River's Urban Tracking progress in Alberta

This picture was taken three years ago when Susan Highton came to Thunder Bay to spend a weekend with us talking about urban tracking. She worked with a group to plot a track for River, and my friend Karen (I believe) took this photo. I remember it like it was yesterday - the feeling of following River down a forest path, along a roadside curb, through this parking lot, over another road and into the last parking lot.

My handling and understanding has improved dramatically since then. I remember in this photo above "pushing" River along past the hard surface turn. I think people saw her give a subtle indication but I missed it!

Urban handling is a delicate dance. I now track with a loose line as River is so motivated to do the work. She loves non-veg better than tracking on veg. During our learning curve (MY learning curve) I made some mistakes with River - one of the biggest being letting her search too far beyond the track. I know that scent works in mysterious ways and was initially willing to let River surf around, following her as she sorted it out.

Most of the time, the limits we place on our dogs are based on our puny understanding of scent! I now believe that dogs are quite capable of staying on or very close to the primary track on hard surfaces. So my newest notion of this is to ensure that when I train a new dog (e.g., Caden) I know where I walked and ask for him to stay ON track. Sure I was developing this notion after bringing Steve Ripley in to Thunder Bay, as he says the same thing. And he showed it with his Champion Tracker Zoe (VST Golden, doing a demo track for us, below).

However, I also found that I have trained my dogs that it is OK to parallel the track and I am busy undoing that. Also - I knew I wanted them to stay on the track, but how to achieve it has been the next step in my understanding.

It is typical when we learn anything new, to have a poor understanding and set the bar low - Steve said we needed to raise our expectations! I asked him to critique my handling of Jet my Border Collie and very clearly I would take a step and 'give' to her when I felt she was going the right way, even if she was not RIGHT ON THE TRACK. Steve felt I could let her search to some extent, but NOT FOLLOW unless she was put back on track. When I tried this, Jet became a bit stressed as I was changing the rules. But we know dogs are forgiving and they will adapt if we are clear and fair. Jet is ON track in this photo taken by Randy Frietag at the seminar.
My other new technique is to use soft corrections when either of them go off track, and praise for being on track. This sounds like common sense but for many years a lot of us believed that we should never correct. However, holding your ground or slight line tension is also a correction. My friend Dan who is a SCH trainer has suggested to me that I use my voice and not my line as it is clearer to the dog what you want or don't want. He also reaches over and calmly strokes Caden when Caden is doing a solid job. I have never done that before! I love tracking as we always learn new ideas and each dog is different. It certainly is a journey.

Back to River. When I moved to Alberta last fall I continued my tracking on nice days throughout the winter and River did great! But when the snow melted and the dry, warm days began to suck moisture out of the air, I began to see confusion and regression on her part. I don't mind saying it caused a few tears to see her lose her confidence. I even wondered if she was simply aging. Well, thank heavens for good friends and new friends who alternately smacked me upside the head, or told me about new ways they are training.

After thinking this all through (those long days at work are good for 'thinking' about tracking when you aren't actually tracking...) I have a plan. I have been continuing to lay baby urban tracks for River in mornings and evenings. I even run out if I think it looks like it will rain! I have been saying gentle "No" commands to River if she gets 'hectic' (in SCH they say 'stormy') and she is responding very well to this. Being overly busy drains energy too, and she needs to focus her energy on the track and not on charging about (my mistake from our early training to let her cast too widely).

I know that River is acclimatizing to the different conditions in Alberta...land of dry grass (crunch, crunch...). The altitude is also higher here - 3,700 ft above sea level, compared with 400 ft where we used to live. This means at her age, River needs more endurance and supplements - and she is getting both - walks and omega oils and liver.

Next on my list of new / old tools is to use a water spray on her hard surfaces. We did this - and I have even taught it in my urban clinics for starting dogs - but somehow between moving and other things cramming my brain with trivia, I forgot about it.

DUH!!

A very enthusiastic group of trackers attended a Steve White clinic in Edmonton two weeks ago. I was not able to attend for a variety of reasons, much to my chagrin. However I am very happy to hear some of the ideas he uses for Hydration Intensified Tracking Training (HITT) on hard surfaces. River, Caden and Jet are already doing hard surfaces, but I think that getting out my pump and spray will be a great way to reintroduce the confidence to River. Like anything it is faded out in time but I have been casting about for ideas and this is a fantastic one.

River is (was) UTDX - ready and this was just the boost I needed for my confidence in training too. It is a helpless feeling to want to encourage a dog that seems lost. Being a tracker, possibly one of the worst. And when a handler starts to feel down or negative, it is not a good time to train. I feel excited and motivated! No doubt thanks too, to the recent great news of my friend Julie's exciting new urban title.

Hey this is another "trinity" - verbal correction/praise; HITT; and King Austen! (see my post on the trinity of tracking http://spiritdancedogs.blogspot.com/2009/02/trinity-of-tracking.html )

Stay tuned for River's progress. I will add some links about Steve White and HITT to the Handy Links section in the sidebar menu. He has a great reputation and this method is well worth looking into for starting and for problem solving.

This was taken at the end of that very first urban track on the weekend with Susan Highton - who by the way has Canada's FIRST Tracking Champion, her Golden Murphy. Susan set a lot of us on this journey when she came to Thunder Bay...and now a lot of us have our urban titles! Thanks, Susan!

THE GLOVE - our UTD moment in May 2008...