Caden - Urban Tracking Dog!

Caden at the end of the track - first time ever in a harness and he just aced hard surface work!

I have done nothing but footstep tracking for a year with Caden. Maybe even longer than that. And last summer and fall, I got fairly hardcore with it. I occasionally do a short urban track with him, because I want him to keep the urban muscles in his brain for future use! Today, the conditions and timing seemed right to try a little experiment, so I harnessed him up for the First Time Ever and let him do a freestyle track on hard surfaces!

He ran an aged track I had done with River - then let lie for 1.5 hours, and just aced it! You would think I have done urban with him on a regular basis. It has me wondering about how footstep tracking has set him up for this kind of preciseness and confidence. I am more sold than ever about how footstep tracking can produce better urban trackers - as long as the handler is able to 'let them go' to problem solve and figure things out without fear of correction. Caden could not have been happier!

Map of the two tracks - blue flags indicate where they start, red x marks the end, and green line shows how I walked out after laying them... and that is what distracts Caden at the start.

500 meters total!!

Here is the video. First of all - I can't believe my line got tangled, but we recovered. Yes, I swore under my breath. No, it's not really picked up on film or there would be a RATING on this video. I was so mad at myself! However, tried to get Caden to take it in stride. He is used to putting up with me, thankfully! PS I had no choice but to walk out along the bushline (or cross the track I laid) and had to prevent him from going to it on the first leg. Beyond that, he figured out the scent he had to follow. Awesome him (bad me). At the base of the stairs, he gets sucked into some chain link fencing, but recovers! Awesome him, again.



I had run a short urban track for River that was purely motivational. It started up on a berm, then went over a driveway and down a sloping sidewalk to cross a road - more stairs to follow alongside a building on a sidewalk - with a right turn into a parking lot. There were tons of transitions but the entire thing flowed beautifully and also sloped on a tilt that seemed to encourage being right on track. River was dead on the track, so it was 'unsullied' by casting. It was warm. Clouds in the air looked like rain is coming, so I liked the feeling in the air too.

River did her motivaton track like she was going for a walk int he park!

Here is River's track; you can compare it to Caden doing the same track (above) and look at the map as well:

After re-running River's I decided to take him to Jet's and he did that too - with equal enthusiasm and correctness. I nearly cried (seriously) at one point, following him. Jet's track was longer with more problems for her to solve including a very odd transition from sidewalk to lawn and then parking lot that was all on an angle (90 degrees are preferred). Jet had a few problems but sorted it out. Caden just bombed through it and did a turn on the parking lot that would make you weep. I had not planned to do this one with him so had no jackpot or article - so when he reached 'the end' I simply stopped him and asked for a platz and gave him a reward.

Here it is (map is above)




Jet at her wood article (last) - she had a very complex track in a small area of twists and turns around the student residences - lots of sidewalk transitions, traffic and enclosed spaces. Caden was motivated to follow Jet's scent and blasted through the track like he was following a painted line. It was 45 minutes old when he reran it. I nearly cried!


Caden was so thrilled, and happy. As if he said 'finally she let me TRACK !!' He will do the SchH style tracking, but i have always known he is an immensely talented tracking dog and I think this will help with his motivation to keep going with footstep style work. I would not want to lose his confidence and precision and seriously believe the footstep style we've focused on has produced a dog that knows where the track is and how to eliminate fringe scent and stick to the primary track including being very solid on his turns.



And on his way to the car, he pulled Jet's stake (tent peg) to carry it back - he is self-rewarding, LOL - - this is a Dan Waters tracking party trick!

I am THRILLED to say the least!

Congratulations to new Tracking Champion Carmspack Trust CD RN!

Read all about it on Susie Coutts' blog
http://birchbarkhill.blogspot.com/2011/04/sooo-proud-of-trust-new-tch.html

This is a great description of Trust's UTDX with excellent photos! Judged by Marie Babin.

Congrats my friend! So happy and proud for you. Well deserved!

Easter Blessings also go to...

Scott and Jenny Glen! ...whose dog Ted (mine since 07) sees nail clippers... and does this...

Yes, he actually holds his paws in the air to have his nails clipped.

And he shows me his toothy grin when I brush him too... he actually bares his teeth and smiles!

I think I heard that his daddy Pleat does the same thing.

After coming home from being trained a couple of years ago, Jet did the same. What a great bonus! Jet actually fell asleep as I brushed her. It was really cute.

 

Shhhh... someone is sleeping...

And River had her Spring Bonsai today. It was so warm in the sun, what a nice way to spend a few hours.

And more Easter Blessings to my friend Pam who had me over this morning for coffee and to walk the fields with the dogs. She has a beautiful GSD named Sting and a Mini Schnauzer Dixie. Sting reminds me so much of my first GSD Hawk. Pam and Jerry are letting me use their place for a tracking clinic - so we checked the fields out today. They are still snow-covered but it will go quickly now, I think.

River and Jet had a great time running and stretching their legs.

Pam with Sting

Ted rolling in the snow - goofy boy! He says he will miss the snow, LOL

Even Dixie is looking at him as if to say, geez Ted, are you always that happy?

(yes, he is)

Where is Caden you ask? Well he went for a great walk too - but I forgot the camera! But later we tracked, and I will post the video of his track later. Don't worry - Caden had a good day too (Sandy, I know you are wondering! - He had a great run loose in the field!)

Casting prayers into the wind for family at Easter

At Easter I always really miss my family and especially my Mom. I made these Tibetan Prayer ribbons and hung them outside. The idea is that you write a prayer on each ribbon and the wind carries your intentions and wishes into the sky. I love the symbolism and it made me feel at peace. This Easter as I am separated from my family and many of my friends, I send them loving thoughts from Alberta!

On my Mom's last Easter in 1995 I had a huge dinner to gather the family at my old home in Thunder Bay, as my Mom had Cancer. Everyone came from out of town to be there, and it was so wonderful.

She died 2 months later. But at that dinner we all laughed and loved each other's company.

Last year I made Pirraka, an Estonian version of a perogy (every Country in Europe has a version). My Grandma made these from a cardamom - sweet dough, filled with egg, rice and hamburger. So delicious! But not in my diet this year! I can practically taste them if I close my eyes, however. I miss my family so much at Easter - the family of my childhood.

That turned out to be my last Easter dinner too (for sad reasons) - but it is such a cherished memory. The only sad side to it was that we knew my Mom would die from this horrible disease.

Easter is a time to gather with family and appreciate what you have in the moment because life has a way of changing so drastically sometimes!

Earth Day Tracking Session - it was a GOOD Friday!

 

Caden learning to indicate articles today

 I spent five hours out with the dogs today, tracking. I chose to go somewhere different, as I always go to the college. Today I tracked at the Westerner - where there are hockey games and concerts and loads of special events. The parking lot was empty, being Good Friday. It was great! Other than some skateboarders, but that was OK. A good distraction!

 

Ted at his article. Arrow pointing to manhole which both helped and hindered with scent flow. And there is a skateboarder in the background! Dogs did well with that distraction!


I have put descriptions on the videos I took for now. I have not uploaded all of them, but you can see the parts I wanted to highlight by going to this link on the Spiritdancedogs YouTube Channel (also linked in the sidebar menu under videos).

Here's what we did today...


I put in four tracks in this order
River - 250 m 2 hours old
Jet - 520 m 3.5 hours old
Caden 1 - U shape on veg - 100 m 20 minutes old
Ted - 150 m - 30 minutes old
Caden 2 onto parking lot - 50 m - 10 minutes old

 

Caden

 Caden - did a 200 step track that was U-shaped and did a great job! He did every corner beautifully. I rested him briefly by tying him to my car's trailer hitch and let him watch me lay a short urban track.



Caden watches me lay a second track for him



He started on a boulevard and did a nice enough job as he is not used to hard surfaces. I want to be sure to keep this up with him even though he is doing SchH tracking. Some skateboarders were out on the parking lot and he kept wanting to look at them, so I had to be patient and show him he could find the track on the hard surface. Once he got it - he did a nice job and found his corner on his own, which was an awesome moment. I put the corner and turn in a wet depression on the parking lot - perfect! He was slightly stressed but I let him figure out that he could smell the track - sometimes they need some latitude to think and I felt this was one of those times - rather than to correct. I was quite proud of him. We also worked on article indications (top picture).



Ted's start and first leg along a fence to keep him from quartering - it worked!

Ted - I laid his track along the fence to start, to keep him from doing so much quartering as Ted tends to move his feet just so fast! It really worked. PS Ted apologizes for thinking he could pee as a turn indication. Yes, it's easy body language for me to read, if he did that on every turn, but, uh, no Ted...



Ted did a nice little bit on the parking lot too - his track followed the flow of water to a manhole which helped to draw him along the scent to his prize - he just loves articles! (picture near the top).







River's start - and hey, there's me!

 River - River's track aged while I tracked the boys. She is 11 how but still loves it and did well today. Her track went into a very contaminated area along the front of the Westerner, and then turned to go along a very long non-veg leg. She did this so beautifully, nailing every turn and finding her plastic, metal and leather articles.



Along the NV leg, she stopped to visit a guy sitting in his truck. It was cute, I didn't film him, but she went over and looked up at him. Funny girl. Bless her at this age tracking so well. She is out like a light now, again. It is a bitter pill that there are no tests for her, really, this year. I guess she will just have to be a Tracking Champion in my heart.



My girl - 11 years old - and still loves to track! Blessings on her.



Jet - Jet is taking over as my best tracking dog now. The other dogs took so long that her track was aged more than I intended. It was 3.5 hours old when we ran it.



Jet lies down to start, and smells the scent pad


I laid her quite a windy track on mostly hard surface because I wanted to see what she did. It went along a paved sidewalk, over a road to concrete, over a low brick wall, into a parking lot, and finished alongside a big metal building, on the grass. She was so crazy-confident - pretty much nailing every turn. She still has the funny habit of standing and looking off into the distance as she check the direction. She makes a decision then off she goes again! I just loved following her and my heart felt like it would burst! She too is fast asleep - tracking takes a lot out of the dogs!

Here are Jet's videos - I recorded them in short pieces as it was a long track. These are the highlights - -

Jet jumps a wall - this is after the second turn



Jet's sidewalk turn before the road - this is after her wooden article



Jet's great turn in the parking lot - where she backs up to be on track!



Jet's second last turn - just so confident!



End of the track



What a great way to spend the day. I have a decades long tradition of spending Easter alone with the dogs, as my (now ex) always went out of town. I guess this is one of my traditions - and I love it - my tradtion with myself and I keep the date with my dogs - whichever I have.



Jet indicates the final article




Jet always initiates a game of tug at tne end of a track! Good girl!
I just adore this dog (in case you have missed that!)
I love all my dogs - but there is something about Jet that makes me smile all the time.



Summer Plans

 I decided I needed a training plan and some goals, so I sketched out my summer plans on a calendar today.

Stockdogs (that's sheep herding with the Border Collies)...

Stockdog clinics - 4;
Stockdog trials (cross fingers) - enter 3 or 4
watch a few more and maybe work at them as a volunteer
- especially at the Canadian Nationals which are in Cranbrook BC this year!
Plus hopefully some training time with Louanne and at Scott and Jenny's this year. Yes, I am committed.

CKC Tracking (with ALL four dogs)...

Tracking Clinics I am giving - 3
Judging requests - 1 so far
Tracking tests - 3 (AB, SK, BC) - TD, TDX and Urban with all the dogs...

Schutzhund (that's obedience, tracking and protection with Caden; obedience and tracking with Jet)...

Schutzhund trials - 2 God willing
SchH practice 2X / week!

Free weekends

UHHH, what's that? If it's free, I'm tracking or training! Or, running and biking!

I finally feel like I have my act together after having made a big move - it's taken some time to do it and this year I feel things falling into place both externally - and in my head.

More on Running

I've been running on a treadmill all winter and this spring took it outside. Yesterday I did 2.5 Km in 15 minutes. Today I was a little slower, at 17 minutes. But I swear 1 minute was spent on short pee break for the dogs! Caden and Jet are awesome running buddies.





Before my run, I took River and Ted for a 1 K walk, which took 20 minutes! It was a warm-up for my run.

Here are River and Ted at Tranquility Park in Penhold. My house is in those tall evergreens in the background. It's a cute little town and I can basically walk / run from one end to the other in very short time!

This is not only good for me, but it is awesome for the dogs to get out like this. Soon, I will get out my bike and bike the border collies in the morning, then run with Caden at night. If the snow ever goes...

Running changes in a month, good! Snow changes in a month, NOT

Ran 2 loops of 2.5 k today in 30 minutes! It helps to have Caden pulling me...

On March 18 I took pics as I ran with the dogs. Today, a month later, I took pics in the same location - not much difference in the amount of snow! The ONLY difference is that I ran twice as fast - doing my route in 15 minutes instead of 30, so had to double it! Awesome.


Snow on April 17 has not changed much from March 18 - see below...

Caden and Jet are great running dogs and not only is this good for me - it is good for them too.


Run on March 18 - 2.5 k in 30 minutes



Same amount of snow as I saw in this spot today...



 BUT, we did NOT go past the fence wolves today. That was at least a 5 minute stop as they dogs figured out they were indeed, fake. I avoided it today and changed my route to avoid the distraction.

River and Ted also went for a run-walk. She was so excited! Ted keeps her company - they are like an old married couple, they are both so good natured and easy to handle and take anywhere (unlike, dare I say, the above two dogs who are my more intense working dogs).  

River and Ted on the front steps of my little church house

River did great for 11 but is fast asleep now. I hope that when I am "77" years old, I will still go for a fast walk or run like River did today.

First tracks of the season - Videos you can actually SEE of Jet and Caden

Last weekend I took the dogs out tracking and uploaded videos to Facebook. I didn't realize that if you are not on Facebook, you can't access them, so I am re-posting from YouTube this time. My goal was to lay short tracks and assess where the dogs were at.

Maybe, for value-added, since this is a repost, I will add what I can learn and do differently especially after watching Jet's track. I will make it longer and use more articles and less food for reinforcement (always switching it up, of course). I will watch for that body language on the track (see below) that I miss, and see later in video. I promise I will have an article at the end, Jet. And, I think I need to invest in a flipcam or better video device. These were done with my iphone.

So here is the info....

Jet's track was 45 minutes old (in the cold, I estimate it to be equal to about 2 hours in regular tracking conditions in summer). It was run at 6 PM and there was a good crosswind which you can hear on her first and last legs. Her first turn is with the wind and is just SNAP! I say 'no' to her because she backtracks and I can tell she thinks she missed a cookie and I don't want her to fritter around, ever. This is work. If you knew Jet, you would know she has this tendency to use things to her advantage and can be a little sly, and I know my dog.

She has a sidewalk transition to cope with and figures it out - and her hard surface turn blows my mind - she was so confident! This shows you how our dogs CAN be close to or on the track on hard surfaces. Even though I know this, it still blows my mind to watch it.

I talked to my training guru Dan Waters later and he says that the first tracks of the year can often be great like this - how do you keep that in the dog days of July though? Interesting comment. So here is Jet, in all her enthusiasm. I am very excited about working with her this summer. She is an awesome dog.



I JUST WATCHED THIS AGAIN - AND SEE HER LOOK TO THE RIGHT AS SHE EMERGES FROM BETWEEN THE CARS! I DID NOT SEE THIS WHEN I WAS FOLLOWING HER. OH, I LOVE VIDEOTAPING MY DOGS!

I thought it would be rewarding to simply have a plain McD's cheeseburger there for her - but she was looking for an article. She is such a 'border collie' with that work ethic. She didn't seem overly enthused about the burger without finishing the job. Lesson learned.

Caden's track was 100 steps - about 50 meters - with one turn. I did transitions for him from snow to grass, snow to grass and made his turn on snow so that we had success. He does a great job, a freight train as usual. There were lots of college student footprints here because it was enroute to a bus stop. He smells one - and I say NO. At his turn - he checks right then angles left and takes it so nicely. On his way to the cheeseburger he gets off on another set of tracks in that crosswind, but gets back onto his track nicely with no correction at all.



Caden is not worried about articles yet - we are training them this spring. He's quite satisfied with the cheeseburger!

River did a nice track, nearly identical to Jet's but with a bit more casting on her hard surface turn. I have trained Jet differently and the style is showing. I've used footstep tracking ideas to reinforce being closer to the track. I tried to retrain River this way, but in stress, she reverts to casting. But I was happy with her work too - and she is 11 so God Bless her for her work at this age. But her video - and Ted's - turned out wonky and sideways.

Ted was Mr. Happy - overly enthusiastic and not buckling down until the second half of his track. After that he was literally pulling me on his stomach to the end as I put a ton of drag on the line. He is a tracking machine when he gets his mind right.

Ted and Jet are going to a stockdog clinic in a few weeks - and that is where their hearts are - can't wait. Tracking is secondary, if I had access to sheep. But in the meantime, it keeps them working.

No dog content - just - my new hair

I got my hair chopped today! Short, and dark. Just sharing, for friends and family.

And now, if you run into me, you will recognize me, hahaha. Mind you, the dogs are always a giveaway.

Sorry - I had to take this tonight while it still looked styled by a hairdresser.

Once I try to style it myself, it always looks different.

Going to see Wayne Dyer again - in Calgary!

I just bought tickets to go see Wayne Dyer with a friend - in Calgary on May 17!

I have seen him in Toronto and spent a weekend retreat with him in Maui last fall. He is such a treasure, I can't wait to see him again. He always changes his message but is always passionate about it, and such a powerful and positive speaker.

I am very excited. I guess you could say he is my guru of sorts.

Tickets are going fast! You can find out more here. He's at the Jube - the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. Hey, that's where I saw Van Morrison the second time last summer!

I love living near Calgary - so much going on!

First tracks of the season - Caden and Jet

Jet was so confident! She just nailed a track with one difficult transition and a hard surface turn. You can hear me say softly when the turns are coming up. She was shocked that there was a cheeseburger at the end, and no article. She usually lies down at her articles! But, once the shock wore off - she was happy. It took her a second to actually decide to eat it - I think that is the Border Collie work ethic - she was not sure because there was no article, and is not simply a chow hound. Awesome dog.

So here it is - 45 minutes old, a good wind going (around 6 PM) and about 400 meters total.



And here is Caden's track. 15 minutes old, 100 steps (that's what we SchH types do) - which is about 50 meters. I transitioned him from snow to grass, snow to grass and made his turn on snow. You can see other footsteps there, as this was an area where college kids cut across to a bus stop. He stays on mine, except at one point in the crosswind. He also gets a cheeseburger at the end. He has not learned to platz (down) at the article yet, that will come this year. I am very pleased with his turn and his nose down for SchH style tracking.



I did tracks for River and Ted too. For some reason, River's turned out sideways and I have to edit it with a program. She did very well (of course!) on a short motivation track, and nailed her turn too! Ted was a bit silly, he was over excited. In the last half, I had him settle down by simply tightening the line to being very short, and forcing him to stay on the track. After that, he got down to business. He has to be the happiest dog, EVER! But needs to get to work right away - so will work on that.

Tracking season is on!

The Power of Words - video worth watching

This is making the rounds, as it should. It is very powerful - watch to the end...



I enjoy this because my work in communications and as a writer is to use words well. What a difference between the two messages!