Today’s plan was to take Heidi back to New Wood as previously she has been having problems here with the amount of live tracks and other wildlife. On her last mission in Hunt cover she got on a lot better, so this was to see if things have changed. Also the plan was to include a wound bed about half way through, and see how she dealt with it.
I laid the trail about 5.30pm in fairly cool weather as I had to go out later that evening, and we set out to pick it up about 7.30am the next morning, making it a 14 hour old track. At which time there was a frost on the floor, and the temperature was around 11 degrees.
As we approached the impact point I fitted Heidi's tracking outfit and gently led her in. Now I was a bit surprised, as she suddenly put her nose down and was off before we got started. The reason for this, well, call it old age, bad eyesight, or just the daylight not being at its peak yet, but I had missed my mark completely. It's a good job she knew what to do!
Anyway we were off at quite a good steady pace along the headland of the field, heading towards the wood. Once there we had a ditch to negotiate, cross a footpath, then up another bank. All of this was carried out with professionalism by Heidi, without any mistakes. Onwards we went deeper into the wood, heading for the next test, the couch bed. No of this was a problem, and even though I had had a good scratch around, and left a heavier amount of blood here, Heidi did not falter, but just carried on following the right line. I thought this was brilliant, and we were going a such a good pace, then wallop, she lost the line completely, and I let her take about three different lines of attack, but I knew two of them were no good. In the end I took her right back to the point where we had crossed the footpath, and her tracking was very strong. Again we got about 15 or 20 meters past the couch area, and she lost it again. This time I took her back top the couch area, and let her once again pick up the line, again she lost it after about the same distance. Once again, back to the couch area, and after a few seconds bingo, she pick it up, albeit very cautiously. Now I don't know what the reason for this was after being so strong up to this point. Whether it was the air currents causing a problem, live tracks or the sudden overwhelming scent, compaction and disturbance of the couch area, I really don't know, but I suspect it has to be one of the last two. The only good thing is that I feel that I am able to pick up on Heidi's body language now, and pick out when she's not on the right line, or at least I can most of the time!
Anyway at a very steady pace we continued on to an area of brambles that were just a bit higher than Heidi, and she needed a bit of verbal encouragement here to push past them, but we did get there, to a point where we came out on to and old concrete road that runs through the wood. She had a good shake here after coming out of the brambles, had a quick look around, put her nose down again, and pick up the light blood trail I had laid across the road. Once over it was a right turn, and suddenly there was no holding her back, as she continued on full leash, all the way to her find, where she was told that she was the best dog in the whole world!
Age of track: 14hrs
Length of Track: Approx 450m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml (1/5diluted with water).
Wind direction: Initially from the left, and in front.
Wind strength: 4-7 mph
Temp: 11ºC
Weather: Dull becoming brighter and cool, with ground frost
Time: 07.30pm
Age of Dog: 6 3/4 months
Conclusions:
This potentially was a really good job on behalf of Heidi. Her start was extremely strong, especially considering the age of the track for her. Things only went wrong, well inside the wood, and at just the one point after the couch area. Was this the sudden influx of scent or live tracks causing the confusion, I just don't know. Maybe next time I'll try a different venue and create another couch area to try and find out. Other than this the finish was also strong, so all in all a pretty good track in my book. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can also get her on to some cull fallow, which I'm sure will give her some extra motivation in her work.
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