Petie the Norwich Terrier and Sonny the English Cocker at the Tracking Seminar

Petie is a Norwich Terrier and Sonny is a field bred English Cocker. They were the two smallest dogs in the class. Here is a shot of Petie, Sonny, and Lynda with Cavall, while we were talking about article indications at the seminar. It looks sunny out, but note the winter jackets and toques!

Below is Charity with Sonny on day one, doing a footstep track with bait.

And here is Sonny on day two. By this time he had done a few short, baited tracks. Notice how he is already going out ahead a bit! He is very thoughtful and focused in his work, and on a nice loose line as he moves out on his own.

And below is Petie on day one...he might be a small guy, but he is so game and worked as tirelessly and with as much drive as the big boys!

And on day two, he did a dirt track and filled up on treats! Tracking on dirt is much like tracking in the snow, because beginning handlers can see their tracks. It helps immensely with handling skills and confidence in the beginning and this fresh dirt has a lot of scent.

I thought I took a close-up shot of his harness but I can't find it. It was blue with yellow dog bones on it. Very stylish! These were both neat dogs to watch and they were very similar in their working styles.

We interrupt this tracking blog for a special snow report...

This photo was taken by the Alberta Motor Leagues live cameras in the past hour. There is a severe winter storm warning in place for a large part of Alberta tonight, with up to 20 cm of snow expected, strong winds and the possibility of highway closures and power outages. The only good thing about this is that we really need precipitation, as it is SO dry here! The farmers are happy, and hopefully people will stay safe over the next 24 hours.

I stocked up on water today on my way home from work and made sure I have stuff I need in case I get stuck at home with any problems. The dogs are having fun, they love the snow! I got cozy on the couch tonight to watch some TV, and Ted decided he needed to lie right on me. I grabbed my cell phone to take a picture...what a great dog he is. I love him so! One nice thing about storms, it feels very cozy to be indoors with the dogs around!

Beginners Tracking Clinic - Field and Urban tracking in Olds, Alberta

On the weekend, I gave a tracking clinic in Olds, Alberta. Lynda Caughlin of Fionavar K9s is pictured above with her Belgian Cavall - and isn't he looking pretty nice with his nose down! She wrote a nice description on her blog! So I will just give a link for everyone to have a look. I will put a few more pictures up over the coming week, to feature some of the dogs. We had three Belgians, a Weimerainer, an Aussie, a Lab, a Border Collie and a Norwich Terrier. All of the dogs were great and by the end of day two, had already made so much progress! As always, I was very happy to share with beginners to the sport.

Lynda's blog is in the sidebar menu...Fionavar K9s.  It feels funny, but in a nice way, to be on another blog this way! Thanks Lynda and everyone who came out to the seminar!

Below Gail and her Weimerainer Siegfried had just completed a mini-TD, and the crowd of participants shows their enthusiasm for a job well done! Lynda is in the background getting ready to go. Can you tell how cold we were? But, it was great tracking weather.

Jet's Urban Track - mice, a rabbit, a crow, a snagged line - and she did well!

This track was 325 meters and just over one hour old with four turns. One was on a parking lot. The first article was a piece of work glove and the second was a plastic CD container base. It was a misty, light rain when I ran the track which was nice. Jet worked really hard, through every crazy thing that happened. It was one of those tracks where you say "OK, throw stuff at us cuz we feel ready!" I wouldn't want tracks like this too often. But it felt good at the end. Below is the video in two parts, and some photos of the track...

She started off a bit shaky, on a boulevard at the edge of a parking lot up on a hill. She keeps wanting to go a bit over the crest of the hill. At an orange snow fence she gets her wish and heads down some stairs on the other side of the road. Along the sidewalk I am thinking, "ooh, sweet" when she is suddenly focused on mice climbing into the bottoms of windows! I could see the mice myself. It was pretty gross. I had to use my "get out of that" command. It worked, but as a result, Jet nearly takes the turn dead-on and ends up circling a little and overshoots, gets tangled, but comes back right to it - when my line gets snagged! Poor thing, she is yanked and does not go back to the actual track because of it. She finds a piece of bait, does a bit of casting, then gets right on the track to find the first article.

Below is "the mouse wall..." The mice were going in and out of those ridges.

After that, you can see her ears going up - that is because a rabbit is running along the edge of her final leg! She misses her turn as a result. In the meantime, when she finally turns, a crow has been hopping along getting the bait (I missed getting it on film). 

And here is the rabbit! I think it is actually a hare, still white from winter! Jet's article was to the left of that fir tree it is running towards...I took this picture, then started to film again...

She finds her turn, and gets to the last article. It was hilarious! I was very proud of her. She is a hard worker.

(for some reason I can't open Google Earth to put a map on this post but I will)...Basically the track went south, east down some stairs and across a road to the mouse wall turn, south onto the parking lot, east to the article, east to the last turn, and north to the last article. It would be described as a CHIMNEY track with two walls on either side, a flat roof and a chimney, like so below. The track started at the right and went to the left... the Xs mark the articles.

  __x___

I            I____

I                    I

I                    I

X

Here she is, all business, indicating her final article. My little peanut.

Nose Hill Calgary

Yesterday I spent the day in Calgary poking around and met a friend for lunch near the University. I went to check out Nose Hill Park, which is the largest Municipal Park in Canada. It is the highest point in Calgary and very bare of trees except for scrub. There are walking paths and cycling paths and it was full of people and dogs. I took the gang out for separate walks to check it out. I'd like to go back and get to the plateau at the top to get some photos of the view. I didn't get the mountains in the background in this shot of Cade and Jet. But they were as spectacular as ever. And hard to believe they are still snow-covered while it was HOT in Calgary yesterday.

Somehow, I didn't get a picture of Ted! He was out with River (my usual pairing is River and Ted, Caden and Jet - by personality, not breed).

Some people practice tracking here. People tend to stick to pathways, and it is wild grass and scrub. It would be great for TDX practice with the paths and crosstracks, and varied terrain. I did check out the U of C for tracking (was there for hours). It is a very busy campus with lots of buildings and sidewalks and nooks and crannies. I really need to go back on a day that is not so hot, because I didn't take my trailer and so chose not to park in one of the paylots, as I couldn't leave the dogs. I LOVE my trailer for that reason! But it is a tough thing to bring into town and try to park with in a pay lot.

PS the link above to Nose Hill Park is really interesting, especially if you are a history buff like me. My FUR TRADE HERO David Thompson wintered right near here and wrote in his journal about it, and it was a wintering area for bison herds. There are apparently circles of stone that are reminders of tipi circles. Wow, like an Aboriginal Stonehenge. I'd like to come back with one dog and just walk the area. It is huge. I was in the Many Owls Valley off John Laurie Drive.

Google Earth results - Urban plotting for tomorrow

I have been playing around onscreen and came up with four potential UTDX tracks and six potential UTD tracks to scout out tomorrow. Here are two I am interested in. Since I have never been to the University of Calgary, it will be interesting to see how these pan out on the ground!

Potential UTD starts at the bottom and ends at the top. WHERE would you put your first article? The last article will be leather, at the end. This has a nice long veg start. The rules say only the first 25 m have to be veg...not a lot (but I have rarely seen that).

I would put the article after the second turn; although I would also consider putting it where the track emerges from the gap in the trees. It would depend on the paces (meters) to that point as it must be no less than 100 m from the start. This track has the minimum 3 turns, is approximately 1/3 non-veg, and does not have a lot of proximity to buildings to create confusion for a beginner's urban track. It is 337 meters, so meets the distance requirements though it could be a little longer. I tried some other configurations, but ended up with the dreaded box with two parallel legs.

This is a potential UTDX track. It is 635 meters and approximately have non-veg. Do you notice that it is the same track as above to start? But it carries on along a sidewalk, across a road and to another parking lot. It has the minimum number of turns (5). I could keep the articles in the same spots as above, though would also consider putting the second article after the road cross depending on the amount of veg there for the dog to pick up the track again (and also, looking at the potential for it to be undisturbed during aging).

Now that I look at the above map, I see some other ideas. That fourth leg could keep going straight into a whole new area. Hmmm....one thing about doing this beforehand, is it prevents too much wandering when you really don't want to mess up a perfectly good track. But I could do some drive-bys before committing to one layout.


Below is one more potential UTDX that shows what I mean about parallel legs. It would start at the bottom. The third leg parallels the first leg. The joining leg must be 50 meters to separate them. I have also used a building so that they are definitely not creating a box to trap scent. This one is 625 meters with 6 turns. It is more evenly alternating veg and non-veg compared with the track above, so they might be considered equal in difficulty, even though the above track has 5 turns (but longer spans of non-veg).

As for articles, I would put the first on leg 3, the second after the road cross and of course, the third at the end. BUT, I would want to see how close that 2nd article would be to the turn. If it is too close - this would require some thought! Read your rules - can you put two articles on non-veg? Can the second one be at the edge of the parking lot after the n-v turn? And for that matter, what about two n-v turns?

That's right, this is a tricky business. The answers are: 10.10 (e) says AT LEAST ONE 90 degree turn shall occur on a non-veg surface. So there CAN be two. And 10.10 (c) says AT LEAST ONE article shall be left on a non-veg surface. So there CAN be two on n-v. Starting the dog again after an article on n-v can be difficult, so for article two to be at the edge of the first parking lot, in the fold of the curb, gives an easier time for picking up the track again. For me - article placement is so important!

I don't even know if I can park or have access to these areas. But there are others. What I like about these two track is that they are linear, meaning they keep going up and away and don't form any kind of box that can trap scent. If I have to plot a track that forms a box of some kind I look for natural barriers such as a building or row of trees to divide the areas and hopefully keep scent from spreading to create any confusion - which I believe can cause a dog to start doing that 'grid pattern' that we all cringe over when we see it.

I have 6 UTD possibles, and 4 UTDX possibles after playing with Google Earth. Tomorrow, I will see this place in real life and there are always surprises - good and bad. Stay tuned! My goal is to get there, scout it out, and lay by tracks by 2 PM. I'll lay the UTDX first, then the UTD. I will run the UTD at just over an hour. By then the UTDX should be about 1.5 hours old. This is when I read a book for awhile - not quite enough time to go to IKEA!

I get so excited about these things. I will let you know how it goes... and will be drawing my own maps and taking notes to compliment the Google Earth versions.  Oh yeah - I have to figure out the long way around to get back to my car after laying each track too - or I create just another big BOX don't I? !!! It's great exercise, but always easier if you have a buddy who can pick you up at the end - which is sometimes essential for test plotting.

Playing with Google Maps

This weekend, I will explore some urban areas in Calgary.


View Larger Map

These are the Google Maps I am starting with...you can click on 'view larger map' to see a bigger view, but you will leave my blog if you do! (just so you know...)


View Larger Map

I'll use Google Earth to actually play around with options for tracks. I will keep you posted on the planning, and on the ground results!

Spring Cleaning, gearing up to do some serious writing

I've been spring cleaning and getting ready for summer sun! Last week I decided to move my dining table over by the French Doors to take advantage of the sun and have a view. This let me move my couch back a bit and suddenly the room feels so airy! Now that I have attended the writer's conference in San Francisco, I am gearing up for some serious writing and this feels like a nice set-up for that.

I've also removed the carpets and changed to lighter colours, replacing the winter "Morroco" orange and purple look to colours inspired by my new IKEA pillows (you can see one on the couch). They are embroidered in primary red, green and blue, and look like something my Grandma would have had. The little blanket on the floor will have to do for now. My neighbour brought it home from Mexico for me! I apologize for the cluttered counter - I am home today so it has my thermos of coffee and computer up there. I have wireless now, so can put my computer anywhere I want. It is fantastic! Doesn't River look cozy on the couch? She approves of the set up too.

Before shots: this is a nice arrangement too, but it is nice to see out my doors at this time of year, and be right next to my back deck. Now I need to buy a BBQ!

Swan Pitstop near Highway 2

I was taking a shortcut home on a range road and saw these white birds that make Canada Geese look tiny! Swans! With all the traffic going by in the background on Hwy 2 in the background, it was weird but cool.

There is so little water around here that every pond is covered with birds at this time of year. They put benches and viewing platforms by a lot of them for people to enjoy the sights. This is so unlike northwestern Ontario where we try to drain water to enjoy a little bit of land, LOL.

Field Track - Motivation Day, April 3

On April 3 I took the gang to a nearby field for some fun field tracks. I like the idea of having a day like this to remind my dogs that tracking is easy...in particular this works for River who learned field first. In this photo (above) you can see my neat dog trailer in the background. I feel so organized and my training goes better with this - compared with the "clowns in a volkswagon" scenario I had with everyone in my car!

Below is a map showing River's track. I had just done a difficult track on a windy, dry day at Olds College. River did well, so on this track I wanted her to have a good time. It was roughly 400 meters long with 4 articles, 5 turns and was aged for one hour only. The articles were cloth, plastic, wood and leather *I forgot to mark plastic on the 3rd leg in this map below. In an actual field track (TD, TDX) you would only find leather articles.

My other dogs have all been taught to track on a variety of surfaces. But in the field I expect less wavering from the track. On hard surfaces in urban tracking, and especially around buildings and structures, scent behaves eratically. I train my dogs to stay as close to the primary track as possible, even though I know that at transitions and in certain situations the dog will have to go off track to find scent clues.

**Aging is a funny thing, because on a humid day, aging is different than on a dry day. This field was so dry that my shoes were grey with dust afterwards. I think a tumbleweed went by! So one hour on this field might seem like 3 hours in a lush field.

Here is the track:

River did well. She has never been a dog to do much of an article indication (and is the last of my dogs to track like this). This day, she gave articles a nod and pause and I accepted that - except at a wood article which she had ignored at Olds College! I dropped my camera here, so sorry about the dirt smudge that eventually falls off, LOL! On the last leg, she went off to the downwind side of the track. In the video you can see my line blowing in that direction. I tried to keep her ON the track by holding my ground and making her pull me more than usual.

I did a very short track with Caden...his first veg track of the year. It was a U with a serpentine built into the end. He did great but lifted his head a couple of times. Because he is doing SchH style tracking, I want a very different style - nose down, focused and calm. He lifted his head where the direction changed and he had a short stint with a crosswind. This is something I will bear in mind for next time.

Jet did a little veg track. Unlike her urban track the day before, she did not do any standing and thinking - she was all business to the end.

She indicates by lying down, but always turns to face me. I think this is because I trained her with a clicker in my kitchen one winter when she was a puppy. So she thinks she has to face me. In SchH the dog must lie in the track direction. Obviously this is better for continuing on - and yet Jet just picks up and goes when I give the command.

As with the other day, Ted was the clean up crew. I did let him "re-track" Jet's track and he found skipped bait. He was so joyful and right on track.

At the end, he got to play ball. I am still pondering how best to work Ted. He is such a bright dog and so eager to please. I want to keep his happy spirit but have him a bit more business-like and focused.

And then, when we were finished working, we played. No wonder it takes me hours to practice when I go out to track! River and Caden played with two balls. For awhile I three a ball for Caden and as he returned, I threw a second ball. This works way better than trying to get him to out it each time!

New Puppies out at Calgary Schutzhund Club today!

Ali did good! Dan's GSD Ali vom Daechsel SchH III (#5 in Canada, 2009) had a litter of pups by a dog named SG Basko vom Rohnsaler Bach SCHH3 FH1 Kkl 1  in Vancouver. Two of the pups were out at the club today and boy do they have attitude! Dan kept a female named Cilla. She was already very into her tug and quite vocal!

Wade has her 'twin' aptly named Chaos, who is already retrieving a ball. He is all -boy with a very masculine chunky look about him.

 It was fun to see these two pups out and of course, it made us all want one, even though we are pretty busy with our own dogs!

There is something very warm and fuzzy about a bunch of hard core SchH guys and girls gathered around wee pups. And we needed something to warm us up, since it was freezing cold today, after our surprise spring storm. Hovered above freezing with a brisk wind today.

Caden did well today, er, ah, should I say *I* did well....as I slowly get my act together!

Jamie's Food Revolution - important ideas for people whose dogs eat better than they do!

Like everyone out there, I have researched the best foods for my dogs, and I make sure they are physically and mentally challenged and in shape. I remember my mother saying to me "your dogs eat better than you do..." It WAS true! The more I focus on diet and exercise, the more I realize I had no idea what was in the foods I was eating - trans fat, sugar, etc etc...horrible. Easy, good, horrible junk.

I am getting so passionate about this, I feel like an evangelist! I have a way to go still, but have been losing weight steadily for a couple of years. I started out with Weight Watchers, then Jenny Craig. Great programs I guess, and got me on my way. But now I am realizing we just need to be educated about what to eat and to get moving. Jorge Cruise has nailed it by identifying how much hidden sugar is in our food. That's where Jamie Oliver comes in - COOK IT YOURSELF - AND YOU KNOW WHAT'S IN IT!

This video is a must - see speech by Jamie Oliver as he accepts a TED award for ideas worth sharing.

Viral Video (and Must-See TV): "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution"
- Watch more Funny Videos at Vodpod.

Jamie's Wish (from the video):

"I wish for everyone to help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity."

I feel more inspired to carry on with my progress by watching Jamie on his mission than by any weight-loss commercial on TV because this is real life. He is not selling a product or program - I sense that this is a heartfelt and sincere vision that has filled him with great passion. He has come a long way from the young kid touted as the Naked Chef, and I think he is going to continue to be recognized as a someone who motivates very positive change, especially today as we need to focus on our finite resources, local food, going back to basics and improved health around the World. As he says in this video - if America can do it, others will follow. Canadians - take note!

You will see a part of his show Jamie's Food Revolution in this video - where young school children can't identify basic vegetables like potatoes and tomatoes. As Jamie says, if they don't know what it is, they won't eat it.

I am lucky because my mother and my grandmothers were all excellent cooks, who had gardens and who cooked food they grew. My Estonian Grandma had the most fantastic vegetable garden in her backyard right near downtown. What an inspiration she is to me these days as I think about the stuff she grew in her little backyard. This summer, I am going to create a vegetable patch in the front yard of my little church house. I am researching plans for raised beds right now.

Part of the issue today is one of time. We are all short on time, and need to prioritize in order to fit in work, chores, our hobbies of dog training, plus taking care of ourselves and eating right. As you know, I was recently in San Francisco at a writer's conference and this was addressed. If you want to write a book, you need to fit THAT in too and it is not easy!

I am reading the book The Art of Extreme Self Care by Cheryl Richardson. In this book she gives a practical program for how to 'stand up for your life' by taking care of yourself and making yourself a priority. Too many of us put ourselves last.

In past entries, I have talked about how different theories come together to impact my tracking-training. In this entry, I am very excited as I can start to see how the big picture is coming together so that I can make the time for my own care, care of my dogs, and the things that are important in my life.

Real changes are going on here!

April Storm!

Jet sits between the curtains and the French Doors looking out at the snow. Snow, in April! It started this afternoon with a wind warning. The skies grew dark grey, and by coffee time at work, it was raining. By the time I was getting my mail at the Post Office, the rain had turned to snow.

I was too wimpy to go out, so took these shots from my safe position just inside the French Doors. Caden and Jet were having a great time out in the storm. Some dogs just love that high energy that comes with wind and mayhem. These two are such dogs! It looks like Christmas out there tonight.

They try bringing their balls to the door, to see if I will play...

Look! Look how fun this is...I will even OUT it for you...

After their crazy play, Caden comes in and crashes on the couch...

But when he saw Jet sitting and looking out of the doors, he stole her special spot...(River and Ted are hanging out in the bedroom behind that baby gate, as I rotate dogs sometimes for my sanity)

Jet is NOT impressed! She looks for some support, but I believe in letting a sleeping Caden lie...

But now I feel I have to watch out for some sneaky revenge, as Jet does not like to be crossed!

Jet's Hard Surface Turns on two tracks this weekend

Jet enjoys a McDonald's plain cheeseburger at the end of her track

Jet did urban tracks at Olds College on Saturday and Red Deer College on Monday. Yesterday we did some motivational field tracks and article work. Below are the portions of video showing her hard surface work. She has a different style from River but much like River, Jet likes hard surfaces. If you watch these videos, you will see that she seems to stop and think, then make her decisions and go.

On the Olds urban track, I walked through this open portion of a building. Jet went through, and sniffed the walls. I placed an article just at the other end on the grass.

I love the video from Olds where she literally bounds off to the left once she works it out. At Red Deer College, my filming was a bit off but you can still see (sorry!). She stands in the parking lot and thinks for moment, then goes forward again to the turn, does a little cast (my line handling meant some rough filming) and again, takes off down the sidewalk.

Red Deer College hard surface turn April 5 (I am talking to Pam, who is following to be "the judge"...I am not ALWAYS talking to myself!):

Below is the Google map for Red Deer College. It was 250 m and one hour old. School was in, but just ending when we ran this track around 3:15 PM today. The track starts at the bottom. The first article is after the second turn on veg and the second article is at the end of a long sidewalk between two parking logs.

Olds College April 3:

At Olds College, Ted helped as the cleanup crew, gathering start flags. I left one article for him to "happen to find" which gave him such great joy. This dog is so crazy for toys.

I asked Ted to stay, the said HUP for him to leap this bench - for the glove I was waving.

How can you not love this dog? He is so willing to please, and so athletic, and happy.

He just needs some sheep to make his life complete!

I will post another day to show the motivational work we did yesterday - with ALL FOUR DOGS!! Caden and Ted got in on the act too yesterday and my boys are SO different from my girls. Caden is a very intense little powerhouse, and Ted thinks tracking is like a great Easter egg hunt for toys in the field. Ted is simply full of joy - I love that dog. I filmed it but it won't impress any die-hard trackers except to see his attitude is so untouched by intensive training. I'd like to keep that in Ted and not overtrain him, so am thinking hard about how to handle his tracking.

In the meantime I live with little Miss Attitude. She rewarded herself tonight by surrounding herself with toys on the bed, including some toilet paper she brought over - isn't she just a talented thing? And that look - it says "this is the life I was meant to lead..." Since she tracked so well this weekend, I indulged her.

On another note, today we were joined by Pam and her 5 month old GSD pup Sting. Pam played "judge" today and followed Jet and River. Then we walked Jet, Ted and Sting. In this photo Sting is looking up adoringly at Pam. He is getting big, and so handsome!

River did an urban track today. It was the third day in a row for her, and today she was simply struggling through her track. Her heart was there, but she was so tired. It is hard to admit she is getting older. I had to help her out a bit today, but once put back on, she finished nicely. So I learned today that 3 days in a row is too much for her now...so she will get a rest. then we will do some motivation next time we are out. She did an awesome field track yesterday which I will post later this week.