New Tracking Judge on the Block - ME!



I received word today that I have successfully completed the CKC's requirements to be a tracking judge for TD and TDX. I am now a judge!

River, my first urban dog. She came so close to finishing her UTDX, in my heart she is a Tracking Champion
I know she can do it, she has done it, we just need to do it at a test. See the sidebar menu for her UTDX story. In this photo, River had just completed a 23-hour old track at Red Deer College. Amazing.  


It's funny, I meant to do this a long time ago - after earning Robin's TDX in 1998, Ilene Newman (who judged her) encouraged me to apply, since it was my 3rd TDX and I had 5 TDs at the time. I was preparing to follow through when I became sick and finally diagnosed with Cancer, had the surgery and then had to recover.

It was here in Alberta that I finally wrote the test and began apprenticing! Thanks so much to Erich Kunzel, Greg Martin and Dawn Sanderson for the apprenticeship opportunities, and to the clubs that welcomed me.



Jet, the first Border Collie to earn a CKC UTD, 2010. Will she be my first Tracking Champion?
In this picture Jet is indicating the final article of her successful UTD track. See the sidebar menu for a pictorial record of her track!

I now have 7 TDs, 4 TDXs, two UTDs and am just ~ oh so close ~ to a UTDX. River made me so proud last year, dead on until her final turn (I blame myself, of course, for pushing her across the road, I had lost my  mind knowing we were near the end...). Will she do it this year? Or will Jet earn a TDX and UTDX? It could be either of my girls. They are both awesome, if I may say so myself!

How will I ever work in the time to get a Tracking Championship plus start apprenticing to judge UTD, and get a SchH title (or two) on Caden this year - oh, and hopefully trial the Border Collies!

You know you are leading a blessed life when the biggest dilemma is partitioning your time to give your dreams the chance to become reality.


Caden is doing SchH tracking right now, aiming for some SchH titles - and then on to CKC

Ted is all-sheepdog in his heart, but he is capable of amazing tracking when he puts his mind to it.
He'd rather be herding sheep, but we'll keep tracking for now and aim for TD. Ted is doing a hybrid of SchH and HITT tracking, as a personal experiment with that method.