Drifter 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 been looking for some new things to do with Drifter that he may enjoy and have decided to give him a try at tracking as well. He is the fourth dog to work this track. I really think this is something he could really enjoy since he can make decisions on his own and does not have the same stress of being wrong that he had in agility. I am a little concerned with his pulling power  I would be very concerned working him on snow or ice. We are also expecting several girls to come into season and he tends to lose his brains when that happens so I am not sure how long we will get to train before he will need to take a break. Anyways back to the track. I take Drifter out and exercise him before heading to the front. I show him the sock, hold it up and let him smell it. He really does not seem to get what I want so I drop the sock behind me and move forward a little on the track. He soon puts his nose down and seems to “get it” and starts pulling me up the track. He is really excited when he finds the food drop. He is even more excited when I let him eat the treat out of the container (he is the last dog today so I am picking up the containers as we go). He is quickly back on the track pulling me even faster to the next drop. I think he has the basic idea although he is cheating looking for the next container and he is hard to work because he wants to go so fast. This likely goes make to the same issues he had with agility but hopefully he will learn to settle in a bit and not try to sprint the track. It may also help if he gets to cover that hides the containers. He manages to stay on the track and finds all the drops. He is very proud of himself as he finds the glove. He really wants to please and be right! I think he will need to slow down a lot before he will be able to handle any real turns. I am pleased that all the dogs seemed to get the basic idea and they all seemed to really enjoy the game. Ok until next time happy tracking!