April - Tracking Dog Excellent Test

Tracking Dog Excellent Test – Failed.  Those of us who enter the test with our dogs have a one in five chance of passing.  Magnum and I failed our first test at the Dayton Dog Club test in April.  All dogs entered in the tests that day failed – four Tracking Dog tests failed and three of us in Tracking Dog Excellent failed.

I did not start the day with confidence in myself or in my dog, which is not good.  Magnum had a good start and confidently made several turns and headed into the woods.  I was shocked how we entered the woods.  I had to bend way down and almost crawl into the woods.  Once in the woods, Magnum seemed to be everywhere and I thought he was hopelessly lost.  He tried to turn me right into a bush that led further into the woods.  I thought we should go left heading out of the woods.  Now I can’t tell you why I would think I knew where the track went since my nose was not on the ground and even if it was I still wouldn’t have known.  A dog’s nose is 100,000 times better than a human nose.  So, Magnum wanted to meander and I wouldn’t.  He got all tangled up and I had to abandon the lead and put a different lead on him.  We left the woods about 20 yards from the actual track.  We eventually got whistled, which means it is over. 

I walked back to the judges and the tracklayer.  The tracklayer walked us through the rest of the track.  Magnum had been meandering correctly in the woods, he had been on the track.  The place where he wanted to turn into a bush was the track.  I had to walk with the bush between my legs.  Seems hard to believe.   It was a lesson for me.  I hadn’t really understood about meandering in the woods.

I talked with both judges and they encouraged me to enter another test as soon as possible because they thought Magnum was ready.

I’ve entered three more tests.  The first two were in Michigan and I didn’t make it into them, but was on their wait list.  There were no passes at either test.  I was the first selected for the Tracking Dog Excellent test in Cleveland and will be tested this Sunday – Mother’s Day.   This time I will just follow my dog and support him as best I can.  If we are going to screw up, it might as well be his error rather than mine.  I am feeling much more confident in Magnum and in my ability to read him.  Keep positive thoughts for us in your mind.

The Agony and Ecstasy of Agility

The Agony and Ecstasy of Agility

The agony and ecstasy of agility – okay, maybe I am being a little dramatic because agility is just a game.  But there is some truth in it.  Most of us train our dogs at home a couple of times a week, some of us more.  We attend one or two classes a week as well as attend a seminar or so a year.  All to train our dogs and us to run around an agility course and complete it with a clean run.  We pay between $15 and $25 for a run that will last between 25 and 55 seconds at an agility trial.  We are usually up early on the morning of the trial, driving at least an hour, waiting for several hours for our turn, and then we run with our partner for under a minute.  We want so much to be successful not just for ourselves, but because we love our partner so much.  Our dogs work so hard to please us and do what we ask.  They follow our bodies, hands, feet, turn of our shoulders, our speed, our voice, our words, and our emotions.  They try so hard to do just what we ask them and we want so much for them to be successful.  So, indeed it can be agony we aren’t successful and glorious ecstasy when we are.

I’ve been participating in agility for a number of years and this is my third dog I’ve trained.  My last agility dog went blind and it ended her agility career abruptly.  Now I have a 23-month-old English springer spaniel (just turned 23 months on Friday) that is my partner.  I’ve been training him in some capacity since I brought him home at 8 weeks.  At the breeders he had been going through tunnels and tugging.  We have had a spectacular career up through January – qualifying almost every run.  Then I went to Hawaii – well someone had to go – and came back with a bad back and a re-injured ankle.  Hiking on lava can be rough on the body.  I got home late on Friday, picked the dogs up from the kennel, and had an agility trial on Saturday.  What was I thinking?  I hadn’t practiced with my dog for a month or more.  We actually did fairly well and he got his Open title in Jumpers.  He needed one more qualifying run to have the Open title in Standard.

For the next month I worked with my physical therapist to heal.  My back and hip got better, but exercises for my ankle seemed to exacerbate the injury.  Next I had a three-day trial.  On first day we did well with me limp-running around the course and qualified both runs.  The next day my ankle/foot was swollen and hurt so I asked my instructor to run Magnum.  Not all dogs will run for other people.  Magnum ran for her, but he was tentative and worried.  He stayed with her and completed the course, but didn’t qualify.  The third day I ran him and of course we didn’t qualify.  I couldn’t do the turns or run like he needed.  I was okay with all of this because I knew it was due to my injuries.

Now my back and hip are normal and my foot/ankle is much better.  So this past weekend we have another three-day trial.  Alan is videoing it for me.  The first day we had a great jumpers run, but Magnum dropped a bar.  Our standard run was great until Magnum got near the baby gates where people were sitting.  He lost his focus and acted liked he saw someone.  We didn’t qualify.  I was bummed out.

Over the years, Alan has videoed most of my agility runs.  I’d watch them, but I don’t think I learned much from them.  This time I did learn.  I realized that Magnum dropped the bar of a double jump because I was doing a back cross after the jump and he didn’t know what I was doing.  He looked to me instead of the way we were going and down came the bar.  He is a young dog and I need to provide support to him.  I treated him like he was more experienced.  I realized that with the standard course getting so near the crowd of spectators he lost his focus.  By the time he refocused on me, we were past the obstacle he was supposed to take.

The next day we qualified in the jumpers run and placed second.  The standard run he again lost focus went around a jump, but had a good finish.  I tried to keep his focus, but it wasn’t enough.  I watched the videos several times trying to decide what I needed to do.  I decided I would say his name and clap my hands, all with delight and enthusiasm.  The last day he had a great jumpers run, qualified and came in second.  Then there was the standard run with lots of challenges besides the weave poles with a sharp turn to several jumps right in front of the baby gates.  We made it through the first few challenges, then the turn.  So I enthusiastically said his name, clapped, and stayed with him.  I thought it went smoothly and he made the jumps.  Next was the a-frame into a tunnel by the dog walk, a jump and sharp turn to the teeter a jump, turn and two last jumps.   Previous handlers were challenged by the speed of the dogs coming out of the tunnel.  I too was challenged and almost didn’t get Magnum to the teeter, but he made it.  I was late in a front cross after the teeter, in part because Magnum had lost his two-on and two-off  on contacts.  So, he came off the teeter on wrong side of me, but I quickly sent him over the jump and backcrossed – and he didn’t drop the bar.  We had a clean run and came in first. 

Magnum and I celebrated with hugs, him eating treats and I sang “I feel good, so good, la da da da da da da da – OO!!”  Okay – I wasn’t James Brown, but I tried.  We are in Ecstasy!!    It’s a day later and we are still feeling good and I am learning from those videos.  On that last run, he had briefly lost focus but got it back when I said his name and clapped.  I can hear someone near Alan on the video saying how I saved it.  Yeah!!  

Tracking and Distractions

Even though it has been cold in Ohio the last few months, I have continued to track with my English springer spaniel, Magnum.  For those that don’t know – tracking is when I ask Magnum to follow a human scent laid by myself or someone else.  The track will have some articles on it that he has to identify (down next to them), cross tracks made by a human, and the track will cross several obstacles such as a road, sidewalk, and/or woods.  These tracks are aged from three to five hours.

In February, we were tracking at Twin Towers, a Greene County park.  Twin Towers is an equestrian park and has a section used to train hunt dogs.  It is one of the few parks that have wide-open areas of unmowed grasses and mowed grass that can be used for tracking.  Unfortunately, lots of folks use it as a dog park and just let their dogs run all over.  Greene County and Ohio have leash laws that require dogs to be leashed except on private property.  Greene County does have a dog park outside of Xenia. 

So, I am tracking with Magnum using a 50-foot lead with him about 30 feet out.  I hear behind me Alan saying no and hear a dog barking.  Then I hear him telling someone we are training our dog.  I decide that I won’t even think about anything except tracking with Magnum.  Next thing I know, I hear a woman yelling for her dog and of course it seems the dog is paying no attention to her.  Then a hound like dog with his lip curled up is standing near Magnum, but Magnum completely ignores the dog.  I hear the woman saying, “I am sorry.”  Although I want to say, “Lady this is a county park, not a dog park.” I continue to just focus on Magnum, tell him to track and he does great.  He just continues tracking and leaves the hound in the dust.  It was a great experience for tracking with a distraction.  

We had a similar distraction a few weeks later.  This time there were several dogs barking like crazy and I heard Alan yelling, “NO!”  Magnum did not even break stride or look up.  He just continued to track like he had to save a baby.  Alan later told me it was two dogs that were heading for Magnum.  He said if he hadn’t yelled they would have gone for Magnum.  What is wrong with the owners of these dogs?

An interesting aspect is that Magnum is doing great with the live distractions, but he is fascinated with animal scents.  He has sometimes tried to convince me that the animal track was the track he’s supposed to be working.  I still have trouble reading this.  He can be so convincing.  A couple of times when he has tried to drag me on an animal track, I have said, “Are you sure this is the track?”  Sometimes he looks at me like he’s saying, “Okay, Okay.”  Then he takes off on the correct track.  Even though these distractions can be frustrating, they are great for training.

Tracking in the Snow

Today was the first time tracking this winter in snow with the Springers – Magnum and Shadow.  I won’t be tracking again until February due to travel plans.  We tracked with our friend M and her beagle – Ernie.  I’m going to start calling Ernie, Ernie the Extraordinary!  It was Ernie’s first time on snow and he was great.  Ernie is like Shadow in that you can’t praise him much or he will stop tracking and just wait for a reward.  With Shadow, when she finds an obstacle, I just say a soft, “Good girl.”  Ernie had a starter track and then a track with a left turn and then a right turn. 

Shadow had a track with three turns.  She did fairly well with her struggling a little with the wind.

Magnum had a starter track with two cross tracks and a 600 yard or so track with two cross tracks.  M laid the tracks and I did the cross tracks.  I experimented with something I had read in Glen Johnson’s tracking book.  He comments that when laying a cross track, if you step over the track, the dog will hardly notice the cross track.  But, if you step on the track when laying the cross track, it is more compelling to the dog and he will notice it.  So I stepped over the track for the first cross track and stepped right on the track for the second cross track. 

Magnum ran the starter track without his handler and did great.  I had on bulky gloves and took one glove off after putting him in a down at the start article.  I put the glove on and picked up the article and told Magnum to track.  In the process, I dropped the lead and tried several times to grab it, but couldn’t.  Magnum took off delighted that I was not impeding him.  Since it was a straight track, I figured I catch up at the last article.  I yelled down and he waited until I got there. I assume M had a good laugh.  

Magnum also did great on the regular track and did have his handler (me) with him the whole track.  Just as Glen Johnson said, Magnum ignored the first cross track and wanted to follow the second cross track (the cross track I had stepped on the track).  He tried to follow it in both directions.  I called him back to the track and he took off on the track, but he would have followed the cross track without my intervention.  While tracking, he had several places that he check out what must have been animal tracks, but got right back on the track without my intervention other than me standing still and waiting.  His cornering was superb.  Maybe it was due to the snow, but he would really smell the area at the corner, and then take off in the correct direction.

So it was a great tracking morning for all of us.  My grandson Ajax (14 months) stayed with us for the weekend.  It was the first time with him visiting that Alan hadn’t brought him along for tracking.  Alan hasn’t been comfortable staying by himself with Ajax.  Ajax was under the weather and had a hard time sleeping last night.  Alan ended up from 1:00 AM on holding Ajax and keeping him entertained between Ajax sleeping.  This is Alan’s first experience with a baby, so I think he is due kudos for grand parenting. 

Cross Country Skiing, Snow Shoeing and Tracking

Northern Michigan had about 20 inches of snow that they gotten before Christmas.  It tends to snow a little most days there, so even though there is evaporation the amount of snow stays the same or is increased slightly.  I cross-country skied at Aspen City Park in Gaylord three days in a row.  Aspen Park is a lovely treasure with plantations of pine and areas of deciduous trees.  The park includes an area enclosed by high fencing with a small elk herd.  The city grooms the ski trails for Nordic skiing and they stay in fairly good condition.  This is probably in part because the younger folks tend to skate ski, which requires a groomed trail, but a differently groomed trail.  Most of the other skiers I saw were mature adults.  Snowmobiles aren’t permitted in the park, so it is quietly peaceful.  I love skiing there!

Skiing through the pines got me to thinking about problems with pine plantations.  Last summer we were in the Scottish Highlands where there are a number of pine plantations.  I learned that pines planted too closely so that other species don’t grow would eventually die.  They become susceptible to insects, disease, and forest fire.  The dying out of a forest is happening at the pine forest in Glen Helen Nature Preserve in Yellow Springs.  So, I wondered if this might eventually be a problem for Aspen Park. Northern Michigan has a number of pine plantations where trees are harvested thus thinning the forest, which makes it healthier. 

I also snow shoed from our house in Michaywe to a trail that runs behind it.  When there is so much snow, the only way to take a walk in it is to snow shoe.  After going over the same path several times, the snow gets packed down so that animals and humans can walk without too much difficulty.  I do love the snow and winter activities.

I’m finished with the intensive training with Magnum to recognize and ignore cross tracks.  Now when I track with him, I first lay a starter track of about 100 yards with 3 cross tracks on it.  Then a regular Tracking Dog Excellent track is laid (850- 1500 yards) with 2 sets of cross tracks on it.  Last time we tracked, Magnum wanted to follow a cross track on the starter track.  I excitedly called him back to the track and he continued on.  We then did the regulation track and he completely ignored the cross tracks.  It was almost like he was communicating, “Okay, you fooled me once, but not again.”  

Annie Leibovitiz

Annie Leibovitz was born in 1949, a year before me and the same year as Alan.  I became aware of her through her photography for the Rolling Stone. She became know as the photographer of the Rock Stars because of her work at the Rolling Stone.  An exhibition of her work is at the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University and it is well worth seeing. 

From the Rolling Stone she went to Vanity Fair, then Vogue and now is back at Vanity Fair.  It is probably her work at Rolling Stone that touches me the most.  It was that period in my late teens and 20’s that music meant so much to me.  Annie photographed all the legendary rock stars and provided a window into our knowing them.  They were in a sense defined by the photographs.  But Annie doesn’t see she is capturing a person, she sees a photograph as just a moment with someone. 

The exhibit includes the photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono taken hours before he was shot to death.  It appeared on the cover of the Rolling Stone.  In it, both John and Yoko are naked and John is curled up next to her. 

There are photographs from the 16 years she was with Susan Sontag.  A gorgeous photograph of Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace is a part of the exhibit.  It was recently sold at Sotheby’s Auction House for 50,000 pounds.

Also included in the exhibit besides all the rock stars and stars are landscapes.  I hadn’t realized that she had done them.  She did a lot of them while traveling across the county. 

The exhibit provides an opportunity to see wonderful photographs of a living iconic photographer.  

Outstanding In Her Field

I have been spending time standing out in a field, thus outstanding in her field.  This week I’ve been working on cross tracks with Magnum.  We started on Sunday with my friend M laying the track and Alan doing cross tracks.  Now Alan lays the track and I do the cross track.  The track is a total of 860 yards with 4 long legs of 200 yards that are parallel each (except for the last leg) with a turn at the end and a short leg of 20 yards.  The person laying the cross tracks walks out 60 feet past where the tracker layer is starting, then puts flags in at 20 yards, 60 yards and 180 yards.  Then the person laying the cross tracks just hangs out in the field waiting for the tracklayer to get to the last leg.  On the last leg the cross tracklayer again is 60 feet out and walks along with the track layer and put a flag in at 20 yards and 180 yards.  The cross track layer then waits the designated time and then walks from cross flag to cross flag so there are a total of 16 cross tracks.   The cross tracks are aged progressively each day starting with 30 min., 45 min., 1 hr., 1 ¼ hr. and then 1 ½ hr.  The age of the track is double the age of the cross track.

Glen Johnson comments in his book that cross tracks is like starting over tracking with your dog.  Good thing I had the warning.   He also states that if your dog doesn’t pay attention to the cross tracks, then it is a wasted lesson because your dog isn’t paying attention to the track.  Needless to say, it was not a wasted lesson for Magnum.   

First time out, Magnum tried to follow almost every cross track.  The handler knows where the track is and sees the flags for the cross tracks.  So the job of the handler is to refocus the dog, in a positive way, back on the track.  Each day it has been a little easier with him getting back on the track himself without my encouragement for some of the tracks.  I am trying to figure out if he is cueing the cross track differently from following a track and making a turn.  I think his behavior is a little more excited with the cross track.  He looks more serious and focused on the track.  Or as serious as a dog can look who is quite excited to be tracking.

The first time out the track was in higher grass just hitting mid calf.  Second time out on mowed grass.  Third time we went back to higher grass and our 4^th time were in a plowed field.  The plowed field was muddy, so Magnum was a mess.  We’ll try the plowed field on Friday again.  I believe from here on out we’ll be doing cross tracks on all tracks we practice on, but not 16 cross tracks, just the standard 2 cross tracks.

At the Tracking test in September in St. Louis where Magnum passed his Tracking Dog test, 3 of the 4 dogs attempting Tracking Dog Excellent messed up on the cross tracks.  So, it is clear that cross tracks are a major challenge for dogs.