Preparing for TDX tests

This post is for Anney in Florida and Judy here in Indianapolis and several others who have asked me how I train for the TDX test. As I said when Page passed her TDX, I think training for the TDX is the most enjoyable tracking training. The dog has a full understanding of the game, and in my case with both my girls, they were up for challenges. They enjoy working out new scenting problems, and I love watching them work and learning how they problem solve.

However, the TDX test itself grueling. It’s long (800-1,000 yards). It’s mentally exhausting to have your mind focused for that long a period of time (both of my girls took between 25-30 minutes to complete their tests). And on both Devon and Page’s passing tracks, we had a challenging problem to work out that took about 10 minutes alone.

You also can’t rule out the mental “downer” watching dog after dog fail TDX tests. Devon failed her first test, when four of six passed that day (an usually high pass rate). Luckily she drew the first of four tracks the day she passed; she was the only pass that day. Page was the third track, and we watched one dog fail on the first turn and the second dog suck into the cross tracks on the second leg. Not an encouraging start.

And finally the test is physically exhausting, with long walks up and down hills, through trees and occasionally over obstacles. I nearly fell on my face going down hill in the woods on Page’s track, and I’ve been a tracklayer at a TDX test where a judge hit the ground following a dog.

Since I enjoy the training so much, but don’t cherish the test, I want to make sure my dogs are very well prepared when I send in that $100-110 entry fee – especially for a test that has less than a 20% pass rate! The best advice I’ve received for being prepared (credit goes to Steve Ripley for this) is to successfully “pass” a full, blind track three times before you enter a test.

Passing a full, blind track doesn’t necessarily mean finding a judge to lay it. Find someone else to lay you a test track and put in cross tracks. Most seasoned trackers will be wiling to help you get ready for a test. As I’ve said before, this sport is full of people willing to give back to new trackers, even if you have to drive a couple of hours to find them.

When I train for TDX, I train my concepts in parts (or puzzle pieces and the credit here goes to Cathy Hawkins of Camp Jigsaw). I don't run full length tracks all the time; I work 400-550 yard tracks most of the time. The first thing I do is teach age on TD-type tracks. Once I get the dog up past 3 hours, I rarely drop them below that mark. After the dog passes a TD, he/she will never run a track less than 3 hours in a test, and cross tracks are newer than 3 hours. I don’t want to fear age, so I’ll run tracks up to 6 hours just so I know my dog can do it. When I’m training, I’ll routinely run tracks between 3-4.5 hours old.

Next I start working obstacles and tracking concepts. One track will be about woods, so we'll work woods obstacles three times on a 400-550 yard track. The next track might be about changes in cover so we'll do that several times. If you re-read my August 16 post about TDX training in woods, you will see a list of things to prepare for when training woods. This is my philosophy for all types of TDX training (changes of cover, other obstacles, etc.).

The track here is a good example of a woods training track. Page ran this track 5 days before her TDX test. It was 470 yards long and aged 3 hours and 15 minutes. It was in an area where she tracked well. The blue line is Page’s track. The yellow lines are well worn “roads” where hay wagons pulled kids on hay rides through the fields up to the end of October. While the wagon path wasn’t a true obstacle, it was a good challenge with lots of extra scent.

The white markers show how I was presenting training on woods that day. If you look at the track, you will see that I hit four of the seven things on the list for training woods in that one track:

• Tracking toward the woods and going straight in
• Tracking toward the woods and making a turn (not entering woods)
• Tracking toward the woods on a diagonal and entering on an angle (and I gave Page a turn right before the diagonal woods entrance)
• Making no turn at all and going straight through a woods

You will notice I also gave Page two other challenges. First, I took her straight through a woods line just to the left of a vegetative break in the tree line. Devon had this on one of her TDX test tracks, and then she angled out of the woods onto the path. It really made me question as a handler if she was correct, but I trusted her and she was right on the track.

Second, I gave Page a vegetative path between two sets of woods. Again, sometimes you are in the woods and sometimes you are on the grass next to the woods. The dog needs to learn how to follow the track and not go where it might be more comfortable to track (on a path and not in the woods beside the path).

While I’m concentrating on training obstacles, I work in areas that are full of other types of scent, like deer and dogs and humans. This teaches the dog to start to ignore cross tracks or contaminated tracks on their own. Again, when you run marked tracks (and all my training tracks are marked) you know where the track is, so you let them work the cross tracks but not go down them. This teaches the dog to rule out tracks that aren't what they are supposed to be working.

When I’m ready to actually work purposeful cross tracks, I lay my own. At first I lay them immediately before I run the track. Then I work backwards in 15-30 minute increments so they are of "legal" age related to the track (cross tracks go in 1.5 hours after the track is laid). My dogs have never been confused by me laying my own cross tracks. The dog is told by the start article who they are tracking and how old the track is. Quite frankly after learning to ignore all the other cross tracks (deer, squirrels, raccoon, etc.), I usually only train human cross tracks 3-4 times and the dog gets the concept.

Finally I work on length. By laying shorter tracks, I can usually track about 3 times a week. When I start working on length of track, I drop back to 2 tracks a week. I don't work length often, and I never work it the week or two before a test. Remember the beginning of this post: a TDX test is a grueling test for dog and handler, so you want the dog to be very fresh the week of a test. In tracking, you aren’t going to teach the dog anything new the week of a test.

When you run full length tracks, you are looking for your dog to a) have the stamina to go the distance and continue to work, and b) what changes in their tracking behavior as they tire. Also, most dogs hit a wall around 600 yards, and they must push through that wall. Keep this in mind as you are working length and put articles/rewards after this distance. You can also make the track "easier" after 600 yards the first time or two you run a long track to reward the dog for working past that distance.

In working length, I learned that Page is less precise the longer she tracks. She's a precision footstep tracker, but with length and fatigue she starts overshooting turns. I needed to learn this and watch for her to indicate the turn was behind us and trust her. Knowing that Page overshoots turns with fatigue allowed us to recover from an overshot turn on our TDX test that likely would have sunk other teams.

Janet and Steve Ripley have a saying that every time we go out to track, the dogs are putting experiences in their mental Rolodex. At a test the dog will come upon a scenting challenge and flip through that mental Rolodex and compare it to what they’ve done in the past and then react. I really like this analogy, and it’s our job as “coach of the team” to give our dogs as many experiences as we can to prepare them for the test.

Page, Tracking Dog Excellent!

Yep, you read that correctly. At the ripe old age of 8 months and 3 weeks after passing her TD, Page earned her TDX on her first attempt. The TDX test has a passing rate between 15-19%. While it's my favorite tracking to train, the test is grueling. The test track is 800-1,000 yards long, aged 3-5 hours, between 5-7 turns with obstacles (woods, roads, creeks, fences, etc.) and intentional human cross tracks put in two places 1.5 hours after the initial track is laid.

I think TDX work is my favorite to train, much like Open and Utility are more fun for dog and handler than Novice obedience. Once you've trained a dog in tracking, TD work is "boring" much like Novice obedience is all heeling. TDX work acknowledges the dog knows how to track, but then applies it to all sorts of circumstances. The dog learns to problem solve more, and the handler learns how her dog thinks and solves those problems. I also enjoy being outside in beautiful parks seeing nature and animals, especially in the fall as the leaves are turning and the weather is cool.

Now onto Page's track. If you've been following the blog, you know I taught Page all aspects of tracking from the beginning. She got her first TDX track on May 30, and we have it on video that she handled it very well. After Page certified for her TD at 19 weeks, I concentrated on VST and TDX work, with occasional TD tracks. In September I stopped working VST and stuck with TD and TDX tracks since I knew she had tests coming up. So while many people are shocked an 8-month-old Golden Retriever passed her TDX, Page had been working TDX for months and I knew she could handle the work.

We also made sure she could handle long, test-level tracks because Steve laid us two blind TDX tracks that Page passed. Those tracks were important, especially the last one which was 990 yards long. It told me a lot about how Page would handle the length and stress of an actual test. One important thing I learned is that she is less precise and overshoots turns when she's tired. That knowledge would come in handy!

We entered the White River Golden Retriever Club's annual TDX test. This is my local club, and the site was only 1 hour north of me, so I had tracked there four times. In those four tracks, Page has done her weakest tracking. Only once did I think she tracked well, twice I had to walk her through sections of the track and once we had to end the track at the first article.

This week of training was about two things: confidence building tracks for Page and my mental game. I think confident tracks for Page was more for me than her. I ran a track in a location I knew she tracked well on Tuesday. It was aged 3 hours and 10 minutes but it was only 470 yards. On Thursday my friend laid a TD track, but aged it 3 hours and gave me extra articles to work indications. Page aced these tracks, so I had confidence in her tracking abilities and knew I could read her.

Now for my mental game! I did a LOT of positive visualization this week. I stayed up beat all week and replayed the good tracks Page had run to this point, putting the bad ones out of my mind. I recalled that Page tracks other people very well, and that I'm probably boring for her to track. I even visualized the telephone calls I'd make to Gayle and Lise and the email I'd send to Donna upon our successful track. On the drive to the test, I thanked God for the beautiful weather and my very smart puppy. I laughed and joked with my friends before the test and made sure I had a smile on my face 100% of the time. I found little things to make me laugh. It's hard to be stressed when you are smiling.

Our draw items were adorable little flip flop boxes that had been painted by Janet Ripley with tracking flags, paw prints and a glove. I chose the Raspberry flip flop (for Ms. Raspberry of course) and we drew track 3. This was the same as her TD track, and our tracklayer was Kris Kothe, the same person Devon tracked 2 years ago. I know Kris is a very capable tracklayer, so I was pleased. I hate running the last tracks, so I was thrilled with a fairly early draw.

I didn't really watch the first two dogs, because I lose my focus if I do. The first dog didn't really commit off the start flag and didn't get past the first turn. The second dog made it past the first turn but got sucked into the cross tracks on the second leg. Then it was our turn.

We had to wait 10 minutes before we could run our track since the first two dogs failed so quickly. Seriously, how much small talk can you make with the two judges before you start? Page was ready to go and was barking and wagging her tail whenever anyone looked her way. Finally they told me I could "suit up" and get my dog out and we headed to our flag.

It was a lovely start in a small mowed path with prairie grass on one side and heavy cover on the other. Page saw the flag and made a beeline for it. She paused at the start article and as I got next to her and started to lean down and pick it up, she was off on her track.

So much for giving her some kind of a command! Apparently she was ready and only needed me to drive her to the test and walk her to the startline. It reminded me of a what Donna says about Page's mother, Bizzy. She'll lock on a mark and say, "I got it, Mom! Send me!" Apparently Page didn't wait to be started, she had it!

The first leg was 110 yards. Page showed me loss of scent, and we had heavy cover now on both sides. I turned to my right and saw a really clear path up the hill. But Page checked left, then forward, then left. I figured we'd be there a while.

Page is a footstep tracker, which means she is very meticulous. She worked for a few seconds, then came right to where the track turned and sniffed the ground and you could see her say, "OH! It went THIS way!" And up the hill we went at full speed! Over the hill and we were in a set of woods and now going down hill at full speed.

I've said there's a reason I wanted to do Page's vegetative tracking while she was still less than 50 pounds and I can stay on my feet while she's tracking. Sure enough I got one foot hung up in a limb and about went down face first about the time I saw something black in the leaves in front of us. I kept my feet and felt sure I was looking at Page's first article.

Article indications have been tough for Page. She loves the game of tracking, but feels no reason to stop and show me articles that are right there on the track where I can trip over them. In the last two months I've really insisted on an indication and won't let her track on without one. While I prefer a retrieve of the article, we have finally compromised on Page stopping and standing over the article until I get it (and usually give her a treat). Of course, I was fully prepared for Page to give me no indication and for me to have to fake one for the judges. Bless her heart when she stopped dead (even with all that momentum coming downhill) and gave me an indication for a black hat!

We had 125 yards of that woods, then we broke out of it for a road crossing. Now most people might fear a road as an obstacle, but I was thrilled. Page has been working VST since she was only a few weeks old, so she's very comfortable on non-veg.

In fact during the awards ceremony, judge Ule James said it was very clear Page had worked VST since she actually tracked across the road. Our track angled across the road, and most dogs will square up and jump the road and find the track on the other side. Page actually put her nose on the blacktop and tracked at an angle across the road. It was so cool for the judge to tell everyone how smart she was!

The photos here are two perspectives of our road crossing. One if from the gallery's perspective taken by Susie and Ginger Rezy. The other is a judge's perspective taken by Ule James.

After the road we had 35 yards of veg then a 5 yard walking/biking path then back into vegetation with trees (this second leg was a total of 240 yards).

Toward the end of this leg, Page flicked her head to the left and showed loss of scent. She worked forward and to the right, but also indicated left. As she worked the loss of scent/turn, I could tell she knew the track went left, but as a footstep tracker she couldn't find the new leg and was only catching the scent in the wind.

As she worked, I wanted to back up, because I realized we were past the turn. However with the wind at our back, it was pushing the scent in front of us and to the right so as Page worked the scent cone, she was working away from the actual turn. I couldn't walk backwards because she wasn't going behind me searching for the scent.

It was incredibly frustrating to watch her work and struggle but not be able to help her except by rescenting her. Had I walked backwards I would have been whistled off (failed) for guiding my dog; I had to wait until she worked backwards. I knew she could solve this problem, because she has many times in the past; but the with an 8-12 mph wind working against her, it was a much harder problem to solve.

Finally after more than 10 minutes on this turn she started to solve her problems, working out the scent cone and finally moving backwards. I immediately adjusted to help her and she finally found the track 5 ft. behind me. She had worked 18-20 yards past the turn before she recovered. I don't know what the gallery or judges were thinking, but I had was never so grateful to see her lock into a leg in my life!

Page didn't flinch on her first set of cross tracks, which were on a 120 yard leg in medium cover. She over shot her third turn, but not as badly as the second one (only about 20 ft.) and worked it out quickly. As soon as she committed to the fourth leg, I figured we had the test made.

The judges said she scalloped to the right at the second set of cross tracks. I do remember her going right and readjusting, but I wouldn't have realized it was due to cross tracks. Thirty yards past the cross tracks, she got her next article, a grey wool sock, again with a perfect indication.

The article gave her a second wind. She was off like a shot and I had to leap over a hole and jog to catch up. Page railed her last two turns, and once on the final leg, I was scouring the ground in front of her for the glove.

Page winded the article and was searching for it, finding it before I saw it. She stopped over it and turned back to look at me. I told her she was brilliant over and over until I reached the glove. I put my hand in the air to tell the judges she found it, and then I wrapped my arms around her neck and hugged her, kissed her and cried! We sat on the ground playing tug until the judges and tracklayer got to us. The gallery was pulling their cars up and honking. Once they parked, they came running into the field for more hugs and tears!

Page's track was 850 yards long. It was aged exactly 3 hours. It had 5 turns. Our obstacles were an open woods, road and path. She ran the track in 26 minutes. It was sunny and 65 degrees with a slight (8-12 mph) wind. Page was the only dog out of six total to pass our test. Our judges were Ule James and Steve Ripley.

If you ever get to track for Ule, he carries a camera (you've seen his photos here), and he makes the most incredible maps -- they are to scale! He also writes little notes on them like "got it" for the articles and "good recover" (that was for that second turn) and "good job!" for the cross tracks.

What a wonderful way to earn Page's TDX! We were at our home club with all our tracking buddies. Good friend and mentor Steve Ripley was one of our judges. Good friend, ace tracklayer and artist Janet Ripley made adorable draw items for me to treasure. So many friends who have supported us and laid tracks for us were on hand to race out into the field and give us hugs of congratulations. Susie and Ginger took great photos and made a fun slideshow with perfect captions.

White River held up their expectations for a great post-test pitch in lunch, and I was ravenous! Page enjoyed the cake and Bernie shared the rest of his meatballs and chicken chili with Page. Someone asked me if I was going to stop and give her a hamburger - not after she enjoyed the pitch in and cake!

And did I mention I think I have the greatest puppy in the world!! Boy I love this dog!

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.

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!

We've also been doing some tracking

Tracking has been a little hit and miss lately. Last week I laid a TD track for Page on the way to do some field training. I figured it would be aged a couple of hours by the time I ran it. Well, it was 3.5 hours old when I got back to it. It was 520 yards long with 5 turns. Page ran it like it was 30 minutes old. She really is a great pup, and I was over the top about this track.

Last weekend we had some beautiful cool weather in the mid-70s. It felt like fall in August, and I was thrilled. On Sunday, we met the Ripleys and Archie for some tracking. Archie hasn't been feeling well for several weeks, battling a flare up of Lyme Disease. We started to see it in his tracking, where he would miss metal articles and stand at times like he wasn't sure what to do. This is NOT Archie!

Well he is well on the road to recovery! On Sunday he did a beautiful 384 VST track and found all of his articles (even when I didn't see his metal article)! There were lots of hoops and hollers for Archie, and it was great to see!

Devon and Page got some nice tracks, too. Devon's was aged 2 hours and had chalk at transitions. I had posted a few weeks ago that Devon hadn't been tracking with a lot of confidence, but she was back to her old self on Sunday! Time off can be a very valuable training tool.

Devon motored through her track and was really having fun. Next to the building and parking lot where her track was, there was a large retention pond and geese. She saw them when we started the track, but as we moved away from them, she forgot about them.

But when the track went along a sidewalk headed right for the pond, Devon picked up her pace! Devon was pulling and wagging with her nose down off the sidewalk and onto the grass along the side of the pond when I heard Janet behind me say, "I actually made a left turn on the sidewalk back here...." She so much nicer than judges who blow whistles! ;-) I laughed as I watched Devon in all her glorious tracking posture a good 40 ft away from the turn she blew by and I said, "Not according to Devon!" We all laughed.

About that time Devon figured the jig was up, and she put her head up and circled left. She was headed directly around the pond to where the geese were standing. Too much field work! This girl was changing sports on me! She quickly back tracked on her own looking for her track, and as soon as she got to the turn on the sidewalk she took it and tracked to her glove. It was sitting on the seat of a metal picnic table, and she wasn't fooled! She reached right up, snagged it and carried it right back to Janet! This excitement and great attitude were awesome for me to see.

Page's track ended up being 3 hours and 15 minutes old when we ran it. This was the oldest VST track she's ever run. She had chalk and transitions and a MOT turn -- her first! Page went off the start like it was a 30 minute track. This girl doesn't mind age. She tracked strong across veg and non-veg to the front of the building.

The fronts of buildings with entrance doors give Page lots to investigate. She searched every seam in the pavement and sniffed every flower and every planter pot. Janet had been teasing me earlier when I didn't know the names of plants and flowers (hey, she's the gardener and I'm the one with an animal science degree!). I told them Page was going to get her undergraduate degree in horticulture with the way she was examining the flowers!

Any other dog would have looked up and seen the bright yellow dog toy on the sidewalk 15 yards ahead. Nope, not Page. She was WORKING! I couldn't push this dog through a track if I tried. Her investigations finally took her past the entrance doors and into the flower bed on the other side. After a tour where she again sniffed every flower, she used her nose to go back to the track and found the yellow dog toy the hard way -- from the side using her nose!

From there Page tracked right on to her MOT turn. This really threw her and it was late in the track. She found the chalk and twice put her nose down on the new leg and once tracked it 10 ft. However, she just couldn't commit. Once I rescented her and stepped onto the new leg, she picked it up and tracked to the glove.

This was a really nice track for a 6 month old puppy. She found her articles and indicated them (she even shook the toy and loved the plastic article with cookies in it). I'm really proud of her work up to this point. I'll try and sneak in some more tracking in the next week or so.

Page's "big dog" VST track on July 12

Sunday was really a lovely day, and we spent most of it at the White River Golden Retriever Club meeting. But in the evening, I couldn't help myself. I wanted to see what Page would do on a "big dog" VST track.

I put in a track for Page that I would usually give Devon. It was 577 yards long with 45% non-veg. It was aged 2 hours and 15 minutes. It included curb work and serpentines, which are staples in our VST work. I started with hand prints every 3-4 steps on the first section of non-veg and faded them to every 10+ steps.

I gave Page an angled start, and she again handled it very well. She's locking into her starts better than Devon is! She handled the first turn well, and with only a little searching went out into the non veg.

It took her a little bit to figure out the island work, but once she did she did the serpentines like she'd been doing them for years. Once on the veg, she actually took longer to lock into that leg than the non-veg. The angle across the driveway was simple for her, and she pulled me across with her nose down and back arched.

Page easily handled the track along the side of the building. She worked nose down and easily took the track into the curb and down the back of the building. I had less hand prints through this section, but you couldn't tell based on they way she worked the track. She angled out of the curb, across the sidewalk and onto the grass with her nose exactly in my footsteps. It was amazing.

The only place she really worked was the turn onto the sidewalk before the playground. This took several minutes and a couple of rescents before she locked in. However, once she did, she easily handled this section. I was very impressed she didn't even look out into the playground when she had just tracked through there two days before. She was really tracking and not just wandering and getting lucky.

The last leg of this track was the hardest because there was no light on this side of the building. I always forget that when I lay night-time tracks here. With her less than solid article indications, I wondered if she'd find the last article. She worked hard through this section, getting distracted and bringing me back mulch and wood chips (at least that's what I'm telling myself I was pulling out of her mouth; I really don't know and I don't think I want to know!).

Finally, she locked into the track and did a sit at the final article. Yippee!! Page did an awesome job with her first "big dog" VST track. She really is an amazing little girl!

Devon's VST track on July 11

Devon got a much tougher track than Page did on Saturday night, but she's also way more experienced. Steve and I had a little miscommunication on where we were laying tracks, and this one got interesting for both Archie and Devon!

This track was 512 yards long with 39% non-veg and was aged right at 3 hours.

Devon did a great job on the start. She didn't circle numerous times on the first leg like she has been doing, so I was happy about that. At the edge of the building, she went left and then right. She investigated more right, but then came back to the line she was working and moved forward. I followed her, but thought it was odd to have a cross track right there. About the time her head came up again, Steve said I would be hearing a whistle. Apparently what I thought was a cross track was really the first turn to the right.

We came back and she easily locked in. The second turn took a little more time, since she really wanted to go everywhere but the sidewalk. She finally decided the sidewalk was the right place, and we tracked along with Devon checking out chalk along the way.

We were halfway along the building after the entrance way, when Steve said, "You missed the metal article." Great! Devon never misses metal articles! However, this article was off the track under a bush and right in line with a chalk mark. I remember clearly Devon checking out that chalk mark, and Steve thought the chalk pulled her away from the article. Ok, that made me feel a little better!

Devon nailed the angled turn to the non-veg leg up to the next building, pulling only slightly right. You'll see a purple line through her track here, and this was a purposeful cross track. Steve's getting sneaky on us now! He's throwing articles, he's doing cross tracks! It's all great proofing for Devon, and I'm fortunate to have such an experienced tracklayer!

On this sixth leg, Devon decided to track along the sidewalk when the track was really in the grass along the sidewalk. It was dark at this point, and there were very few lights and they were on the far side of the parking lot. Devon again tracked right by an article, this time a plastic article with lots of holes. It likely doesn't hold scent as well as other types of articles, and it was orange and hard to see. Of course, had Devon been on the track, she would have tripped over it! Being 3 ft. off the track made a huge difference for this article, and I can now see how articles are missed in tests. It confirmed we need to work more on small plastic hard to see articles.

But the adventure wasn't over yet! As Devon tracked past the end of the building, you can see an orange line that hugs her track. This was the track I laid for Archie that we had already run. It was about 15 yards from Devon's track, and this was a tough thing for her to work out. Of course, Archie had the same challenge, and he did it very well.

As we got to the driveway and neared the non-veg turn, I kept hearing a tinkling sound that my mind identified as metal tags on a dog's collar. Sure enough, a guy with a huge Sibe came walking around the next building, about to cross our track. I held Devon up and waited. He stopped and watched us. Steve told me to keep tracking, that it was good distraction, and that he would run interference for me. That made me SO MUCH more comfortable.

I told Devon to get back to work and to track, and the guy realized we had a working dog. Steve went up and told him what we were doing and he was really interested. He decided to watch and to tell us how great a tracker his dog was. He then asked if Devon was a retriever and if she was a girl. Steve said yes. At that point the guy said he'd let us get back to work and he'd go home. I'm thinking his boy was intact, and he was worried his dog would like Devon a little too much! If so, I'm glad he left!

During this conversation, Devon did a lovely job of finding her track at the non-veg turn and getting right back to work, ignoring the guy and his dog. She worked the last turn and made quick work of the last leg, finding her final article.

All in all this was a good track for Devon. The two things Steve noted were the missed plastic article and the nearly missed first turn. We still have work to do, but I felt pretty good about this track.

Page's VST track July 11

On Saturday, Steve and I decided to track Archie and Devon. I brought Page along and put in a short track for her. I was also looking forward to Steve's opinion of where Page was with VST.

This track was aged 1.5 hours. It was 252 yards long with 45% non-veg. I put hand prints every 3-4 steps to start, then spaced them out to every 10 steps in the later non-veg. The weather was unseasonably cool, and it had rained earlier in the day.

I gave Page a one flag start and brought her in at a slight angle. She nailed the start and the first turn. She worked out onto the first parking lot area well. However, when she got to the turn on the sidewalk, she really struggled. She wanted to pull up to the building, and we did wonder if the building was warmer pulling the scent up to it.

After several circles and what seemed like the second or third time I rescented her, it suddenly clicked and she locked in and turn left. From this point, there was no stopping Page. She tracked nose down the rest of the way, including an amazing turn from the grassy island onto the last stretch of parking lot. She tracked the parking lot nose down, back arched pulling in a straight line dead on the track.

Steve felt the goofiness on the second turn was just Page being a 5 month old puppy and lacking focus. Once she locked in, she was fantastic. He encouraged me to age her up to at least 2 hours and 15 minutes for her next track. Scent seems to settle in for VST tracks after that magic 2 hour mark, but it was one I haven't yet broken for my "baby dog." Ah well, every other challenge I've thrown at Page she's handled with ease, so why not this one?

How a hawk can change your mind about tracking

I gave Page a TD track this week in anticipation of certifying her sometime soon. We've been doing TDX and VST tracks, so I thought I should again remind her what a good old fashioned TD track was.

The field I used was a little more sparse than I anticipated, but I thought it would still give Page a good lesson. I laid a 500 yard, five turn TD track, and I planned to start it at 30 minutes. I say planned, because Page almost didn't get to run this track after all!

As I took Page to the start line, a Red-Tailed Hawk came soaring out of the woods behind us screaming. This hawk was in full hunt mode, and I thought a little gold dog at the end of a tracking line might look too much like a rabbit for my comfort level.

After a few minutes, he soared off to the next field so I started Page on the track since she was now lunging for the start article. This girl loves to track. However, Page wasn't more than 10 yards down the track when the hawk came back. I held Page and watch him, and he got closer and closer, circling and screaming over head.

That's when I picked Page up! I wasn't going to risk either of us getting hurt for this track. I reset the start flag and article thinking I could come back later and headed for the SUV. Page wiggled and squirmed because she wanted to track. Once she was tucked away in the SUV and I was just about to leave, the hawk left. After waiting a couple of minutes, I realized it was for good.

We restarted the track, and Page was very solid in spite of the weird circumstances. She tracked strong through the second turn, and on the third leg she was pulling hard and wanting to go faster than I've ever seen. But once again she reminded me that "speed kills." I missed the turn marker and she overshot the turn by 20 yards before she showed loss of scent. When she did, I realized how badly we'd overshot it since I was watching her track.

After a few minutes of searching, she got back on the new leg, but she was going slower and I had learned my lesson about speed! She tracked strong through the last turn and about 30 yards into that leg she hit a wall. That's the only thing I can figure happened. She was still "tracking" but she was searching wide and not totally committed. Several rescents and two water breaks later and she still wasn't strong. I let her work through it, and she finally caught sight of the end article and raced to it.

Looking back on her previous tracks, Page hasn't done that much yardage in a couple of weeks. I think the length got to her, but she didn't shut down completely. She worked through it, but she didn't track strong. It was good reminder to vary length as well as time and types of tracking in Page's future.

Catching up: Page's tracking last week

I haven't blogged in a while, but don't think it's because we aren't working! Last week Page did three tracks, one of every type. Last Monday, good friend Beth called and offered to put in a TD track for Page. Hey, I'll always jump at that!

Beth put in a nice four turn track that was probably in the 300-400 yard range and aged between 30-45 minutes. She also put one in for her "grand-dog" Ripken. As I pulled up, I saw a fisherman headed for the pond. When Beth pulled her van up to mine, I wasn't surprised when she said, "Ummm...one of us will have a cross track!" I immediately volunteered Page for that track. I wanted to see what she'd do.

Page did a lovely start even though this was just the second time she'd tracked someone other than me. She cruised through the first turn but got spooked by something on the second leg. It was either the fisherman or the cattails with the wind or both. She ran back to me a couple of times, but I got her working again pretty quickly. Page is in that stage between 4-6 months where even the boldest puppies will shy sometimes. She's only reacted to something strange a couple of times, but it's more than she did before she was 4 months old. We just work through it and don't make a big deal of it. Page got back into her track and even though she was headed closer to the scary fisherman, she was working too hard to give him any attention and handled the second turn well.

On the third leg we had the cross track. It was only aged 5-10 minutes. Page checked it left then followed it back right for about 15 ft., when her head came up and you could tell she was thinking, "This isn't what I'm supposed to be tracking!" She turned and when she hit Beth's track, she got right back on it and tracked strong to the glove. Good girl!

Tuesday was a VST track on a hot humid day. I put in the track at 8:30 a.m., planning to run it in 45 minutes to an hour. However, I got sidetracked with Devon's field drills, and we didn't run it until 10 a.m. The track was approximately 250 yards long, with two smaller sections and one large section of non-veg.

Page did a great job on the first section of non-veg which included curb work. However, after going through some grass and indicating the track went back into the parking lot, Page got stuck on the grass. I helped her to the mulch island where she found an article. However, I knew she wouldn't restart back into the parking lot. I walked her across that section and restarted her in grass.

Once started, Page did well in the grass, finding another article. She turned and headed into the longest section of non veg, back into the parking lot strong, angling across a mulch island, pavement, another mulch island, into gravel, across the end of a concrete loading ramp and finally back on grass. She was rewarded 30 yards later with a VST leather article hidden in an indentation in the grass. She found it easily and had a strong indication. I was pleased with the end of this track, especially since the middle was so bad! She did show me she needs work restarting after articles.

On Wednesday I decided to give Page a short TDX track. I used my favorite spot for TDX work and took her into the woods. This track had a short 60 yard leg through high cover to the first turn. The second leg was 150 yards long through high cover including a mowed path and into woods. She had a turn in the woods to a final leg out of the woods and back into high cover that was 130 yards long.

I gave Page a one flag start and brought her up at 90 degrees. She sniffed her start article and headed off in a straight line in front of me for about 10 yards before her head came up, and I could tell she was thinking, "Where the heck is my track??" She usually goes left with loss of scent, and in this case the track was to her left. When got found it she gave me a clear, "OH! HERE it is!!" and started tracking.

Page handled the mowed path without even showing any indication that the cover had changed! The third time through that mowed path, and she's an expert! Great lessons learned from previous tracks.

When I laid the woods part, I was SURE to put plenty of trail markers after our disaster the last time! As I decided where the turn was, I thought this part of the woods looked familiar. No, I must be imagining it ... until I started on the new leg and saw where I should have come out on that disastrous track the week before. And then I saw a trail marker up ahead! It was the one I'd been searching for when I got lost. Since I was on that line, I just used it again!

Page did an excellent job on her woods turn this time. Interestingly, she sucked left after the turn into the same areas we got lost before. However this time she righted herself and with the extra markers for me, we tracked to the glove.

The other fun thing about this TDX track was that our friend Judy followed us on it. I've only had a couple of people follow Page tracking (besides our blog readers!), and it was good that Page wasn't bothered. The thing that was interesting to me was what Judy had to say about our tracking.

First, Judy was struck by the fact that I was silent as Page tracked. I didn't tell Page to get to work or talk at her. The only time I did was on the last leg toward the end when she got off on some cross tracks and started to follow critters (likely deer) instead of me. I simply asked if we were tracking (she would probably say, "Yep Mom, but not you!"), and she got right back to work.

When Judy made this observation, I realized she was right. I do track silently except to tell my dog "track" off the start, to praise him/her for finding articles and to tell him/her to get back to work if I have to. I believe it's their job to track, and I don't want to be part of the tracking picture at all. I don't know where a test track will be, so they have to know their job and do it. The best way I know how to teach that is let them figure it out, without letting them get into trouble.

Judy's second observation was that she thought Page would be hard to read because Page's nose doesn't come up. In heavy cover, Judy is right. Page tracks head down and on the track most of the time. She's still little and not that fast because she's fighting cover, so she indicates loss of scent within a few feet of the turn.

However, this observation made me think about what I do use to tell me if Page is tracking or not tracking. I can tell by line tension if Page is working or not. When she's searching for scent or crittering, she doesn't pull with purpose on the line ... actually, she probably pulls harder when she's crittering than when she's tracking, but it's not "with purpose." Page does lift her head when she loses scent, but she is more subtle than Devon.

After a successful week hitting all three types of tracking, I gave Page the rest of the week off from tracking!

Another VST track for Page

On the way home from the kennel club, I laid another VST track for Page. This track was 437 yards long and aged 1.5 hours when she ran it. However, it only had 15% non veg, so it wasn't a hard VST track. I wanted Page to get a track with a lot of obstacles, including non veg, a building, a short woods line and a ravine.

This is only the second time I've seen Page cast like she was doing on this track. I can only think the age on short veg is causing this casting. I think it will go away as she gets more scenting experience on aged tracks with short cover.

I did remember my camera for this track, and I'm glad I did. However, it's also hard to manage the tracking line and hold a camera. Poor Page gets some bad line handling from me for the sake of the video! The first time it irritates her, but the second time she was too busy tracking to really notice.

The first turn threw Page a little, but I thought she did a nice job through the basketball court. She also did a nice job before the playground. She did a lot of casting and searching on the playground area. School has been out for a couple of weeks here, so I found that interesting. Page did a fantastic job of indicating her first article, which was metal.

You can see Page isn't strong on the restarts after an article and a reward. I think she wonders if the track is over at this point. I think I'm going to only put one kibble in the articles on the track in the future. Articles on tracks are new to her, so I am expecting a lot to have her just drop her nose and go.

After she gets restarted, Page gets distracted by something coming out of the treeline. She did get back to work when I asked her. I had planned to go across the ravine, but it had more water than I expected and I was tired of wet feet this week. You can see Page doesn't hesitate to go across the water looking for the track, but she quickly realizes it's not there and comes back to find it.

I was surprised she wanted to push up the hill early before her turn. I can only think that the wind coming from the east was pushing the scent from the new leg down the hill at her, which was causing this early turn confusion. Page finds her plastic egg easily today; that's the one she missed earlier this week.

You only get to see two of the three parts of this track. Page tracked out to the glove very nicely, and she gave me a solid indication on the final glove, too. Those article indications are really solid when she's recently had a training session that includes a down or a nose touch! I'll have to remember that!

Free Friday training

The kennel club offers free member training on a couple of Fridays a month. Today was one of those days. I was able to go up early in the day, and I had the building to myself for 2 hours. What a great way to spend a Friday afternoon!

After I ran the boys, I brought Devon in for a couple of agility sequences. The course that was set up was the same one she ran this week in class, so I did some sequences that we didn't do earlier this week. Devon was very strong in her weaves, and I was pleased with her work.

After I ran Devon, I let her stay crated in the building while I trained Page. I have done some work with Page putting her through standards here at home, so I thought I'd do that in a new place. They also had the 8 inch table out, so I thought I'd play with that, too.

Devon has an automatic down on the table, and I really like it. I've been planning to teach Page the same thing, but she was slower in learning the down than Devon was. But now that the down is coming along very well, I decided to try the table today. Yes, I know I should really teach things at home first, but why worry about silly things like that!

The clip below is the second session that day on the table. You can see she picked up the concept in no time; she's very smart. I pushed the session way too long; but she was so stinking cute, I couldn't help it. This pup just makes me laugh all the time! BTW, the protesting in the background is Devon. She is jealous when her sister works!

Next we worked sending Page through the standards. I was really glad to work this here on different jumps and with the cone and other distractions. The next time I'm able to work in the building, I'll add in the wings on the jumps. I'm very proud of her work here. And as a side note, I set the camera on the 16 inch table, and Page jumped up on that one to do her automatic down, too!

The final agility exercise I worked on with Page was a tunnel. Once again I should probably introduce these things at my place first, but the tunnel was handy and she volunteered to go through it! The next time someone comes here to the house, I'm going to have to have them help me put Page into my tunnels.

Page also went into the obedience practice ring to work her walking on a loose leash, sit, down, and leave it. She's finally getting the leave it concept, which is good.

After Page's session, I brought Devon back out for some obedience work. I think her obedience is coming along very well. She still sits a little wide from me, but she's very straight and her gait changes are beautiful. Below are two clips from her obedience session. The first is her "get close" where I'm asking her to work close beside me in heel. The second is just some heeling practice.

I had four tired but happy pups on the way home!

Page finally gets a challenging track

I was going to lay a TDX track today for Page and then give her a VST track tomorrow. However when I got 110 yards into the TDX track I'd planned, I was in water above my ankles. I was already soaked and had a few hours to go that morning, so I abandoned that track and rethought my plan.

We tracked with a friend for the rest of the morning, then I headed back into town. I had decided to do a field drill with Devon at one of the schools, and it would be a great place to lay a VST track for Page and give her some age. Below is her track:

I laid this track at 1 p.m. and ran it at 2 p.m. Page had been in the SUV traveling around and watching other dogs train since 7:30 a.m. It was a muggy day with humidity in the 60% range all day. This morning it rained off and on and there was very little wind. When I ran the track the sun was breaking through and it was in the upper 70s. The track was 387 yards with 119 yards of non-veg, or 31%.

Every time I throw something at Page I think is going to be a tracking challenge, she handles it well. So, I decided today she would get her first lesson in curb work.

The first "leg" of the track curved around the edge of the building. I wanted to start her with some alternating veg and non veg on the sidewalks. I laid hand prints every 3-4 steps on the veg to give her help and continued this throughout the track.

On the second leg we angled across the sidewalk and dropped into the curb. Here I added a piece of kibble to the hand prints about every 10-15 yards. I also put an plastic egg filled with kibble in the curb behind some grass that was growing up in the cracks.

Page got to say hello to a woman and her daughter as she was getting out of the SUV. This really fired her up and she was ready to take on the world! Page came off the start flag dead on the track. I gave her only a softly angled approach to the article, and she was nose down pulling right away. I was very glad to see her start just as strong on short grass as she does in heavy cover.

Page handled the first "leg" very well. She put her nose down and sniffed the non-veg where the hand prints were, taking the sidewalk crossings in stride. She was very confident through this soft curve around the building, pausing only long enough to sniff a drain pipe coming off the building.

She handled the angle from the grass across the sidewalk very well. When she got to the curb, she didn't drop down into it at first. She started to track up on the sidewalk above the track in the curb. I decided to follow her here to see if this is where she stayed. After about 10 yards, she dropped onto the parking lot and explored out away from the curb, sniffing the pavement. After satisfying herself it didn't go across the parking lot, Page came back to the curb and for the first time put her nose in the curb and really sniffed there. I could tell by her body language she got a strong scent and "found" her track. She was rewarded a few steps later with a piece of kibble.

Once in the curb, she tracked well to the plastic egg. I thought she found the egg, but then she seemed to track past it. I held the line and she sat next to the egg. I asked what she found and gave her the kibble from the egg. Was that sit an article indication? I wasn't sure.

This is where Page hit her first difficult spot: how to restart on non veg. She was so focused on the food, she found it hard to get restarted. I had to point to the curb several times and say track, but she just kept coming back and sitting and staring at me. Finally with some water, rescenting and steps forward and repeated pointing to the curb saying "track" she got started again.

She handled the angle back up onto the sidewalk very well. Page did a great job of checked all spots for scent before committing to the grass. Once in the grass, she tracked very strong to the metal article. Here she gave me a paw tap on the article and then sat beside it and looked back at me. Seems like the sit at the egg was an indication.

The restart at this article was much easier. Off she went again, easily tracking over a couple of more sidewalks to the last turn.

I was very interested what she would do on this final leg. Right after I laid this leg of the track, three girls rode up on their bicycles and ate lunch at the picnic tables and played on the equipment. They ran over to pet Devon before her field drill. I figured they wouldn't stay long after their lunch, and I was right. But what would their scent all over the playground do to the freshly laid track and a very green tracking dog, er puppy? And while I laid extra scent with hand prints, I didn't put any kibble down for her through this section.

Page tracked onto the concrete well and into the circle where the picnic tables were. Of course, being Bizzy's daughter, she had to check out all of the picnic tables to see if there was even a crumb left for her! Someone had a picnic and didn't invite Page! What a tragedy!

After scouring the picnic tables, Page got back on her track and tracked it well into the mulch playground. I think she would have tracked easily through the mulch had it not been for the empty McDonald's cup that once held a chocolate shake. That was simply too much for Page, and she stuck her whole head in the cup and started drinking the contents - YUCK! You can guarantee I will never drink a McDonald's shake after this experience!

I grabbed the cup up and told her to get back to work. "Are you kidding me??" was her only answer to that! Holding the cup over my shoulder wasn't fooling her; she was jumping at me in protest that she wanted to finish her find! So I walked back and threw it in the trash can. That was not a popular decision according to Page. She got mildly interested in tracking again, but only to go back to the spot of the cup and start eating pieces of mulch that had leftover shake on them. UGH!

I finally shortened up the line and walked her a couple of steps past this spot. Then I asked her to get back to work and wouldn't allow her to go back where the mess had been. It only took her about 20 seconds to give up and get back to work. At this point she was really hot and getting tired, so I wondered if she would actually be capable of tracking to the glove.

I shouldn't have worried. Not only did she pick up the track in the mulch, but she worked the concrete curb out of the play area and back into the grass. She tracked strong all the way to her glove, where she gave me another sit at the article and then a down when I walked up to get it. What a good girl!

Although this track challenged Page, she never gave up on it. She only had two rough areas, and they were difficult challenges. It's simply amazing to watch this little puppy track like a mature dog. I can't wait to see what I have the next time she runs VST. She learns very quickly, and the time in the crate on the way home, then a nap after a late lunch when she got here should have solidified her lessons into her little brain.

More tracking by Page

On Tuesday I laid a track here at home for Page. The track was 200 yards long. The first two legs were 50 yards to left turns, then the last leg was 100 yards and we crossed my gravel driveway at 70 yards. The track was on short grass and it was aged 1.5 hours when we ran it. It was cloudy and 67 degrees with a light 8 mph wind.

Page started strong, even with the age of the track being twice what she ran the day before. She did a lot of casting on the first and second leg. I think this had more to do with the short grass and the wind than the age. She has been tracking in heavy cover, so the short grass was new to her and I expected to see a difference.

Both of Page's turns were lovely. She also handled the gravel driveway extremely well. She only gave a short pause at the transition and then nose down tracked across the driveway. I was especially pleased with her nose touch and down at the article when it had no kibble in it.

Today we did some field training with Steve, Janet and Sheree. I asked Janet if she would lay Page a track since Page has never tracked anyone but me. Janet was a real trooper and laid a lovely track with 4 turns and approximately 250-300 yards. We went down a hill to set up marks while Janet was laying this track, so it was also a blind track for me.

About 2 hours later, we returned to to run the track. This was the most age Page has done to date, and she's never tracked someone else. Add in that it was a blind track for me, and I didn't know what we'd have. The good news was that the track was in pretty high cover (up to my thighs) and it had rained while the track aged.

I've said that Page doesn't have the best starts, but now I'm rethinking that. Page has good starts; they just aren't what I'm used to. Donna told me when Bizzy is working field, she'll mark and seem to say to Donna, "I got it! Send me!" Now I think I know what that looks like by Page's tracking starts. When I've asked her to sniff the start article or lay down at the start, her attitude is, "No, I got it! Let me go!" and she seems to dismiss me. So I've let her go with that kind of start. And you know what, she does have it!

I brought Page up from the side about 3 feet behind the start flag. I pointed to the start article, a stuffed animal, and she sniffed it. Her body posture was slightly different like, "What the heck? This is odd." She started off and I let the line out, but then she circled to the left almost immediately. I let her go and work it out. She circled all the way back behind me and picked up the track there. She passed me, sniffed the based of the start flag again, and then almost seemed to shrug and say, "Well, this is different from the other times I've tracked so Mom must have lost her mind, but I'll play along" and off she went!

From the start, Page never missed a step in her tracking style. She tracked strong on the first leg. In the tall grass I had a good idea where the track went because I could see it even after 2 hours. However, when her head came up and she went left, I stopped dead. I was a little confused because the track looked like it went on straight; but sure enough I turned to my left and saw a path in the grass. I was standing on the first turn. Page overshot it by 25 ft., but she knew it and was working back to the turn.

Once on the new leg, it was nose down tracking again. She read the second and third turn much more quickly. On the fourth leg we started coming out of the heavy cover, and the fourth turn was in a roadway of grass much shorter than the surrounding cover.

This last leg of the track was very long. Page stopped about halfway up and investigated something in the grass. I called to Janet and asked her if that was the glove. She said no, it was farther on up. I told Page to track, and she did but came back to this spot. Finally I saw her eating something, and I realized she was eating rabbit poop. YUCK!! I told her to leave it and track, and she did. Several more yards and she found the glove. Page sniffed it and her tail went 100 mph and she stood over it, but she didn't do a down on the article.

This was an awesome track for Page. I am so pleased to have her track someone else and not miss a beat. And nearly 2 hours of age and a blind track was an added bonus!