Tracking with friends is a lot more fun than on our own! It is fun for the humans and for us pups. We are back to working on tracking at our house. Well, Nelson and I are, at least. Bailie and Madison have their TD titles but we need to get ours. Yesterday we met up with Birdie and her mom to run some tracks. You may remember Birdie. She is our Danish Swedish Farm Dog friend.
Nelson never did tracking as a young pup as Mom didn’t have the time or desire to work on it last year. He started tracking about two weeks ago and is picking it up quickly. I was certified and took two tests but failed both and then my certification ran out. Now the plan is for me and Nelson to get certified together next month in the hope of getting into a fall tracking test.
I haven’t tracked in a year and a half but did really well. Sure, I was a bit rusty on the turns and staying in the track, but it is all coming back to me. Nelson ran his first track laid by someone other than Mom and he did great. Next week he is going to start learning turns. Birdie had some focus issues and it was rather warm for her but she also did a great job.
Tracking is kind of lonely so having a friend to track with sometimes is more fun. Humans can do their chit chat thing they love too. It is also important for us to learn to track other people as a stranger will lay our test tracks. Friends can help us by laying tracks for us. Bailie and Mom trained with friends and it worked really well. Going forward Nelson will practice a couple times a week and I will go out once a week and run a full track.
We are thankful we have friends to track with and hopefully we will all get certified and a spot in the fall test.
My GBGV Life is joining Brian’s Home Blog in the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
Tracking sounds like fun. Looking forward to reading all about it.
We like it but it is hard to find places to do it these days and it takes a long time to set tracks, let them age, etc. Hopefully we can both get certified and a spot in the upcoming test.
Can you explain what tracking is?
Every track has a track layer who walks the track. Our TD tracks have to be 440-500 yards, and 3-5 turns, both left and right. The legs of the track must be separated by at least 50 yards. There is an article from a stranger, like a sock or bandana, with their scent on it at the starting point. We, the dog have to follow that track through the tall grass to find the end article which is a glove. There is no time limit, but we can’t go way off track, we need to stay on or near the actual track. Bailie and Madison each passed their tests in about four minutes. Nelson and I hope to do the same. The slower we go, the more trouble we can find to get into according to our mom. We love the sport as we are born to track things.
OMDs what a fun post and sniffin’ adventure with Birdie
Hugs Cecilia
We all had a nice time running our tracks. The humans enjoyed discussing tracking and other things too.
Your little friend Birdie is so cute! I always wanted to try tracking with Luke, but never did get to it. When Copper gets a little older and settles down some, or when I retire and have more time, I just might still try it with her. Have fun!! 🙂
Mom started us all at 9 weeks old except for Nelson. He seems to be grasping the concept quickly, but maybe because he is a bit older. Madison passed her TD at ten months old, she is the family hero for that one! Being out in the country like you are would be ideal for practicing.
You two sure keep your mom busy! Good for you!!!
More like she keeps us busy. All of the sudden she realizes some of us have titles and others don’t so we have to go an earn those titles. Poor Nelson also has to get his CGC. We all did that in obedience class, but he never took such a class. Hopefully he can do it at the dog show in MO next month.
Oh you sweet doggies ~ and tracking with a friend has got to be fun ~ Great job all ~ Xo
Wishing you good health, laughter and love in your days,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
Friends are always a lot of fun 🙂
we like it too… and we love to use our noses … and we are super tired pups after… not even in the mood for mischief ;O)
Sniffing is very tiring as it really uses a lot of brain power. It’s one of the best ways to wear out a pup according to our human.
Whatever you pups attempt, you seem to ace them all and win many ribbons and we have no doubt that you will win lots at tracking too!
Tracking is tough because it is hard to find a place to practice and it is rather time consuming, but we are going to try.
I have NO doubt that you and Nelson will certify and get your TD titles in no time flat! 👏👏
We have our paws crossed. The toughest part will probably getting into a test as there is only one.
We are glad you found friends to track with and can’t wait to hear how you all do!
xoxo,
Rosy & Sunny
Hopefully we will get to do a test this fall, but they don’t tell you if you got in until like a week before.
That’s very nice to spend tracking time with friends and Birdie looks like a real sweetie! Thanks for joining our Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
It is more fun when it isn’t just us and Mom all the time.
Hope you all get certified!
We hope to give that a try in about a month. Nelson needs to learn more things first.
I hope you all get certified and have a fun time doing it!
We love to practice, it is just a question of finding a good place and having time as tracking takes time to lay tracks, age them, and then run them.
Tracking sounds fun, and what a great skill! It’s nice that the humans can chit-chat while you’re doing that!
Well, they chit chat between our tracking runs when we are waiting for the tracks to age.
How cool you had a fur-iend on your tracking run. Good luck getting back in form.
Hopefully we can get it all together, get certified, and then get a test spot. It is a lot but we are going to try.