Thursday, May 31, 2012

Three Blind Tracks For “Ash” and Her Comrades "Quila" & "Teah"


Ash’s passion for tracking continues on in the merry month of May.  Her comrades and I have been getting together for “blind tracking” sessions a couple of times a month. This past Wednesday, Lynn and her golden girl “”Quila” and Kristine and her rottie “Teah” joined us for another practice session on the range.

 When tracking independently, we plot and lay our own tracks and make mental notes of our dog’s working style and behaviour. Getting together as a group has allowed us to share our observations and lay blind tracks for each other. This approach has helped us gauge our progression as handler/dog teams. The “track layer” plots and draws a map of the track and follows behind to lend a helping hand if the team encounters any difficulty.

We have been concentrating on laying one blind track per team at a distance of 450 feet with three or four corners with the lost article at the end.  The best part is watching each team as we progress and “put into” practice all the wonderful tips we have been gifted with from various coaches.

Below are some favourite photos from our Wednesday session with Ash and her tracking comrades.

Me & My "Ash" after a great morning of tracking
My thoughtful thinker "Ash" picking up the third corner of the blind track laid by Kristine 
Lyyn & "Quila" after a great session of search and rescue practice
Lynn and "Quila" working hard on their blind track laid by me
The lovely Miss "Quila" 
Kristine with her pretty and talented rottie  gal "Teah"
Kristine and "Teah" fully focussed on the blind track laid by Lynn
Miss "Teah" shows off her happy face
My beautiful crew member "Ash" enjoying a rest break after our great day of tracking with her comrades


5 comments:

  1. It is amazing to see how dogs suddenly make great progress when the vegetation becomes lush and green and you see everything click into place. Michelle, you sound so knowledgeable! Great photos. Hi everyone :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Donna! Well the credit goes to you for your wonderful coaching! We are putting all your tips into practise and enjoying the progression of each dog and handler. Many miles to track, as we continue the enjoy the sport.

    Cheers from your tracking buddies
    Michelle and Ash

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great day... With great pictures... And wonderful comrades!
    The tracks are going better every time ... Not sure who is getting better the dogs or the track layers
    Missed having Lorrie there.... Next time.
    Hi Donna as well.... Maybe you will join us sometime?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'd love to, I am getting Jet ready for a test in three weeks and really can use the support. However, I am working on urban with her until the test and plan to go to Olds tomorrow morning. But please just let me know when you are meeting. When are cows coming Michelle?

    I am very proud of everyone. Remember all winter, I said a) the handling and kinetics are developed with the great visuals, and b) if your dogs do so well on ice and in cold, imagine how this will translate to lush veg! I am happy you are seeing and experiencing that and that you clearly are bitten by the tracking passion bug.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey Donna, we have some cows now but they are on my neighbour's quarter. We are still working on a bit more fencing on my side to finish the extra grazing zone. So, my herd won't be here until a few more weeks.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...