A huge congratulations to my little sister Bailie who passed her TD Test (Tracking Dog Test) on October 25th! We are all so very proud of her for getting her first title in dog sports!
If you follow my blog, you would know Bailie has had some issues with focus in nose work and tracking and had failed her TD test twice this past spring. The third time was the charm at Kinnickinnic State Park in Wisconsin. She not only passed the test, she ran her track like a text book tutorial on how to track! Mom says she couldn’t believe it was Bailie on the other end of the leash!
This is a shot of the prairie field where her track was laid. It was pretty tall and thick prairie grass which Bailie adores. Mom says she bounds like a happy deer through the stuff.
This is her actual track map. There are two judges and each fills out this map form. A TD track is 440-500 yards long, has 3-5 right angle or open angle turns, a start and an end article. There are all sorts of things that go into laying and running a track but I won’t go into all of them now. The track was 455 yards long with three right angle and one open angle turn. Bailie ran the track in a super fast five minutes.
After all the tracks were run, photos were taken. This one is the track layer, two judges, Mom, and Bailie.
5 reasons Bailie passed her TD Test
1. Experience
Mom and Bailie had tried this test thing twice. The first time they really had no idea how it worked, the second time they had the system down but Bailie had no motivation. Now their third time, they knew what to expect and Mom knew better how to motivate Bailie.
2. Ideal Conditions
The weather and track conditions were ideal that weekend. After a long dry spell, there was a lot of rain and wind on Friday. Saturday when the track was plotted and laid, the rain had stopped and the wind was dying down. The weather was also cool. The dampness and cool temps, with no wind helped keep the scent on the track really well for Bailie’s run on Sunday morning.
3. Home Field Advantage
Kinnickinnic State Park in Wisconsin is only about forty five minutes from our house. There was no travel time, no overnight in a hotel, life stayed in our normal routine. Being local, Mom also knew many of the people at the test which provides a comforting feeling.
4. A Training Buddy
In August, Mom and Bailie started training with a friend and her dog. They tracked together once a week and it made a big difference. Tracking is a solitary sport, but with a buddy, there is someone there to offer advice, help you find ways to make tracking more fun, and not tracking alone is simply more fun. They were thrilled their tracking buddies Kristi and her PWD Hydro also passed their TD test on the same day. Bailie and Mom were the first track, their buddies were the fourth.
5. A Revamped Reward System
I’m a dog who loves to work, but Bailie only works if it is worth it for her to work. By the time spring rolled around, she had lost most of her motivation to track with Mom and her nose work motivation was spotty. Mom was at a loss. Thankfully, between the new tracking buddy, and some great training instructors the past couple of months, Bailie has her motivation back and is working like a machine. Stop by next Friday where I will be talking about rewarding, motivation, and training, sharing our secrets which are paying off big!
It was a great day for tracking. Six of the nine dogs entered in the test passed! Mom and I couldn’t be more proud of our Ethos Irish Cream CGC, TD, aka Bailie! When you pass your test, you get to keep the end article and it is customary for the track layer and judges to sign it for you.
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WAY TO GO BAILIE!!!! I’m proud of you too!!
I guess when she gets it right, she really rocks it!
Great post, love learning and hearing about your tracking! Are all the “courses” set up the same or is it up to the track layer how it will be set up? Love that you get to keep the object you were looking for and the judges and track layer sign them!!
Every track is different. The tracks are plotted and walked the day before by the two judges and the track layer. The have to be a certain distance away from each other, so the area is huge, and depending on the terrain, the legs are different lengths, turns are different, etc. One friend of ours had several super short legs followed by a 210 yard last leg, so you just never know.
Bailie that is so wonderful, a job well done for you and your mom. I love your new name! It’s always nice to add those titles to the name. Have a great weekend.
It’s a bummer we can’t add nose work titles to our names too, but that’s alright. Hopefully I will get a TD for my name too next year.
Congrats Bailie!
Thank you. We are still celebrating.
That is so cool! You should put the glove and her ribbon in a shadow box. I am so happy for you both and of course, Emma! β₯ β₯
Mom is contemplating what to do and how to do it as we would like to incorporate the track map too.
Well done Bailie – (and Mom) perseverance won in the end π
Mom always knew Bailie could do it, but she really knocked it out of the park!
Hi Y’all!
Bailie sure looks happy! Congratulations, girl!
Y’all come on by,
Hawk aka BrownDog
She was really happy as she had a blast running her track, and then all the attention she got for passing as well as good treats made it a real happy time for her!
Congratulations Bailie! The green ribbon looks fabulous!!! I bet your mom jumped with joy that you passed with flying colours. And even mother nature is a fan of GBGV’s with the perfect track-weather :o)
Bailie said Mom almost killed her because when she found the glove and stopped, Mom came running to her and smothered her with love, hugs, kisses, and almost squeezed the life out of her. It was a joyous day!
So proud of you Bailie. Big congratulations. Can you and Emma track yourself a to my house if I send you directions?
We could track anything, but we would need a start article with the scent and a scent trail to follow. Follow the nose, it nose.
Emma, I am so thrilled for your sister, Bailie, and your mom! You ALL worked so very hard for this Big CONGRATULATIONS! XOXO Sparkle the PBGV
The failures only made mom more determined, and the pass even more special because of all the work they put into it.
Congratulations Bailie!
Thank you, we are all still floating on a cloud about it.
Yeah! Congrats to Bailie, and all involved.
Thank you. Hard work and perseverance paid off.
Way to go Bailie – good job. Can’t wait to hear how you upped her motivation.
Mom is still in disbelief as to how Bailie ran her track. Rewards are so simple, yet tricky as humans tend to not think it all out correctly. We will explain some of what we have learned from trainers in the last month next week.
Bailie, third times the charm!!! triple congrats! I have a new buddy too (Elbe) and he has motivated me to do all sorts of things I haven’t done since I was a puppy, maybe we will try tracking sometime. your friend, Chablis
You can get Elbe started tracking already. We used to do it with Bailie. Mom would lay out a food track to her food bowl in the morning. One piece of kibble every couple of feet and the rest in the bowl at the end. Start short and add to the “track”. We even added in the stairs.
Way to go Bailie and Mom! Sticking with it paid off!
My mom is one who makes up her mind about something and is determined to do it, so it was only a matter of time with some help along the way.
Way to go Bailie!!!!! You are PAW-some!!!
α¦ husky hugz α¦ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
We are very proud of her.
Wowee, that’s awesome! It’s great when everything comes together. I understand what you mean by the revamped reward system. It makes all the different when you find that magic combo! Can’t wait to hear more!
Once Mom got some advice from trainers about nose work and realized it applied to all types of rewarding, the light bulb went on and Bailie started getting motivated like crazy. It has been really fun, and I’m more motivated too.
Hooray for Bailie, hooray for Bailie!!! A ribbon! Third time’s the charm. Congratulations to Bailie and to your mom! I bet you let out a big sigh of relief when you heard the news!! It’s tough being the older sibling and hoping your little one will do the right stuff, isn’t it? Happy Friday! Your doodle friend, Dash
It’s tough being the sensible, good sister and then having to deal with my little sister letting Mom down again, but no more. Mom is so thrilled and Bailie is happy too.
That’s so great! Congrats!
We are all really happy!
Woohoo! Well fought and well earned! Bailie and you look rightfully proud. Congrats.
Bailie was feeling pretty proud once Mom stopped squeezing the life out of her out of joy!
I was wonderibg what the work glove was about! Thanks for explaining. Way to go, Irish Cream!!
It can be a glove, bandana, anything cloth, really, but most use a glove when they lay a track.
We are so proud of you too Bailie! Hey, it’s also because you’re a smart gal too!
Sometimes we think she fails because the challenge isn’t enough for her, but she did good and we are all happy.
Wow congrats Bailie and mom. That’s so cool. They were mentioning how good/fun nose work is for many dogs at the #BetterWithPets event and she got treats (always a happy bonus for Kilo). Have a great weekend.
We love nose work too. I’m the bigger nose work fan, though, and am still riding my high from two new titles last weekend.
Your Mom didn’t give up on Bailie, and it sounds like a lot of hard work really finally made things click for her. Congratulations to both of them! That’s pretty cool that they get to keep the end article and it’s signed as well…great memorabilia for a successful day!
Mom can’t quit. Failure makes her only want to do it more, and working together with some training modifications really paid off.
Congratulations, pretty girl! I had no idea you had such an awesome “real” name – I love it!! That’s a great photo of you & your mom, by the way π
My sisters and I all have fancy names, but mine now has the most titles. Katie is Akira von Eisgebirge (no titles) can you tell she is from Germany? Emma is Debucher Baguette CGC.
Bailie, that is awesome!! It sounds like it was a fun time and you look so pretty with your ribbon π
Mom says those five minutes were so much fun and so scary all rolled into one. We are all proud of Bailie and the work she did.
Congrats again. Your hard work paid off! Training is definitely more fun with a friend.
It really is, but tracking is such a lonely sport so it is hard to find a tracking buddy as it increases the time involved which is already a lot.
Great job Bailie!!
Smileys!
Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
Thank you. She deserves the title after working so hard.
Holy CAT! Way ta go,Bailie! High Five!
Thanks, kitties!
Well dobe Bailie!
She has a great nose for tracking and it is finally on track too!
Outstanding!!! We have learned so much from you and your sister about tracking and nose work. Fascinating stuff ya’ll. I look forward to more blog posts.
There will be some good Friday posts coming up with our training and rewarding revamp tips, and highlights from my last two nose work titles.
Congratulations and great job! Glad the training is paying off. Are AKC tracking ribbons always green?
We have no idea! Mom was thrilled to get a ribbon as the other TD tests gave out plaques instead and we prefer the ribbon. It may be the way the particular club ordered it.
For some things AKC has specific ribbon requirements (size and color). Hunt test ribbons are orange and of course conformation has specific colors for placements. That is why I wondered. I must look it up out of curiosity when I have time.
We each got cheap small blue ones for CGC, but this is our first ever AKC “sports” ribbon so we are pretty clueless.