Who out there knows the article game? As you know, I got my tracking certification last winter and need to get a spot in, and pass my Tracking Dog Test the end of October or it is back to square one. I’m not into tracking like Bailie, but I can do it if I have to. Lately, though, I’ve quit stopping when I find an article and that is a serious issue.
Besides being able to follow the track, a dog needs to stop and alert the human to the end article or the team will fail. In the past I sometimes stopped, but lately, I cruise right by. Mom and Bailie went to a tracking seminar in the summer where one thing they learned was the article game. Bailie always stops, so they haven’t played the game, but Mom thought it might be a good idea for me.
In a tracking dog test, the article is cloth or a leather glove. Mom has a bag of articles so she chooses eight or ten different ones, scents them, and tosses them about. To scent articles, she simply stuffs them in her shirt against her skin for a few minutes and they are ready to go. We have old socks, pieces of cloth, bandanas, and gloves in our “collection”.
The object of the game is not to track, as the articles are tossed out, it is to teach me to lie down when I come upon an article. We started by Mom saying down when I came to an article. Once I was down, I got major treats served on the article. This was done a few times, then I was allowed to come upon articles and figure out on my own I needed to do a “down” to get my treats.
It didn’t take long until I figured out the system – article, down, treats. Pretty simple!
Whether I lie down next to, on top of, in front of, or behind the article, it does not matter. The point is to lie down near the article so Mom can catch up to me and see the article to show the judges we have found it. You can also play this game indoors if there is bad weather. We dogs think the article game is a lot of fun to play.
Why am I smirking? Because I have this article game figured out and when I run tracks, I am super excited to find articles and do my down for them…but…now I have stopped doing turns! I like to keep my mom on her toes. I wonder what game she will come up with to fix my turning issue!
Emma that is a super idea…. I bet I had tons of fun with the article challenge… but I probably have some problems to lie down, without making confetti from efurrything :o)
No shredding of articles is allowed, so you would need to work on that part.
Oh Emma! You are very smart. You can do it so get busy and pass your Tracking Dog Test! They sat practice make perfect!
My mom says I’m not reliable when it comes to tracking. We will see what happens in a month if I even get a spot in the test.
You are just pawsatively amazing, Emma…and I love your smirk! XOXO, Sparkle
I’ve really been into smirking lately. Mom doesn’t know what is up with that!
Hi Emma,
Article, down, treats. Simple 3 steps. You have it down cold 😉 Thanks for sharing the article game with us.
Ryan
you are just a little rule breaker – sometimes it’s hard to follow the guidelines when you just want to have fun 🙂
I really find tracking to be a dumb sport, but I guess I have to do it so I can be done with it.
I am so lucky to have a girlfriend that has BOTH brains and beauty. ♥ ♥
And I have such a handsome and charming boyfriend. 🙂
Nice smirk Emma. And your working makes me tired. But this was so interesting for Mom L who did some obedience training and showing with one of her Sibes
I guess I could rename it article obedience. Obedience is not a big thing at our house, but certain things like down at an article are big!
Oh look at you, we love that smirk!
I’m really into smirking lately.
Your Mom rises to challenges, so we bet she’ll get the turn thing figured out too, Emma. Just try to go a little easier on her! 🙂
Mom and I are both stubborn, so it will be a battle of the wills. We will see who wins it!
I love that game. I hope Mom plays it with me!
Love and licks,
Cupcake
It’s working great for me, at least for stopping at articles.
Ooh!! Maybe we’ll try this in the backyard with the pups this winter when it’s too dark for the park! My dogs do well at nosework when there’s a treat to find, but we never got to a point where they alerted. If they couldn’t get to the treat, they just moved on.
Most agree these days that you don’t teach a dog to alert in nose work. They will have their own way of showing you when they find it, and it may change over time, often at a trial! If you are doing straight treat type nose work, you may need to increase the value of the treat to increase their drive to find it and alert to it. Start with baby steps and make it more difficult as you go. One dog sport mistake humans always make is pushing and expecting too much of their dog. Keep it fun and simple with occasional serious problems to solve. No one wants to do calculus all the time. Regular addition, etc most of the time is fun, but an occasional tough calculus problem is also fun.
Great job keeping your Mama on her toes, Emma!!
Smileys!
Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
I never like to make things too easy for her.
I’m glad you found a fun game to help work through this issue! After following your blog for so long, I’m sure your mom has something up her sleeve (or will soon!) to work on the turns.
I think she will get me back on track. It takes a lot of patience sometimes.
Good job!
Thank you.
Emma, you are smart and this looks like fun. I bet my human is going to make me do this soon!! Smiles, Barks & Wagging Tails, ~Shasta (and Denise)
It’s a good way to train the behavior I need while tracking.
You are super duper smart and way ahead of me in terms of …well any kind of training.LOL
I’m pretty good a sports training, obedience not so much. Mom isn’t a big obedience person which we don’t mind a bit.
We know that you and your mom work very well together so we have a lot of confidence that you two will work things out!
Mom isn’t real confident when it comes to me and tracking but we will see if I get a test spot and how I do.
Your mom is a real trooper. She needs breakfast in bed on morning – soon! I mean real soon Emma!
I think we pups deserve the breakfast in bed. With all the stuff she has us doing, we are worn out!
It’s always something with training, you train for one thing get it then have to train for another thing. I like this training exercise, well done!
Mom says it is like trying to plug holes in a sinking boat. Always finding another.
I had not heard of this game, but I think it will be awesome on those rare days when we can’t walk or the dogs are getting a wee bit bored. Smart of mom to get you involved and your head back in the game. 😉
My head is not a tracking head, but she is determined. We shall see how it shakes out later this month.
That looks like a fun game, especially with so many treats involved.
Every dog likes different things and they do everything differently. You did great with the article game. We all have to do things we don’t like so go out there and get the tracking work done.
I know. Mom says I can quit when I pass, but I just am not very fond of tracking.