Dynamite Starts Tracking 12-9-08

It is Tuesday December 9 2008 and I have laid my first a track at home. For those that may not have seen Dixie’s blog I started attending  formal tracking classes with her on Mondays yesterday. I have decided to train some of my other dogs at home on her tracks. I laid a track across the front of my yard. It is the same serpentine type course that we did in Dixie’s class with a very big arc. I would estimate my track to be about 100 yards. I have not spent much time working with Dynamite in the past and it will be interesting to find out what kind of worker she is and start to develop a better bond with her. I did not add any additional food drops on the track so she will be starting with much less than Dixie had yesterday. I hope that does not cause problems. If it does I will just stop and spend some time playing with the girl. Off to get the dog.
Dynamite is very excited to be going out alone with her dad. I take her out back to potty before heading to the front where the track is. I am pleasantly surprised when Dynamite stops and sniffs the start article (sock). She very quickly puts her nose to the ground and takes off down the track. She is really working the scent hard, head down sniffing almost snorting the track. At the first food drop she hit the container and continues. I stop her and bring her back to get her rewards after all I want to make sure this is fun for her. She eats the treat she sat nicely while I reloaded it and quickly turns back to the track. None of the silly focus issues or bouncing that Dixie has had with the food drops. She is very focused on the job. She is a much more serious steady tracker than Dixie was her first time. Each food drop she touches the container but tries to continue on but again I make her sit and take the treat, then reload before going on. She works at a very nice pace covering ground but being very careful to stay on scent….she does not have any problem with the potential cross tracks that Dixie did. She completes the track without any problems and even after the glove continues to track the path I took back to the house. She is very excited with tail up and having a ball. Wow she was fun to watch work. Ok it is to the next dog! Happy tracking!

Leave a comment