and his strength did make it interesting. When Archie locks on and decides to go, he decides to go and you better be hanging on! And he loves to chase squirrels, so when he spied two squirrels playing at the bottom of a tree on the other side of a parking lot, I braced myself. Luckily, he was a good boy and finished his track.

Devon had a lovely track that was about 265 yards and aged 3 hours and 20 minutes. She hasn't tracked in quite a while, and she's been sitting around watching her sister get to track. I think the time off and jealousy were good motivators. She looked fantastic!

Devon started beautifully, which was nice since I really didn't know which way the track went off the start flag. She locked in quickly and pulled me along the first leg and worked the first turn very nicely.

The second leg was also along an office building, and Devon was still dead on the track. This was nice to see because the wind which was around 15 mph was swirling around the building and parking lot. You couldn't tell it by the way Devon was locked onto the track.

Devon worked the non-veg turn very well and finally committed very confidently to the third leg which was a sidewalk along a parking lot. She found her metal article without any problems.

My tracklayer told me the track went on to the grass ahead, and I looked straight in front of me to a patch of grass across a driveway. When we reached the drive, Devon started her transition searching; however I thought her transition searching looked an awfully lot like a turn indication. When Devon committed left onto the grass, I turned to question my tracklayer only to find she'd moved from behind me to my right ... then I heard her say, "She's dead on the track."

Well it's a good thing my dog knew where the track was, because obviously I was clueless! I thought it went straight in front of us! Two more articles, and Devon was done and very proud of herself. She should have been. It was a beautiful track, and she even proved halfway through it she wasn't feeling well either!

Sunday

Both girls had to be fasted for 24 hours and put on chicken and rice this weekend. Either it's stress or mushrooms in the backyard or a combination of everything. They don't seem to mind the chicken and rice (good thing I have a great rice cooker and split chicken breasts were on sale this week).

Page is feeling much better, so I decided to give her a confidence building track this afternoon. It's been a beautiful fall day with clear sunny skies, high wispy clouds and the trees are in my favorite period with lots of oranges and reds.

I laid a short 435-yard TDX track in my favorite place at a nearby metropark. After I put it in, I ran an errand to a nearby library, so the track only aged 40 minutes before Page ran it. It's a good thing I didn't run it any fresher, or Page would have killed me in that cover and in those woods! I've never had her pull so hard on a TDX track before!

Page flew through this track in about 10 minutes, including getting her line wrapped around a thorn bush that took me a couple of minutes to disentangle. She stopped at her articles, but I had to make her sit or lay down. I've never seen her track woods so fast or so confidently. I'm glad I ran this track, because it gave both of us our confidence back!

So, two out of three good tracks isn't bad for a weekend's training. We're supposed to have some good weather this week, so I think we'll get back out and do more in the coming days now that both girls are feeling better.

Page, Tracking Dog!

Page earned her TD Sunday morning, the day after turning 8 months old. Page earned her TD at the Youngstown All Breed Tracking Club's Tracking Test under judges Debra Huff and Marilyn Johnson. It was a beautiful morning. According to weather.com, it was 33 degrees, mostly sunny, 82% humidity with a calm wind.

Page's track (pictured here to scale) was 465 yards long and aged 44 minutes. The legs were 140 yards, 50 yards, 115 yards, 50 yards, and 110 yards. The track was in a soybean field (dead, ready-to-harvest soybeans in dirt/mud with the dew). I was concerned with the lack of living vegetation on this track; but if any dog could do it, it was Page. She's been working TDX in woods and various cover, plus the non-veg VST tracks.

There were four tracks at this test, with two being in soybeans and two in alfalfa. A Cocker Spaniel drew the first track and did a lovely job. After initially tracking over the glove, dog and handler worked back to it and found it for a pass. A Field Spaniel drew track 2. This was the dog and handler's first tracking test. They did a lovely job until the dog went right instead of left on the last turn. A truly heartbreaking failure being so close to the glove. However, when the Field Spaniel did so well on this track, I was confident Page and I would handle the soybeans well, too. The fourth track went to a lovely little Border Collie who passed easily and quickly. Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of the track due to finishing my track and the rolling terrain.

The second track had just finished, and the judges called for me to move up to my track. We all had to move our cars to see the 3rd and 4th tracks. I pulled up first to get my dog out; the rest of the gallery followed.

We had to battle up an 8 ft. slope to get to our field and start flag. It was a quiet start since just the judges and the tracklayer were there. Our start article was a sock. Page ran quickly to the article and stopped over it until I picked it up and told her to "Track."

When I released her she was off like a shot in a straight line towards the 30 yard flag. I stood and waited for the 20 ft. knot in my line to pass through my hands before I followed her and it came way too quick. I realized my line had gotten a knot in it as I had dropped it at the start (I made sure it was straight twice before we got to the flag). Darn, I hate knots in my lines! They're distracting!

Page was tracking fast and straight as we approached the 30 yard flag, and she didn't miss a beat when she suddenly raised up and jumped 6 ft. in the air trying to rip the flag off the flagpole! Before I could react, she gave it a second attempt. What a devil! As I was chuckling, I said, "leave it and track!" Page stopped, turned and gave me a whithering look over her shoulder as if to say, "Geez, mom, you are no fun at all!" then dropped her head and tracked on.

As we reached approximately 90 yards, I was preparing for a turn any time. I absolutely didn't want to take this track or my dog for granted. We'd been tracking in a row of soybeans and I couldn't see a track at all. Suddenly, Page's head came up and back down. Then she lifted it up and flicked it to the left then back down. Was that a turn indication? I glanced to my left and saw a path through the beans next to me. Was that our turn?

Page's head came up again, and I slowed. She slowed. We both stopped. Ok, this must be the turn. Page turned and came back to me. Oh no, she had to have been past the turn! Page never comes back at me unless we're really past the turn. I backed up 2-3 steps. Page came back to me and stood next to me on my left and looked up at me. She's only done that one other time after she pottied on the track. Hummmm, what was going on?

I very calmly said, "Are we tracking?" Page's reaction was quick and told me firmly, "Yes, we are!" She trotted confidently out in front of me again, dropped her head and plowed forward (just like she'd done the one other time this happened). I followed; always trust your dog. I figured we'd either just blown past the turn badly or she was 100% right and that wasn't the turn.

When I heard no whistle, I knew my dog was correct. Another 40 yards and she gave me her traditional loss of scent/turn indication and easily found the next leg. In thinking through what happened, I remember Page occasionally lifts her head when tracking when she's very confident of where the track is. Steve suggested she had a nose full of scent and was just trying to clear her head a little. It appears to me she's very confident and just wants to take in the scenery a little!

I was so worried about missing that first turn, I took what she did as a turn indication and slowed, causing her to think we were stopping. This was just "test nerves" and me being too vigilant. It was a good lesson that I don't have to over handle my dog. She knows what she's doing and I just have to trust her.

The rest of the track was uneventful with Page tracking very strongly until the last turn. I expected when we crossed the rows I'd see the track more clearly, but I really couldn't. It's a good thing I trust my dog and she's a great tracker.

As we were on the fourth leg, I saw we were coming to the edge of a field. I wasn't sure how far we'd come, but I was looking for a glove any time. When Page indicated a turn, I wasn't surprised. She indicated left, but not as strong as her other turns. I looked left and saw a wider path up a row. This was back toward the road, so it made the most sense the track would turn left. However, I needed to trust my dog so I waited her out.

Page checked right and then went left again, but she still wasn't on that path I spied and she wasn't pulling me around the corner. I waited, but she stayed where she was and really wasn't pulling. I gave her a step figuring if this was correct she'd move forward and then hop on that path. She did move forward, but continued to the right of what I thought was the track.

Page got more confident as we went, but she was still right of what I thought was the track. Then she hopped another couple of rows to the right. I had a split second of doubt where I thought she was off the track. There was no way the track angled right, because it was angling out of the field and that didn't make sense.

But Page was so confident, I let go of my doubt. Trust your dog, not your eyes. How many times has a handler's eyes and mind failed a dog at a tracking test? I didn't want to do that to Page. I followed, and I was searching the ground around her for a glove. We had to be close to the end! With her weak article indications and the first dog who tracked over the glove, I didn't want to come this far and miss that glove!

As I was looking out at Page, we came over a small rise, and something light colored caught my attention right above Page's head. It was a light colored fence post and it was directly in front of Page in the distance. That gave me every confidence Page was correct in her path. I've laid enough tracks that I can pick out the obvious landmarks tracklayers and judges use.

A few more yards and Page pulled up. I could see she had her two front feet on a brown cloth glove. She pushed at it with her nose, and her tail started to wag. I just stood there for a couple of seconds and took in the sight of my beautiful puppy indicating her glove on her titling TD track. I want to keep that moment in my mind forever! That slight pause was enough for Page to drop onto the glove and look over her shoulder at me. Her face said, "Look, Mom! I found it and I even dropped!" She was proud of herself!

I let out a big good girl and yelled back to the judges she found the glove! I told Page how brilliant she was and waved the glove in the air. Page and even celebrated that glove with a game of tug. The gallery was still beyond a small ridge and couldn't see us, but we got great congratulations from the tracklayer and judges. I never did get the name of our tracklayer, but he was very, very nice and I appreciated his time that morning. Tracklayers work hard at tests, and I know they want their dogs to pass very badly.

All three remarked that Page was a solid tracker and did an outstanding job. Debra Huff told me I did a good job of handling. She said she knew I didn't believe Page on the last turn, but I was a good handler and trusted my dog and went with her. I accepted the compliment. I'm disappointed I didn't trust Page right away, but I appreciated that I came through for her and the judge recognized it.

In thinking through that last turn, I think I was in "training mode" and wanting Page to pull me around each corner like I expect in training. In a test, I know indications are going to weaken, especially as the adrenaline bleeds off and the track goes on. Page gave me two very solid indications on that turn, and I should have stepped in behind her faster than I did to give her the confidence she's correct and I trust her. That's a good lesson learned for our TDX work.

So Page's first AKC title was an enjoyable event. Three of the four dogs passed, which is a good pass rate for a TD test. The people were very, very nice and the judges laid good tracks. Friend and AKC Tracking Judge Rosemary Janoch even came by to support us and another team. It was good to see her and her new puppy, destined to become another great performance dog (he's very cute, too!). And best of all I learned a lot about me and my dog in our first test - most importantly I learned she's a great dog and I have to trust our training! It's solid!

Stupid Squirrel ... Devon's VST track Saturday

I had a nice 350 yard VST track for Devon on Saturday. It had 39% non-veg and was aged about 3.5 hours. I was excited to run it, because it rained the previous 2 days and I thought Devon would like this track. I didn't lay any chalk because it was a straight forward track and I wanted to see how Devon would handle it.

She started strong and after much checking transitioned out into the parking lot. She handled the turn on the sidewalk along the building much better and found her metal article in the grass.

She got back to work and had just started a lovely transition from the grass next to the building onto the sidewalk when a stupid squirrel jumped off a bird feeder next to the building, took off across the parking lot - and across Devon's track - and into the fir trees beyond the grass.

Devon wanted to take off after the squirrel, and I was able to hold onto the line without a rope burn. The only thing not making me want to kill her was how pretty she looked all at attention and fully focused on finding that squirrel.

I thought I could get her back to work until I realized the devil was sitting in the grass taunting her with his flicking bushy tail! Sigh! One of the things you learn about dog training is the best laid training plans usually result in you working on something you never intended to work on. So I took a deep breath and asked for a lot of patients and worked on focusing Devon back to the task at hand for the rest of the track.

Devon did finish this track and found her last two articles, which helped her focus. By the time she made it to the final turn, she was back to 90% focused. Still, she was a little "squirrely" (pun TOTALLY intended) for the rest of the track.

The fun thing about tracking and field work is the "variables" Mother Nature throws at you in every test and training scenario! Man-made distractions seem like a piece of cake compared to squirrels, rabbits and deer!

A nice day for tracking

Sunday was a beautiful day for tracking, so I gave Devon a VST track and Page a TDX track. Both tracks were aged about 3 hours and 15 minutes. It was sunny and 61 degrees with an occasional wind around 8-9 mph.

Devon's track was short, approximately 350 yards. She started on grass, then crossed over a drive to a turn on a sidewalk then across a parking lot. Devon started well and went across the driveway nicely. She worked the turn for a while, but finally committed to the new leg and went confidently across the parking lot. The track was between two curbs, so it held scent for her.

Onto grass and a metal article for a reward. Devon handled this next leg along the front of the building very well. I took her from grass into the mulch flowerbed then onto the sidewalk in front of the building entrance then back into the mulched flowerbeds and back into grass.

Her next turn was again on a sidewalk, which she worked for a while. After going across a driveway to the island beyond, she turned and saw her plastic article which drew her to the correct leg. It was a bit of a cheat, but that's ok! She worked very strongly from there to the final leather article.

Page had a 710 yard track that she handled much better than the windy track on Friday. She started in short cut grass then went into medium cover. From there, she turned and went across a road, which she handled quickly and confidently.

Back onto the veg, she found her track into heavier cover easily. I then angled across some cut grass with a steep slope to a blacktop walkway. She had to fight not only the hill, but the scent on the walkway and a pond with ducks just below it. After investigating the pathway, she rejected it and moved back to her track and headed back up the slope into the heavy cover.

For her last turn, I was able to put her into a woods line with a turn just into the woods line. She worked this area but quickly found her turn and tracked out of it to the final glove.

Her article indications are getting much better. I'm not allowing her to move on until she gives me an indication. After asking for a "fetch" or retrieve, Page went back to her initial indication of a down on the article. While it's not what I prefer for a Golden, I'll take it.

Page is starting to understand that if she wants to continue to play the game, she has to play by my rules on articles. I'm sure she's thinking my requirements are absolutely the dumbest thing in the world, but she loves the game and she'll do it! It helps that she gets a reward when she does give me an indications.