The Spaniel Annals

Rozzie started tracking a few weeks ago, and today showed excellent progress.  In rainy weather with no wind, we did three short tracks of increasing distance, some change of cover, and diminishing food drops: 50 yards and 60 yards in short mowed grass, and then 70 yards in short pasture grass.  They were all about 5-7 minutes old.  She did great, really pulling me on the 6-foot lead and showing a lot of focus and eagerness.  I’m excited to see that she even starts tracking as soon as we’re out the door, and today tracked my scent across the asphalt street!  I have plans to do some initial VST work with her from the get-go, and am waiting for Presnall’s book on VST Component Tracking to show up in the mail so I can proceed with a plan.   I do notice her air-scenting more on asphalt, and I don’t know if that’s typical.  I suspect we need to do some training to get her nose back on the ground.  Next we can start aging the track a little more and doing some much longer ones.  I’m pretty certain we can start doing turns before the end of December.

The only hitch we’ve had so far is when I switched her from a first week of double-laid tracks (meaning I walked the track twice) to single-laid (walking the track once).  We had one tough day where she was confused and had trouble staying focused on the track.  It leads me to wonder if starting with double-laid tracks is even necessary.  I know Sil Sanders doesn’t recommend them.  Anyway, we’re definitely past that hitch now!  Rozzie loves this work and starts whining excitedly as soon as I put on the harness. Go, girl!