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All excited,
Ready to track!
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Tracking is a unique obedience activity. Two bits of advice given to handlers
kind of sum up the whole concept:
- Trust Your Dog
- Be the Dope at the End of the Rope
This is a sport where the dog is totally in control. He knows where the track
is and you don't!
To get a TD title a dog has to use his nose and follow a quarter mile track walked
by a stranger an hour or so before. The dog must find all the turns and indicate
the glove dropped at the end. A TDX track is twice as long, twice as old, has more
articles dropped and involves more complicated scenting conditions.
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Past the second flag - now there's nothing to
give the handler a clue. There's just a big empty field out there.
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The VST's time and distances are inbetween TD and TDX, but it adds the element
of tracking on variable surfaces (and is sometimes called urban tracking). But all
three tests have one thing is common - there is a scent trail which is obvious to
the dog and not to the handler. (Tests are a bit more complicated, but that's the
general idea. See AKC's page
for full details.)
Anyone who has ever taken cockers for a walk knows how much they love to sniff. Tracking
is merely taking what they do naturally and teaching them to follow the scent they
find at the starting flag and to ignore others. And since beginning tracking is usually
taught with a cocker's greatest motivator - FOOD - they tend to catch on real fast!
Oh, do they love going into those fields where the hotdog slices grow!
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Heading down the first leg - so far, so good
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Tracking a cocker does have a few practical considerations. Their coats do tend
to pick up all sorts of vegetation. This cocker's tee-shirt provides some protection
during a practice session, but it is not allowed at a test. Cutting the coat down
is the obvious solution - but it is not impossible to track a cocker in coat. In
practice, my dogs use fields with drier, shorter cover (which is more challenging)
and the wash-and-wear breeds get the high grass. A comb is a permanent fixture in
my tracking bag, and while we are sitting around talking afterwards, I use it!!!
The only type field which causes *major* grief, however, is one which has been freshly
cut and has loose pieces of grass (and multiflora rose) available to get entwined
in the hair.
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Made the turn and still on track
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The most difficult part of tracking is getting into a test. Tests are extremely expensive
and labor intensive for a club to put on, and it is frequently difficult to get a
lot of usable land - roughly 10 clear acres per dog. There are only a few slots available
(a 5- to 8-dog TD test is fairly typical), and who gets to run is determined by a
random draw.
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Celebration Time - she found the Glove!!!
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Consequently, you must enjoy tracking for the sheer joy of being outdoors working
with your dog. Your dog WILL enjoy himself. He WILL gain a great deal of self-confidence
from doing something where he can succeed - and he WILL be so proud when you join
in celebrating when he reaches that glove at the end of the track.
©Pat Etchells - all rights reserved
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