This blog was a labour of love. Please visit the new blog http://blackthornworkingdogs.blogspot.com

My name is Donna Brinkworth. Four years ago I moved to Alberta from Northwestern Ontario. I recently completed the requirements to be a CKC tracking judge for TD and TDX and will now work on becoming an urban tracking judge, as it is one of my passions. I've also become involved in the sport of Schutzhund as a member of the Calgary Schutzhund Club, and my boy Caden is showing a lot of promise in this exciting sport. All I need is some land and sheep for the Border Collies to be completely happy in Alberta, and we are working on that! This blog honours tracking, herding and life with the dogs who are my teachers and who bring so much joy into my life. It started out as a training blog for my tracking students. You can check those archives, back in 2005. Over time I have used this blog to journal my own training, share information, and most recently discuss my personal journey since moving here.

All content and photos are copyright Donna Brinkworth (Smith), 2005 - 2012 unless otherwise noted. Please use the private comment function after each post to contact me with questions or comments.

To find the Spiritdance Tracking - Your Tracking Coach, my other blog, click the photo in the left menu bar.

This blog may have come to an end, but I hope you will still find good information in the posts from over many years. Thank you for visiting, and enjoy your journey!

25 May, 2009

NEW UTD Cavalier King Charles Spaniel - King Austen UTD! Thunder Bay Tracking Test Day Two Urban Results

New UTD Austen with proud owner / handler Julie and judge JoAnne McLeod. Austen is the first UTD Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in Canada to my knowledge. Note his crown and robe - Julie says you never know when you may need formal wear! Good boy Austen! Yay for Julie!

This is part two of a test report from Karen Boyes, Test Secretary for the Thunder Bay Kennel & Training Club. Karen is the proud mom of two TCh Aussies, Jasper and Penny. Jasper and Penny are the first two TCh Aussies in Canada and Karen is the first person to have two TCh passes in a row - both on her first try... (that is my editorial content because I am so proud of them)...

Here is Karen's report (complete with a few comments of my own in green)...
Many thanks to our TWO excellent judges: Dawn Sanderson (of Thunder Bay) for judging 6 TDs and 4 TDXs on Saturday; and JoAnne McLeod of Courtenay, BC, who judged 5 UTDs and 3 UTDX tracks on Sunday. Both spent many hours plotting ahead of time and gave us an excellent set of test tracks.

DAY TWO - URBAN

JoAnne will submit a more detailed write-up of the Urban tracks to the list when she gets home in a couple of days. Thanks, JoAnne! (I know she will do a better job that I can!)

For UTD entries we had three GSDs, a Cairn Terrier, and a Cavalier. For the UTDXs we had a GSD, a Belgian Tervuren, and a Golden Retriever. Despite some excellent work by many teams, we only had one pass for the day.

That was UTD Cavalier King Charles Spaniel: Winrob's SleepyHollow TDX UTD RN PCD CGN "AUSTEN", owned and handled by Julie Hutka.

Austen is such a happy little tracker and it was great to watch him diligently sort out his track - he was very focused. And his accomplishment is all the greater as the poor gaffer was (is) recovering from surgery on some parts we won't mention.. suffice to say we were calling him Baboon-Butt (make that Baboon Butt, UTD ….!!), but he ignored his troubles and did a great job!
To make up for the name-calling we have pics of him at the end of the day wearing a royal robe and a crown, as a King should. He also had to cope with Julie crying over the first article while he impatiently tried to continuewith the track !! We are so proud of Julie and Austen !! Donna, he did it !!!


Editorial note: I have known Julie and Austen since they first came out to a beginner's class, and watched them go through TD and TDX. I have always felt Austen has the makings of a TCh! For his size and weight, he is a determined dog who pulls Julie along when he is sure he is correct, and very motivated too. I am so thrilled!

I also had a fantastic group of Tracklayers all show up promptly as assigned. Good help sure makes the test run nicely!! Thanks so much to Diana Crago, Carolyn Homonko, Sandy Wright, Michele Martin, RandyFrietag, Susan Takahashi and Bob McGonigal (Field T-L's and X-T's); and to Alda Flett, Katie Jaremey, Kathryn Loftus, Leeann MacIntosh, and Linda Hogan (Urban T-L's)... Many of these folks volunteer trial after trial and we could not have the test without them.

Finally thanks to Donna Brinkworth who (when she was in Thunder Bay) coached and encouraged many of us in tracking and tracklaying, and who also showed me how to run a trial !!


My note - thank you for the nice compliment - but as I say to all my students - I can show you something or tell you something, but YOU are the one who does the work! Congratulations to everyone. I know Karen has taken test organization to a new level, it is her forte!

Karen Boyes, Thunder Bay (Test Secretary)

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