The Spaniel Annals
working and living with performance spaniels
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I’m a retired English instructor, now devoted full-time to training, showing and enjoying my spaniels in many sports.
- agility
- Behavior
- competition
- conditioning
- dockdiving
- dual champion
- English Cocker
- English Springer Spaniel
- Fetch!
- field work
- Freestyle
- Gordon Setters
- heeling
- heeling journal
- Irish Water Spaniel
- match
- mental preparation
- new freestyle behaviors
- puppy training
- rally obedience
- retrieve
- scent work
- TEAM
- tracking
- training
- Uncategorized
- Utility obedience
Category: tracking
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Not many people would consider a rainy, somewhat cold spring day a “lovely” morning, but for my springer/setter pack, it was perfect. Before an afternoon of grading, I took Reardon, Gael and Kani to some public grounds near North Bend. This particular field isn’t huge, but it’s large enough for one regulation track and one baby…
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Tonight I found out about the passing of a great obedience dog in the Gordon Setter world. I never got to see her work, but heard much about her and her owner, Diane Bartlett, and watched their progress and successes over the years. Tory earned an AKC UDX, a Canadian OTCH, and won several all-breed…
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The wonderful news is that Reardon has been certified for entering tracking tests, and our first test is tomorrow up in Bow, WA. Tracking tests only require one pass to earn a title, so tomorrow could signal a new title and a step forward in our training, or it could mean a long wait for…
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Tracking with Reardon and Gael this winter has caused me to become much more intrigued with this sport. For some years now, I’ve been searching for a second sport for my dogs other than obedience. I wanted the sport to be good exercise and call upon their natural instincts. I also wanted it to depend upon a…
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Sometimes accomplishments (or should I say “attainments”?) in dog training take months and even years to come to fruition. This is especially true in obedience trialing and another sport we’ve been working, tracking. In a remarkable synchronicity, Reardon has made some big leaps recently in both sports. In his obedience work, our challenge in getting…
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A brief stint as English department chair this fall quarter meant the training continued, but the blogging didn’t. This fall Reardon and Gael have been getting back to tracking. With a tracking test coming up locally in March 2012, it’s time to get that TD for Reardon. He’s done a lot more tracking of other…
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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…
The Spaniel Annals 