The Spaniel Annals

I’ve been tracking with Reardon off and on since he was a puppy, and I’ve been very impressed with how it educated his nose.  Now Gael is joining him, and we have some deadlines approaching: the English Springer Spaniel National, which is in Oregon in October, offers a tracking test, and there are several tests coming up regionally in the fall and late winter. 

In AKC, the basic tracking title is the TD (tracking dog), where the dog tracks human scent for approximately 400 yards.  The track has to be aged at least 30 minutes, with multiple turns and some changes in terrain.  The dog must indicate a glove dropped at the end of the track.

I’m joining my good friend Lynn Winchester of Alynn Springers two or three times a week now to get our dogs ready.  Her dog is “Indy,” a 10-month old springer.  He’s been tracking only a few weeks, but showing excellent aptitude and eagerness.  Here are Indy and Lynn at the startline, which is always marked with a pole and a first glove:

At this beginning stage, the track is laid with hot dog pieces dropped along our footsteps. That way the dog is rewarded for following human scent.  At the time of this photo shooting, we are laying 3 tracks for Indy right in a row, with the first one at 35 yards, the second 50 yards, and the third 75 yards.  They are all straight tracks, no turns.  (The following week, this week, we introduced turns and Indy handled them well.)  Here’s Indy taking off on one of his tracks:

Indy finds his glove!  We encourage the dogs to play with the glove and retrieve it afterwards, since at the test, they have to show some clear indication of the glove.  They can’t just track past it:

Now it’s Reardon’s turn.  He’s been tracking for longer, so his track is more advanced.   Lynn has been laying his track with 3-5 turns in it.  This track was a bit over 200 yards, and it was aged over 1/2 hour:

Note that the line is taut.  Unlike obedience work where the leash should be loose, in tracking the dog is actually pulling you along the track.  The taut line is a means of communication between you and the dog, to let him know you’re there.  Also in training, if he goes off the track, you let the line go slack and raise it up to let him know he’s off the correct scent.  In an actual AKC test, you must be 20 feet behind the dog.  Most of us use lines that are 30-50 feet long, and mark that 20-foot spot on the line with a strip of colored tape or a knot.

After the very slight slackness of the line in the above photo, you can see Reardon is now charging and pulling the line taut.  He was hesitating on the scent; when he really pulls on the line, he’s telling me he’s certain and we can move forward with confidence:

Meanwhile, a surprisingly patient Gordon Setter puppy is waiting back in the van for her turn.  Gael has to wait until last because, as the baby, her track isn’t being aged yet. 

Now it’s her turn!  You’ll see the line isn’t taut yet.  Gael is gradually gaining confidence, and will begin to truly pull in the next few weeks.  Right now she does a lot of casting about (making circles and veerings off the track) because, according to this Gordon puppy, NO HOT DOG CAN GO UNFOUND.  If nothing else she is determined to find every piece of food we’ve left for her. 

Here Gael has gone off the track.  Interestingly enough, she’s probably searching for hot dog scent that the wind has blown off the track.  Although it’s best to lay puppy tracks into the wind, on this particular day we had a lot of odd wind currents.  We’d lay the track into the wind, but by the time we ran it, it had turned into a crosswind.  Most likely Gael is working a crosswind here:

Now she’s back on the track.  Good girl!  Actually we talk very little to them while they’re tracking.  They know when they’re doing it right or not, and talking just distracts them.  Tracking is an activity where “trust your dog” and “let your dog work” are the prominent mantras.

Here Gael is working confidently.  Note the tighter line.  She’s coming along nicely in her tracking work!

More tracking reports to come!