As this site is a diary/log of Heidi's tracking training it will cover the highs and lows, and on this occasions it covers both on one training session.
I had decided that as we were going to start stretching Heidi's abilities, in other words 100m plus tracks, that I would start cutting down to 2 or 3 tracks per week. This hopefully will not tire her and help to stop her from becoming bored with the whole idea. As well as this I also needed to find some more land with the suitable type and length of vegetation, making sure that we weren't covering the same tracking lines all the time.
Someone I know owns some grassland that he keeps in pretty good condition so I went on a reconnaissance mission, perfect, a while ago he had topped half it, and the other half a bit more recently. I gave him a call, no problem he said, you can go wherever you like, and even drive your truck to where you need to get to. Ian you're a star, this is really going to help.
So I went to the site, equipped with the usual gear plus some red tape markers, so I could see where I had laid the track. I had decided that as some of the ground was a bit wet and soft that this should help Heidi, so decided to stretch things out, and reached 185m, with one 45° right handed turn and one 90° left handed turn. By the way the tracking shoes with the new studs on were no problem.
After going home for lunch, and having to deal with a couple of phone calls, it was two hours before we got back to the track with Heidi. This was to be not only her longest track in distance but also the one left for the most time. Remember she's still only 14 weeks.
Well we started with the usual 'track on', and she really didn't seem all that keen, not even wanting to make a good start. I had put a fair bit of blood down for the first couple of meters, but it didn't seem to be helping. I gently and quitely tried to encourage her, but as you can see it was almost as though she was on a different planet. I had heard that if things don't start well, take the dog back to the start and try again, so that's what we did. The wind was coming in from the left and behind, but not too strong so I didn't think that was a problem. Anyway we got back to the start and 'track on'.
Still she was not really up for it, and it took a lot of coercing to get her along the track, and I have to say that after twenty or thirty meters, I was starting to think we should give up on the whole idea, and just take a guided walk to the skin so as to end on something positive. Then just at that point her nose started to work and off we went. Unfortunately it was just about at the point of the first shallow turn, and she went just past it, but with a bit of patience she picked it up again and off we went at a steady pace, and at times I thought she was going off the line and thought the worst, but there ahead I could always pick up my red markers in the grass - they always say 'trust your dog'. Its also worth mentioning that to right of us was a river and about eighty meters the others side was a noisy industrial area. Ahead of was a busy main road with a fair amount of traffic on it, and it has to be said that once she got going she took all these distractions in her stride.
We got to the left hand turn near the end, which she picked up on, and really went a bit too wide, but never the less persevered and got back on it, eventually finding her prize, where we had a game with the skin, and a nice piece of liver as a well earned reward.
Conclusions:
Tracking is fun and there is always some preparation to be done. This day the weather was threatening to rain and I wanted to pick a time slot in the day when it was going to be dry, giving Heidi the best chance at this age.
Tiredness. This is something to be aware of with the pup. Like most young ones, she has a daily cycle of exercise, play, and sleep. I'm sure that on this occasion she was in sleep mode when we first started, and together the presence of young stinging nettles, really put her off getting stuck in. I can imagine how off putting it must be as a young pup, with your nose down to come up against nettles or thistles, both off which seem to be everywhere we try to lay a track!
Age of track: 2hrs
Length of Track: 185m.
Type of track: Shoe and blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml (Cleave juice diluted).
Wind direction: From the right and behind
Wind strength: 7-10 mph
Temp: 16ºC
Weather: Damp ground, overcast, rain threatening.
Time: 13.30
Age of Dog: 14 weeks
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