Making progress ...

Well, Treck had the summer off from tracking due to his neck injury. We've been slowly getting back into a tracking routine again. At this time we've only been tracking once a week with the schutzhund club.

Twice now I've had other club members lay tracks for Treck using their own articles. This was a great training exercise as Treck either ignored or hesitantly downed for the unknown articles. Since then I've borrowed some of their articles and have left them unscented [I handle them minimally (i.e., only when placing them on the track)]. Also, when I lay his track I make sure I know exactly where I have placed them [I use natural markers (e.g., stick, clump of grass, etc.)] so I can correct him if needed. He has improved quite a lot even with just a few tracks and now recognizes them as articles and downs accordingly.

Although I work full-time and attend college part-time I hope to start tracking him in earnest so that we can go for the TR1. I have decided not to try for the OB titles, the 39" jump and 6' wall are too much for his age and injuries. The CDX, however, might still be a possibility.

Back to it!

Will update shortly with our most recent tracks.

Hiatus

Treck suffered a herniated disc in his neck in an accident, and has to take a break from training for rehab. Just when we were getting somewhere. Frustrating, but I am happy to report he will fully recover.

State Park track

Date: 4/18/09
Time: 12:45 p.m.
Temp.: 75*
Weather: clear, sunny, gorgeous!
Length: 400 paces
Age: 30 minutes
Conditions: uniform grass
Turns: 3
Articles: 1 leather, 1 wood, 1 cloth

Worked on length and age. First two articles not baited, last one was. No problems there. All turns baited. First two turns were no problem, but he cut the corner on the third, something I rarely see him do. I think the light breeze was blowing the scent towards him. Also, maybe the age of the track contributed to this? Had this been a trial I think it would have been a 95-96. Here is a pic I took after we ran the track, I just thought it was neat how you could see the track.

And below is a video I made of the entire track by placing my camera on the hood of my truck. I sped it up double time to make it not quite so tedious! Watch us become little dots on the horizon!

Pics of the surrounding countryside ...

Thoroughbreds on Murmur Farm, Darlington, Maryland.

Dairy cows enjoying the sun.

Athletic field

Date: 4/11/09
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Temp.: 55*
Weather: clear
Length: 215 paces
Age: 5 minutes
Conditions: spring grass
Turns: 6
Articles: 1 cloth

No food on scent pad or first 10 steps. I laid a baited serpentine after the 10 steps to slow him down if his speed quickened. But he maintained a nice, calm speed throughout. Worked on turns, 6 of them, only had trouble at turn #2, searched for about 10 seconds to find it, circled a few times, I let him work it out. Stayed calm, nose down while searching for turn, "good such" when he found the next leg. All turns baited. Also did a step-off exercise on the second leg, the video shows how he handled it. :) I ended the track with the last leg that headed nearly into a large brush pile, I could tell he was working the scent really hard and carefully, nice indication of a baited article.

By the old barn ...

Date: 4/9/09
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Temp.: 56*
Weather: clear
Length: 235 paces
Age: 10 minutes
Conditions: spring/dead grass and corn field
Turns: 2
Articles: 1 leather, 1 wood

Tried the approach to scent pad that Floyd Wilson outlines in his article. Went well. Treck was pretty excited at the beginning and was faster than normal, but had no problems at the first turn. A little "wobbly" on the second leg, first article was great. Worked on staying calm in the 'platz' and calm restart by baiting footsteps directly after article. Worked great, nice and steady restart. Second turn was a tad bit sloppy. Third leg had a change of terrain from grass to corn field. Handled just fine, I was very proud and he continued to work while maneuvering around the corn stalks. Second article, again, was great, worked on staying in the 'platz' until being released, he's a little over eager! :) Both turns baited. And both articles were baited this time as well.

Old tracking photos from Fall 2007

Thanks to Lynn for these photos !

And up the hill we go ...

Date: 4/5/09

Time: 9:45 a.m.

Temp.: 50*

Weather: clear, sunny

Length: 350 paces

Age: 10 minutes

Conditions: new, spring grass growing in deep dirt

Turns: 3

Articles: 1 leather, 1 cloth, 1 wood

Very nice conditions. Missed the first article even though he was right on track so I brought him back and corrected him when he got to it. I should have given him the opportunity to indicate it by himself, but I didn't want him to pass it up again. Not a harsh correction by any means, just a jerk on the fursaver, but still I should have given him a chance. I don't like to correct him on tracks. And like last track, I don't know if I like this "do-over stuff". I wonder if I should just let the mistake go and address it on the next track (i.e., baiting the article, etc.)

I was super happy with the rest of the track. Again, all turns baited. At the second turn Treck did a quick head check but other than that they were accurate. Interestingly, during his last leg, which was at the top of the hill and drier conditions, he was really slow and careful, it was nice. I don't know if that's because our hard work is paying off or because of the correction earlier during the track and he just didn't want to miss another article. As long as he's not worrying while tracking, I want him to enjoy it.

I believe age has played a significant factor in our success thus far. Treck is now more clear-headed and mature and if he gets lost or if there are longer stretches of unbaited track he still maintains a nice pace and is not hectic. Although he still maintains his enthusiastic love of tracking, which is great!

Thanks to Britta for the photos !

Tracking Resources

Floyd Wilson's Building Blocks

Armin Winkler's Only the Nose Really Knows, Part II

Spring has arrived

Date: 4/3/09
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Temp.: 50*
Weather: clear, wind 15 mph
Length: 235 paces
Age: 10-15 minutes
Conditions: new, spring grass
Turns: 6
Articles: 1 cloth, 1 wood

Another nice track. Had just had torrential downpour prior to laying track. Long first leg, 100 paces, with a semi-circle to the right in the middle of the leg. Have not done one of these in a long time, but Treck handled it just fine. Next turn was great, then he overshot the fourth and then found the next leg in a sort of round-about way. So, I said 'phui' and then restarted him and then he did a nice corner. Not sure if I like doing that or not, or if that actually helps him. All turns were baited. He had no trouble with an angled leg to the right and then finished up the track in good order. Articles were very nice as well.

Angled turn.

An audience of fox and deer

Very nice track on some (finally!) green grass located on a strip in the middle of the corn field. Most of the turns were a bit sloppy, we need to work on them. I think I need to start baiting all his turns until he's showing "absolute" precision and then gradually cut back here and there. However, I was proud of myself in that I offered no help, and allowed Treck to figure out the track on his own. I was happy to see he stayed calm throughout.

Date: 3/23/09
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Temp.: 43*
Weather: clear, wind 10-15 mph
Length: 300 paces
Age: 15 minutes
Conditions: dead grass and new, spring grass, corn husks/ears
Turns: 6
Articles: 1 cloth, 1 wood, 1 leather

Treck's article indications were awesome. This no food on the article thing is working for us. Straight and fast! I did make a mistake on one of his articles when I told him to 'such' after he had finished eating his article reward. With him its best to tell him to 'such' while he is still eating as it makes him calmer. If not, then he leaps up from his platz to continue the track. This happened in both his SchH1 and SchH2 trials. No food reward for finding the article causes him to be too fast and hectic when commanded to 'such' again. I'm wondering how I can prepare for that?

I'll note that for this track and for his last track I did not use a prong collar, only his fursaver. In the past I've always tracked him with the line attached to both. I have noticed more calmness during his tracks. I think all the prong suceeded in doing was increasing his drive and excitement level. Good for obedience, but not for tracking. At least not for Treck, as he loves to track.

Sorry for the long winded post and no pretty pictures. :( My camera died while I was laying it. Also causing me to miss a photo opportunity as I had both a fox and a doe watch me lay the track! :)

An introduction and our goals

I guess I'll go ahead and take a moment to introduce Treck, the star of this little tracking blog. Treck's full name is UCD Maximus von den wilden Rabbits BH, SchH1, CD, NA, NAJ, HCT-s, CGC. So where's his tracking title? It's hidden in that SchH1 since Schutzhund is a sport that is comprised of tracking, obedience and protection. Treck is eight years old now. And I'm currently deciding just what I should do with him. We missed nearly 2 years of training because of two, severe muscle strains to his right hindleg ... the iliopsoas and gracilis muscles ... yeah, I know, I'd never heard of them before either, but now I'll never forget them considering what they cost me! ;) I would like to trial him for his Schutzhund tracking (TR1, 2 & 3) titles when he's ready. His injury is a chronic problem and so he is now retired from serious protection training. The FH and FH2 tracking titles are our ultimate goal. And I'm also considering AKC tracking as well. Those are our tracking goals. As far as other dog sport venues, I'd also like to try for the Schutzhund obedience (OB1, 2 & 3) titles and his CDX, he's already trained through these levels. Wish us luck! :)

Tracking at the club ...

Due to my work schedule I had not been able to train with my schutzhund club since last summer. So it was fun to be able to meet up with everyone today. It was an evening session, which means obedience and protection only, but I got there early and laid a track for Treck.

Onto the second leg.

Date: 3/14/09
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Temp.: 42*
Weather: clear
Length: 210 paces
Age: 15 minutes
Conditions: dead grass, dead leaves
Turns: 2
Articles: 1 cloth

Second turn.

These were the nicest conditons that Treck has had the opportunity to track on since we started back up. The first turn was on bare ground (really dry dirt) and he nailed it, the second was in dead grass with a bunch of dead leaves over top and after a quick head check right he turned left and finished up his last leg in good order. You can see his article indication below.

Wind

Well, I had planned on giving Treck just a simple, staightforward track, one turn, two articles ... however a storm front decided to move in and bring us some wind. Nothing too wild, but the 20+ mile per hour gusts added a good challenge.

Date: 3/11/09
Time: 5:45 p.m.
Temp.: 65*
Weather: clear, 23 mph wind gusts
Length: 135 paces
Age: 15 minutes
Conditions: dead grass
Turns: 1
Articles: 1 wood, 1 leather

Frozen fur

I wanted to work on turns tonight with Treck. Although in hindsight I probably shouldn't have introduced a new terrain (snow) at the same time. At the start of his track he was very excited. I didn't take into account that he had been cooped inside for the past couple of days because of a snowstorm. He overshot his baited first turn by a half a body length, then started to setttle in, his second turn (unbaited) wasn't quite perfect, but he nailed his last three turns, 2 unbaited and 1 baited. Concerning the terrain ... although he didn't show any concern as the track changed back and forth between snow and dirt, he did however go off track twice in the dirt/cornstalks, he left the track by about a body length each time but quickly found it again. And at the end of his last leg he went off track, thus missing his article, so I restarted him and he had a nice indication. I think I helped him too much and should have let him work it out more on his own.

Date: 3/4/09
Time: 5:15 p.m.
Temp.: 16*
Weather: cold, clear, negligible wind
Length: 160 paces
Age: 10 minutes
Conditions: dirt, snow, dead corn stalks
Turns: 5
Articles: 1 cloth

The two of us are still learning a lot. I was able to reflect back on our track as we took a short hike around the farm and I concluded we both simply need more practice. It's been awhile since we tracked regularly. I also never kept a log, already this has been very helpful. I'm looking forward to the journey.

Evenings spent in old soybean fields ...

Treck took a big step forward from his track on Sunday. Tonight's track was more than twice as long, on some crappy dirt of an old soybean field and had much less food. I took the risk of challenging him with this because I know he's mature enough to handle it and bounce back if it didn't work. And we could always take a step back if need be. But I wanted to see just how much he remembered and what he was capable of at this time. Well, dumb me, did I think my dog was going to forget how to use his nose? He handled it like a real champ.

Date: 2/25/09

Time: 5:45 p.m.

Temp.: 44*

Weather: clear, negligible wind

Length: 250 paces

Age: 10 minutes

Conditions: dirt, dead soybeans plants

Turns: 3

Articles: 1 leather, 1 cloth

After our track I snapped this photo of Treck's start flag.

A little too eager at the scent pad, Treck first swung his head back and forth a bit as he started down the first leg of the track. But I purposely made this leg long (100 paces) to allow him time to settle before having to worry about a turn. However, he quickly got accustomed to the terrain and fell into a very nice rhythm that he maintained for the remainder of the track. He took the first turn about a half a body length wide but his first article indication, located on the second leg, was awesome, fast and straight. The next two corners were perfect and as you'll see from the video his indication for the last article was slow because he was busy eating food. I think I'm going to quit baiting his articles. Treck has always seemed to indicate straighter and faster when there is no food on them.

A short track in a long time ...

Due mostly to my work and school schedule and my indecision as to whether or not I was going to continue to train Treck for competition, we have not tracked since last summer. But anyways, more about that in a later post. In the meantime, I've decided to create this blog in order to maintain a training log of our progress. My goal is to attain the TR1-3 titles. Our ultimate goal will be the FH and FH2!

Second corner.

Date: 2/22/09
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Temp.: 37*
Weather: wet snow, negligible wind
Length: 90 paces
Age: -/+ 0 minutes
Conditions: dead grass
Turns: 2
Artices: 1 leather

Baited article.

Since it has been so long since he last tracked, I kept Treck's track simple, easy and short. I baited the scent pad, most of the track itself, both left-hand corners and his leather article at the end. I also kept it short, 60 paces for the first leg, 30 for the next and 60 for the last. He downed very nicely for his article, a little crooked to the left, so I walked up on that side to help correct him for the future. All in all I was very pleased with his performance.

First corner ...