Firstly I would like to give many thanks to Steve for giving me permission to use one of his woods that is very local to me, for laying some training tracks for Heidi. This has come at an ideal time, as I think it is now time to progress from open ground, which has generally been very dry and with short vegetation this year, to the completely different scenario of woodland, which is probably a more realistic environment for tracking in this area.
I had my good friend Peter visiting us today. Pete came with me when I picked up Heidi at 9 weeks old, and hasn't seen her since. So it was a good opportunity not only to see how much she had grown, but also how she had got on with her training.
I went out around 8.30am, and due to the woodland now available, was able to put down what I considered a very realistic track.
Pete turned up shortly after I got back, and we spent the morning chatting, catching up, and discussing a few business matters. Mrs Y prepared a great lunch, and around 2.30pm, Pete and I set off with Heidi to the wood.
We parked about 150m meters away, and took a steady walk towards the start point keeping Heidi calm and her anxiety levels low. Upon reaching the corner of the wood, I asked Pete if he could hold on to Heidi while I cut across the top of the wood, and worked my way down to the finishing point, where I set up the 'find' at the end of the line. I decided to do this because the weather was very hot, and I didn't want the 'find' to become completely ruined with fly blow. Never having left her with someone like this before, I was amazed to hear her howling and whining while I was gone. So much for keeping her anxiety levels low!
On my return she quickly calmed down and we continued to the start. About 25m away I put Heidi's kit on, and within a few meters told her 'track on'. With no hesitation she was away giving a good pull on the leash. One of the obstacles I thought to be a good test was a small branch laying across the track, where I though she may prefer to walk around, but instead was spot on, walking over it at exactly the right point.
We came to the first left hand turn, which she handled with no problem. This took us down the side of a soon to be used pheasant pen, which was quite an open area, with no much coverage on the ground. This section I had envisaged to be a problem, but again was proved wrong! Heading downhill, the undergrowth narrowed, and I could see a white object on the track that was not there earlier. This made Heidi a bit cautious, and held back slightly, which prompted me to give a 'track on', upon which she approached it and started to give a good sniff at the object. The offending article turned out to be a large white plastic bag, in which I usually carry the 'find'. It was empty and had fell out my kit bag when laying the line earlier. Although potentially a problem to this training exercise, I think it turned out to be a positive, and in effect we looked upon it as being a couch area, as Heidi examined the area around the bag, realised its not what she was looking for, and then continued back on the line.
At this stage we had reached the far end of our circuit, where the undergrowth was thicker and taller, almost forming a tunnel effect. This is where Heidi had most trouble on the whole track. she became very steady, and even back tracked just a few meters, before convincing herself she was doing okay, and moving on.
We then came to a right hand turn, which she turned on as precisely as a robot, and continued to pull uphill, only pausing slightly at a white pheasant drinker on the right hand side of the track, where she attempted to have a drink, but I gave her a gentle tug on the leash, with no command, as I did not want her drinking this old water of a suspicious nature. This was enough to re-focus her, and carry on with her work.
Eventually we came to what I can only describe as a T junction, where the line I set went straight on. Heidi on reaching this point turned right to investigate a point about 4 meters away, which must have had some interest to her but not enough, as she came back to the right spot and picked up the line, pulling hard right up to the finishing point. Here she received her normal reward and a refreshing drink of water.
Conclusions:
I thought this was going to be a really tough exercise. The weather was very hot and dry, some of the woodland floor was very sparse, but I was totally wrong. The only point of real concern was where we reached the tall, 'tunnel' section of undergrowth where Heidi seemed a little confused. My feeling was that the wind in this section was swirling around all over the place, causing the problem. The blood used was heavily diluted which I thought may be a problem, but the woodland floor definitely holds better than any ground we have come up on so far! This was probably one of her best tracks yet.
Age of track: 6hrs
Length of Track: Approx 450m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml (3/5 diluted with cleave juice).
Wind direction: From ahead initially.
Wind strength: 4-7 mph
Temp: 26ºC
Weather: Dry, very hot and humid.
Time: 02.30pm
Age of Dog: 5 1/2 months
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