The winter 2017 tracking season has begun! Mom takes us out tracking all year, but we do the most tracking work in the spring and summer because of the weather conditions. Summer is for cool days only, and in the winter the temperature and snow conditions have to be safe to work in.
Right now my tracking career is pretty much done. I don’t care much for the sport, and my certification has run out, but Bailie and Madison are going full power, training for titles. Mom says if Madison is good enough to be certified this winter, she may take me along too, but I don’t think it will happen, and frankly, I really don’t care.
Bailie has her TD Title, and is hoping to try for her TDX Title this year. Tests are few, and it is hard to get a spot, but she will try. In a TDX, the track is 800-1000 yards long with four articles to be found, there are cross tracks and obstacles, and lots of turns. It is much more difficult than a TD test. We have a lot of confidence in Bailie and think she can do it if she applies herself, but she does need to get out and practice.
The track in the video was about 600 yards long, in the snow with cross tracks and some terrain changes. Also, the start can be a track in any direction at Bailie’s level. The dog needs to figure out which way the track goes from the start article. Bailie had no trouble following it. Her usual way of tracking is at the speed of light, with random deviations to sniff something along the way, then back to the track and the speed. Unfortunately, Mom could not film the entire track. With Bailie’s speed, and the snow, she could no longer hold the camera, but you do get an idea of how Bailie operates. Next time I might suggest Mom rides in a sled, as Bailie appears to be more of a sled dog than a tracking dog! She loves to track so much, and Mom loves to watch her track!
January 1, was Madison’s first time to go out in the snow and do winter tracking. She hadn’t been tracking in almost six weeks as we had too much snow for her, then we got ice and below zero weather. Winter tracking is a challenge as odor doesn’t travel in the cold. It just sinks and sits there which means a dog needs to really put her nose in the track to stay on. There were a lot of other footprints, and tracks from sleds in the snow, but Madison still managed to track. It’s important for her to have fun and not be stressed about tracking, so Mom laid a 57 yard straight track to start with.
For the first time, Madison wore a tracking harness. I decided to give her my tracking harness and line since I don’t use it. It is a bit large for her still, but she can track in it and before long, it will be a perfect fit.
Note in Madison’s video how similar her tracking style is to Bailie’s! When she is on track, she is lightning fast, but then she veers off to check out something and comes back. When she is off track, she has no speed. Mom was really impressed with her first winter outing. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and she can get out and track a lot this month and maybe try to get certified in the second half of February. It is a tall order, but possible. Since she enjoys it so much and is a real natural it would be fun to get her into a test in the spring sometime.
Do you do fun winter sports with your dog? We love being out in the crisp air having fun but this winter we keep getting ice which means we can’t track. About once a week, we also practice our nose work outside as that is a bit easier because we can find sheltered, non ice spots!
We are joining The Positive Training Hop hosted by Tenacious Little Terrier and Rubicon Days to share positive pet training stories, encouragement, challenges and triumphs. For January, the theme is “My Training Mentor or Inspiration”. Luckily, any training post is welcome as long as it’s positive so our tracking post fits! For February the theme will be “Training Tools” and the hop will begin on February 6th.
that was so great to watch you… and it is like magic or a miracle that the fabulous things dogs are breed for sleeps in every pup and waits till we wake it up… what you did so perfectly!!!
Are both really into tracking and it is fun to watch them go.
It looks like Bailie and Madison are both naturals at this! We totally know how it goes when something isn’t your thing. Barley and I tried rally and she just thought that was super boring, so we never went past the one 6-week class we took. Can’t wait to hear about how their winter tracking goes!
It’s tough with the kind of weather we are getting this year, but they may go out this afternoon before we go below zero again. Both my sisters just love tracking any time, any place!
Wow! We loved your videos. We think mom should definitely get a sled. That would be awesome. And maybe a go pro camera on little Madison — that would be hilarious! Great work Emma, great post! Your doodle friend Dash
Mom says if she had a sled behind Madison, she would have to tie one antler on her head like the Grinch did! Poor Madison!
Well, heck, you can train your dog to find a lost glove! Mom could put that to good use as she is always losing one. Madison looks just like Taffy tracking squirrels maybe she could be a tracker too. Love Dolly
I’m sure Taffy would be a good tracker. You can train a dog to track anything. Bailie works with plastic, leather, metal and cloth. It’s a fun sport.
Those videos were fun and Madison sure seems to enjoy herself!
Both of them just love it and get so excited when Mom says let’s go tracking!
That looks like lots of fun. Bailie and Madison and both really FAST! If I walked that fast, tracking or not, Mom would be happy. She gets cold as soon as the door closes behind her. Then she calls me a slowpoke when I’m reading my peemail.
Love and licks,
Cupcake
My mom walks fast and has never let us be slowpokes, so we are used to keeping moving and quickly. Just with tracking, we are a bit too fast at times.
I sure wouldn’t mind tracking with you guys. It’s so much fun
Lily (& Edward)
It is a blast for my sisters. I find it not so fun.
That was fun to watch but I love that Mom respects everyone wishes and Knows you don’t like tracking and finds other fun things to do with you.
She pretty much told me nose work is my only sport, but my sisters will be doing lots of different things. They are also a lot younger than I am and I didn’t even start with sports until I was seven. I love nose work, so that is fine with me.
You Girrrrrrls do a super job of TRACKING… WE only track Snacks and Warm Blankies…
How fun! It looks like Bailie and Madison are terrific at this.
They are pretty good, and just love it. Being naturals makes it much more fun. If I had started at a young age, I may have liked it better too.
I definitely want to try this with Luke, it looks so fun! Madison was cute, it took a bit to get her jump-started but once she got going she did so great! I think that’s pretty impressive for a puppy her age to have that focus.
I hope the weather gets better; it’s been awful here too. Warm for a spell, cold for a spell, and nothing but crunchy snow and ice. Ours is so deep though we can’t get on it for fear of someone falling through that crust and hurting themselves.
I need to get back into the swing of things…the holidays always throw me off routines, and we need to get our nose works stuff back out and get to work, even if we can only practice indoors for now.
Last week we started up everything again after taking a break for a couple weeks. I bet Luke would love tracking. It’s a great sport, but it might be easier for you where you live than for us as you need lots of fields and stuff unless you only do the urban or variable surface tracking. Mom wants my sisters to do it all, so we need lots of space.
It is great to find a sport that the young uns’ enjoy together. Maybe you can get some shut eye while they are pulling your mom on a sled. ☺
I get a lot of rest as long as those two are outside or out doing their sports somewhere. They are just wild and crazy all the time around here, and my mom says she likes it that way! What is wrong with her???
We love watching Bailie’s determination and the way Madison has fun with her tracking!!
If we could just get out of this rainy spell we would get out for hikes more, but right now it’s all about modeling and indoor training!
Smileys!
Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
Rain is a bummer especially when it is cold out! Hope you dry out soon!
Perhaps I’ve now found another sport for the dogs! It’s odd that tracking isn’t very popular here and I have one doxie friend that is a BIG tracker and her doxie has many titles. The one piece you mention is odor – how difficult in the snow and ice! This would be so challenging for the doxies but I bet Shermie would really like this… awesome post about a sport I know very little about!
Odor travels the same way it travels in nose work. You know if it is cold and no wind for a search, the dogs have a very hard time finding the odor unless they are right on top of it. Tracking takes a lot of time and space which is the biggest drawback and why most people don’t do it. If your dogs love it like Bailie and Madison, it motivates you to get out there and track with them. You should give it a try. There must be a spring tracking class somewhere? It is a sport where you learn the basics in a class and then it is up to you to do the rest.
Cool -since (ugh) my trial was cancelled today that would have been my opportunity to try nosework in a cold exterior environment and see how Walter does… So I need to find a tracking class here perhaps this summer! I’d love to learn the basics for sure…
Bummer you don’t live closer, we could have a lot of fun together!
Hoping the weather cooperates and your latest star pup-il continues to shine. 🙂
This winter is tough for tracking but we are hoping to be able to get my sisters out more after the current cold snap.
Look at them go! Such fun!
They both love to track and do it all the time even when they are not formally tracking.
Good job girls! what fun for a winter day.
They always have a blast when they go tracking!
If we lived near by, Jax could go out with Madison and Bailey while you and Harley stay indoors and sip bone broth together!
That is exactly how it would be, and we would all be happy campers!
That sure was impressive! Your pups are obviously great and enthusiastic trackers! I do nosework with my pups, and we do it all winter long. It gets tough when the snow is too deep to easily walk through but we still do it 🙂
Nose work is our main sport and we do that all year as well. It’s always fun to work odor in the different temperatures.
These videos are great! So much fun to watch! And Madison is absolutely adorable the way she mimics Bailie’s style!
They are similar in a lot of ways!
Great job Madison! You sure gave Ma a run for her money, I definitely think a sled for Ma would be helpful, LOL! Emma, I don’t blame you for wanting to take a rest, you’ve worked hard for a long time and deserve a break. I don’t fully understand the difference between Nosework and Tracking, they look the same to me! Both look like a lot of fun though!
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
They are actually very different. Tracking is outside on fields or pretty much anywhere depending on the type of tracking you are doing. You always get a start article and we follow that scent to the mid track or and/or end article. Tracks are 400-1000 yds long depending on the type of track. Nose work is searching out birch, anise, clove or a combo of those. There are 4 search areas, interior, exterior, vehicles, and containers. Each search has 1-3 hides that we have to find during a time limit. Both sports are scent sports, but tracking is following the path of any scent that is on the start article, nose work is following only the 3 odors in specific areas, it’s timed, and then pointing out where it is hidden to the handler.
Bailie needs a GoPro to track her tracks! I’ve looked into tracking but we don’t really have a good place to do it. Thanks for joining the hop.
It takes a lot of space and time. You can also start with urban tracking where you track in parks with sidewalks and stuff or on school campuses. The first title is a TD or UD. We wanted to track in the field so we picked TD, but UD works just as well.
They both did a great job. When our dogs run blinds in the snow it is easier for them because they just follow the track of the dog before them. It is cheating, but what can you do? LOL
We do that all the time on regular walks, but in tracking, you have to follow that one scent only!
That’s so interesting and impressive, especially with the snowy conditions and that speed!! I can only imagine how difficult the scent is in that terrain. Nice work!
Mom has gone out with Madison a few more times in the snow and she is always lightening fast. She and Bailie were definitely made to be tracking dogs!