Yesterday evening we went to a friends small piece of ground, where they constantly have problems with invading Muntjac. I normally go there quite a few times throughout the year and make contact with some of them, but this this year despite going on quite a few sorties, have not seen any of the perpetrators. However yesterday proved fruitful, and as one came sneaking out of a very large bramble patch on the boundary I squeezed of a round from my faithful old rifle. The wee beastie was only around 100m away and went down like a sack of potatoes. This was a good and bad thing, it is my instinct to place the shot for an instant kill, but having Heidi in the truck ready and waiting, I could have done with the animal running on for some distance, but at least animal met a humane end. I should point out that I would normally love to have Heidi with me whilst stalking, but as the weather was around -2 degrees C, I thought it kinder to leave her in the warmth of the vehicle.
A few minutes after taking the shot I headed back to the truck and drove a good way back to the place where the shot had been taken from. It was getting dark now so I put Heidi on her normal lead and walked to some 50m from the dead Munty. She then sat while I changed her lead for her tracking collar and leash, and we then headed closer to where the deer had first shown itself. Heidi showed a great deal of interest in the fresh scent of the deer so I told her to 'track on', which she did with great gusto, her head was glued to the floor as she almost pulled me over with her keenness to get to the Muntjac, which she did with no problem. Once she got to the animal she was very pleased with her find, giving it a close inspection, licking the entry hole, and savouring a few drop of blood that was laying under the carcass. I tried to get her to speak, but she wasn't interested at this stage. After giving her heaps of praise I dragged the dead animal back up the hill to the truck, with Heidi mouthing and tugging at the carcass as we went. Once at the vehicle we could shed some light on what we were doing, and I managed to get Heidi wound up enough to start speaking, albeit with some reservation but at least she was doing the job. She now did not want to be pulled away from her new find, which made getting her back in the truck a bit of fun but we got there in the end.
Upon reaching our larder back at home, which was only a 5 minute drive, I got the beastie hung up and gralloched, which gave me the opportunity to collect some valuable blood. The small liver I sliced into chunks for future training rewards, but gave Heidi a piece straight away which seemed to be very appreciated. It was then Heidi's dinner time, so along with her food she also was given a couple more bits of the fresh liver, I'm sure she thought she had died and gone to heaven! Once she had eaten she climbed into her bed, where I completed her day by giving her one of the Muntys cleaves to chew on. This was now a very happy dog having received a great big dose if incentive for her work, and I am sure its just the sort of thing she was in need of.
Showing posts with label deertracking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deertracking. Show all posts
Monday, 29 November 2010
Friday, 26 November 2010
BMH society of GB Training & Test Day
November the 21st saw Heidi and myself attend the BMH society of GB Training & Test Day at Hartpury College, Gloucestershire, organised by Pete Garraway of the BMH society. The day consisted of an introduction and lecutre on blood tracking, from tracking test judge Andreas Guhl. This was a very informative and interesting talk, which also included a section on tracking dog equipment from Kit at www.muntjactrading.com
After a hot lunch in the college canteen we returned to the car park where we were then split into two groups, each of which was accompanied by a judge, witnesses and assistants, and sent of to the location of our the Schweisshund Aptitude Test, which had been laid earlier in the morning before our arrival. Full details of the test can be found here: www.bavarianmountainhoundsociety.org.uk/Images/Aptitude%20Test%20v2.pdfWe each waited nervously for our turn, and soon enough it was time for me and Heidi. The judge, in our case was Andreas Guhl who showed us our starting point and then it was up to us! Although being a basic test, I really felt the pressure, as this was the first time we had be on a track laid by somebody else, and not knowing exactly where it went. Anyway I kitted Heidi up with her tracking outfit, showed her and examined the impact point, told her to 'track on', and away she went steadily but confident. I was desperately looking for signs of blood etc, but couldn't find a great deal, mainly because I was watching Heidi perhaps a little too much. Doing this test made me realise just how much more you have to work as a team, and work at a pace that lets you notice the tell tale signs left behind, if nothing else so you can back your dog up if things dont go quite right.
After this we were taken outside into the icy wind, where Andreas gave us a practical demonstration of how to lay a training track for our dogs using a liver drag on open ground. After which we were split into teams of two, and were able to lay down tracks for each others dogs to practice on, which I am very pleased to say, Heidi was able to complete with no problems.
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Photo courtesy of Suzanne Hall http//:deertrackerupdates.blogspot.com
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After a hot lunch in the college canteen we returned to the car park where we were then split into two groups, each of which was accompanied by a judge, witnesses and assistants, and sent of to the location of our the Schweisshund Aptitude Test, which had been laid earlier in the morning before our arrival. Full details of the test can be found here: www.bavarianmountainhoundsociety.org.uk/Images/Aptitude%20Test%20v2.pdf
Luckily for me Heidi seemed to know what she was doing and followed the line perfectly, picking up and dealing with the obligatory turn in the track with no problem, eventually working her way to the find, which in this instance was a Roe head. At this point you cannot imagine my relief that everything went okay and I passed this on to Heidi giving her masses of praise and reward. We then walked back to the rest of the group with the judge and helpers who kindly praised Heidi's work and gave us a few pointers for the future. Its always good to hear from those more experienced than yourself, you can learn so much. After a short drive back to the classroom, we refuelled with a hot coffee and biscuits, were given our results which in our case was a pass,followed by a debrief on the days events.
All in all a terrific day. Anyone with a tracking dog should have a go. Its not expensive and there is no need to worry about being embarrased if things go wrong, these people are there to help you and your dog. It has given the both of us inspiration to continue with our training and look forward to taking the Schweisshund Test Level 1 in the future.
Photo courtesy of Suzanne Hall http://deertrackersupdates.blogspot.com
Monday, 22 November 2010
A Word Of Caution On Basic Discipline Training
Over the last few weeks I have given Heidi a deliberate rest from tracking training so as not to bore her with the same routine. During this time I thought it would be a good idea to re-enforce some basic discipline training, namely walking to heel.
Now don't get me wrong, she naturally wants to walk with me, but not what I call a proper heel position, and it is one thing that I am really fussy about, especially as I want her to stalk with me.
Every time we went for a walk, she had to walk to heel. To achieve this we used all the normal methods of heel training as previously in her early life which worked well, and when off the lead should she creep ahead, would receive a verbal reminder, and a light flick with the lead. The end result was perfect, and a very obedient dog, just what I wanted.
Now, we had her BMH society of GB aptitude test coming up soon, so a week before we went out for a practice track, which was set on a frosty morning, in a wood, and left around six hours to age. This would normally be no problem for her, so when we got close to the impact point on went her tracking collar and lead, then slowly approached the strike area, where she had a sniff around, then proceeded to go off in the right direction for two meters, and stopped, looking round at me! I gently encouraged her and on we went just a few meters at a time, and it was pretty much like this all the way to the end. Halfway round I realised what was wrong? Oh no, I had got her walking to heel, and that where she thought she must be even when tracking. I was gutted, especially with the test coming up.
The following week we went for some very long walks, and I clipped the SportDOG training lead to her. Initially again she would not leave me, and would be very cautious when she felt the weight of the lead dragging or got even slightly caught on grass. Taking my old terrier Corrie with us on the first day gave her more confidence to leave my side, and eventually after about three days we got back to a confident Heidi, even pulling me along! Needless to say I never used the Heel word once!
As they say, just be careful what you wish for as it may come true.
Now don't get me wrong, she naturally wants to walk with me, but not what I call a proper heel position, and it is one thing that I am really fussy about, especially as I want her to stalk with me.
Every time we went for a walk, she had to walk to heel. To achieve this we used all the normal methods of heel training as previously in her early life which worked well, and when off the lead should she creep ahead, would receive a verbal reminder, and a light flick with the lead. The end result was perfect, and a very obedient dog, just what I wanted.
Now, we had her BMH society of GB aptitude test coming up soon, so a week before we went out for a practice track, which was set on a frosty morning, in a wood, and left around six hours to age. This would normally be no problem for her, so when we got close to the impact point on went her tracking collar and lead, then slowly approached the strike area, where she had a sniff around, then proceeded to go off in the right direction for two meters, and stopped, looking round at me! I gently encouraged her and on we went just a few meters at a time, and it was pretty much like this all the way to the end. Halfway round I realised what was wrong? Oh no, I had got her walking to heel, and that where she thought she must be even when tracking. I was gutted, especially with the test coming up.
The following week we went for some very long walks, and I clipped the SportDOG training lead to her. Initially again she would not leave me, and would be very cautious when she felt the weight of the lead dragging or got even slightly caught on grass. Taking my old terrier Corrie with us on the first day gave her more confidence to leave my side, and eventually after about three days we got back to a confident Heidi, even pulling me along! Needless to say I never used the Heel word once!
As they say, just be careful what you wish for as it may come true.
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Sportdog Training Lead
A few weeks ago I was given a SportDOG training product, which had filtered through from our company in the U.S.A. for evaluation.
Although I tried it for tracking, I have to stress that it is a check cord, not a tracking leash, but is a great tool for exercising and training dogs. Lightweight and easy to coil and carry, this high-visibility 30 foot orange check cord is soft on your hands and tangle-free to prevent knots that get hung up on brush. With a heavy-duty brass snap, you're in confident control during training sessions.
It is very tactile, and doesn't get caught up easily. It does get slightly heavier when soaking wet, but dries out well, and I get the feeling that it will last a long time. The only things that I didn't like was that it had no reminder about a meter from the end to let you know that it is about to slip out of your hands, and that it was a bit shorter than what I have been using, other than that a great product.
Although I tried it for tracking, I have to stress that it is a check cord, not a tracking leash, but is a great tool for exercising and training dogs. Lightweight and easy to coil and carry, this high-visibility 30 foot orange check cord is soft on your hands and tangle-free to prevent knots that get hung up on brush. With a heavy-duty brass snap, you're in confident control during training sessions.
It is very tactile, and doesn't get caught up easily. It does get slightly heavier when soaking wet, but dries out well, and I get the feeling that it will last a long time. The only things that I didn't like was that it had no reminder about a meter from the end to let you know that it is about to slip out of your hands, and that it was a bit shorter than what I have been using, other than that a great product.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
DEAD ON
Have just started to read John Jeanneney's second book, "Dead On". It covers deer anatomy and shot placement for bow and gun hunters, as well as tracking techniques for wounded Whitetails. That said the principles are pretty much the same for most species, and although a small book it is well worth adding to your collection.
Available through Amazon.com
Available through Amazon.com
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
23/09/10 Hunt Cover
My friend Steve who keepers Hunt Cover, called me the other to say that he now has his pheasant poults in the release pen, and has noticed some fox activity close by, so could I take the rifle with me on my next visit in case I should spot the offender. Now I wasn't planning to do another track so soon, but as Steve had been kind enough to give me permission to use the wood so I decided to do a short track, as a confidence booster for both of us.
The track was to start at the far side of the wood, come inside, head down hill, then swing round and head back uphill towards the pheasant pen.
We had quite a long walk to our impact point, but we weren't in a rush and Heidi seemed to really enjoy the walk, so when we got to the start she was pretty relaxed which is always a good thing. I put her tracking collar on, followed by 'track on', and as usual she was away with no problem.
We continued into the wood, turning down hill slightly and she still had her nose to the floor, going at quite a strong pace, but not going to fast, although it gave me a problem as I was trying to pick up my markers as we were going along.
Next up came a left hand turn, at which point Heidi turned right, and my heart sunk thinking she was off on a wild goose chase, but she suddenly just stopped, turned around, and came back to the turn point, nose down, and was away in the right direction again.
Things continued to go well uphill until we came to another slight left handed turn, and Heidi just wanted to go straight on into thicker woodland? As I knew this was not the track that I had set, I let her go the full length of the leash, which she did almost pulling me along. I know the wind can do strange things with the scent, but could not figure out in this instance why it would have changed in this area, and also the trail was just a few hours old, so I pulled her up hard on the leash whilst verbally correcting her. This done we got back to the track line, and with the command 'track on' she got back to the job in hand.
This took us right up the side of Steve's pheasant pen. It was Heidi's first introduction with such an amount of game birds, and her reaction was to just stop and look for a few moments, intrigued by what looked like a mass of small chickens, followed by an urge to move towards them to investigate further. I gave the command 'NO', with a slight tug on the leash, which was enough for her to put her nose back to the ground, and carry on to the find (Muntjac head), without showing any more interest in the birds.
At the find she got her normal reward, followed by having a good chew on the head. I spent about 15 minutes or more with her here, and even managed to get her to speak a couple of times when holding the Munty head above her.
Age of track: 10hrs
Length of Track: Approx 3000m.
Type of track: Shoe and blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml.
Wind direction: From behind.
Wind strength: 25-31 mph
Temp: 18ºC
Weather: Warm, bright and windy.
Time: 05.30pm
Age of Dog: 6 3/4 months
Conclusion:
This was meant to be an easy practice, practice track using non diluted blood, and the age of track not being to much, but Heidi blatantly went past what I considered to be easy turns. It was only a few days since our last outing, and maybe she got a bit bored/complacent. I thinks I will leave it a couple of weeks now to give her a rest, and hopefully by then get some Fallow involved.
The track was to start at the far side of the wood, come inside, head down hill, then swing round and head back uphill towards the pheasant pen.
We had quite a long walk to our impact point, but we weren't in a rush and Heidi seemed to really enjoy the walk, so when we got to the start she was pretty relaxed which is always a good thing. I put her tracking collar on, followed by 'track on', and as usual she was away with no problem.
We continued into the wood, turning down hill slightly and she still had her nose to the floor, going at quite a strong pace, but not going to fast, although it gave me a problem as I was trying to pick up my markers as we were going along.
Next up came a left hand turn, at which point Heidi turned right, and my heart sunk thinking she was off on a wild goose chase, but she suddenly just stopped, turned around, and came back to the turn point, nose down, and was away in the right direction again.
Things continued to go well uphill until we came to another slight left handed turn, and Heidi just wanted to go straight on into thicker woodland? As I knew this was not the track that I had set, I let her go the full length of the leash, which she did almost pulling me along. I know the wind can do strange things with the scent, but could not figure out in this instance why it would have changed in this area, and also the trail was just a few hours old, so I pulled her up hard on the leash whilst verbally correcting her. This done we got back to the track line, and with the command 'track on' she got back to the job in hand.
This took us right up the side of Steve's pheasant pen. It was Heidi's first introduction with such an amount of game birds, and her reaction was to just stop and look for a few moments, intrigued by what looked like a mass of small chickens, followed by an urge to move towards them to investigate further. I gave the command 'NO', with a slight tug on the leash, which was enough for her to put her nose back to the ground, and carry on to the find (Muntjac head), without showing any more interest in the birds.
At the find she got her normal reward, followed by having a good chew on the head. I spent about 15 minutes or more with her here, and even managed to get her to speak a couple of times when holding the Munty head above her.
Age of track: 10hrs
Length of Track: Approx 3000m.
Type of track: Shoe and blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml.
Wind direction: From behind.
Wind strength: 25-31 mph
Temp: 18ºC
Weather: Warm, bright and windy.
Time: 05.30pm
Age of Dog: 6 3/4 months
Conclusion:
This was meant to be an easy practice, practice track using non diluted blood, and the age of track not being to much, but Heidi blatantly went past what I considered to be easy turns. It was only a few days since our last outing, and maybe she got a bit bored/complacent. I thinks I will leave it a couple of weeks now to give her a rest, and hopefully by then get some Fallow involved.
Friday, 17 September 2010
19/09/10 Another Training Track in New Wood
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.
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.
Saturday, 11 September 2010
Heidi Training Track Hunt Cover 3
This was our third time in Hunt Cover. Steve has started preparing the wood for his intake of pheasant poults in the next few days, and has now cut out some of the rides. So I decided to make the most of it by giving Heidi an overnight track to follow. I set the line around 7.00pm, finding my way around the new pathways now cut out, I seemed to be walking for ages, so much so it was starting to get dark, and rain was forecast.
The next morning, Heidi and I drove to the wood arriving around 7.30am. We'd had a shower or two overnight, and the wind was now pretty blustery. I lifted her out of the back of the truck, put her sling lead on, grabbed my kit bag, and set off to the start, which was a few meters inside the wood. As usual, quite a few meters before I changed her normal lead for her tracking leash, and she instantly new what was on, ironically whilst doing this I noticed a large Muntjac buck crossing the track line about 30m from us-this was going to be interesting I thought. Before we got to the starting point, her head was down looking for evidence. As soon as we reached my marker it was 'track on', and off she went. Her start was extremely fast and strong, but within a few meters she seemed a little confused, almost as though she was a bit cocky, not unlike a student that is still in training, but thinks they know everything. After a bit of confusion and looking around we settled down again, and she only hesitated briefly where the Munty had crossed. This took us up to the edge of Steve's pheasant pen, a Heidi was on form, taking us right around the outside. As we went along there was a path turn right off from ours, and Heidi decided to turn off here and investigate. I could tell by the change in her body language that she realised this was not what she should be following, and decided to let her go with it whilst standing at the turn. She went about 8m then decided to turn around, and get back to the line. I was glad at this point that she did not continue on what was probably a 'live' track.
Once we had finished going round the pretty much rectangular pheasant pen, we turned right, and with in a few meters turned right again, both with no problems.
After a short distance there was a right handed fork, which again she tackled with no problems. This led on to fairly straight section which then started to curl to the left, along here was another path running right, off to the edge of the wood, with which Heidi repeated her short investigation exercise as she had done earlier. Once back on track we came to a 'T' junction, where we were to turn left, no problem. With her head down we continued a left handed curl, heading back uphill, which bought us to our last right handed fork/turn. Heidi didn't even stop or slow down here, and carried on to the find with no problems, eager for her liver treat reward.
Age of track: 12.5hrs
Length of Track: Approx 550m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml (1/5diluted with water).
Wind direction: From the left, and slightly behind.
Wind strength: 25-31 mph
Temp: 16ºC
Weather: Bright and cool.
Time: 07.30pm
Age of Dog: 6 1/2 months
Conclusions:
Our start was a bit over exuberant to say the least. I keep Heidi calm when walking from the vehicle to the 'place of impact', and make a point not to be negative. For example if she doesn't walk to heel at this point, I ignore it. She knows what going on and can't wait to get started, but I think that once we pull off from the impact point I will try to steady her on the leash, just to keep her a little more focused and concentrated.
I'm glad she didn't get carried away on live tracks this time. On our last two missions this really caused a problem for her. I can't decided yet if the next track will be a similar location or go back to New Wood to try our luck again.
The next morning, Heidi and I drove to the wood arriving around 7.30am. We'd had a shower or two overnight, and the wind was now pretty blustery. I lifted her out of the back of the truck, put her sling lead on, grabbed my kit bag, and set off to the start, which was a few meters inside the wood. As usual, quite a few meters before I changed her normal lead for her tracking leash, and she instantly new what was on, ironically whilst doing this I noticed a large Muntjac buck crossing the track line about 30m from us-this was going to be interesting I thought. Before we got to the starting point, her head was down looking for evidence. As soon as we reached my marker it was 'track on', and off she went. Her start was extremely fast and strong, but within a few meters she seemed a little confused, almost as though she was a bit cocky, not unlike a student that is still in training, but thinks they know everything. After a bit of confusion and looking around we settled down again, and she only hesitated briefly where the Munty had crossed. This took us up to the edge of Steve's pheasant pen, a Heidi was on form, taking us right around the outside. As we went along there was a path turn right off from ours, and Heidi decided to turn off here and investigate. I could tell by the change in her body language that she realised this was not what she should be following, and decided to let her go with it whilst standing at the turn. She went about 8m then decided to turn around, and get back to the line. I was glad at this point that she did not continue on what was probably a 'live' track.
Once we had finished going round the pretty much rectangular pheasant pen, we turned right, and with in a few meters turned right again, both with no problems.
After a short distance there was a right handed fork, which again she tackled with no problems. This led on to fairly straight section which then started to curl to the left, along here was another path running right, off to the edge of the wood, with which Heidi repeated her short investigation exercise as she had done earlier. Once back on track we came to a 'T' junction, where we were to turn left, no problem. With her head down we continued a left handed curl, heading back uphill, which bought us to our last right handed fork/turn. Heidi didn't even stop or slow down here, and carried on to the find with no problems, eager for her liver treat reward.
Age of track: 12.5hrs
Length of Track: Approx 550m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml (1/5diluted with water).
Wind direction: From the left, and slightly behind.
Wind strength: 25-31 mph
Temp: 16ºC
Weather: Bright and cool.
Time: 07.30pm
Age of Dog: 6 1/2 months
Conclusions:
Our start was a bit over exuberant to say the least. I keep Heidi calm when walking from the vehicle to the 'place of impact', and make a point not to be negative. For example if she doesn't walk to heel at this point, I ignore it. She knows what going on and can't wait to get started, but I think that once we pull off from the impact point I will try to steady her on the leash, just to keep her a little more focused and concentrated.
I'm glad she didn't get carried away on live tracks this time. On our last two missions this really caused a problem for her. I can't decided yet if the next track will be a similar location or go back to New Wood to try our luck again.
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Training Track New Wood 2
This track was not to be an exercise in length of track or the amount of time passed since laid, but to give Heidi some more experience of following a track over ground which has lots of 'live' deer activity. Her last track in this wood was a big problem as regard to this as she got completely miss guided a couple of times.
We started off fairly easily covering around 300m of open ground along the outside of the wood.
However when we came to the right hand turn into the wood, she ignored it and continued on almost behaving cockily, that she knew what she was doing, wrong! Well not quite, I assume there was recent deer activity on the line we were taking, and that's what she was concentrating on. I let her get to the end of the wood before holding her back and encouraging her to turn around, which she did, but then again went past the turn, and continued in the direction from where we had started. Again I held her back on the leash until she return to me and found the turn into the wood.
Once inside I think there was a couple of times where she picked up on 'live' trails, and she just needed a little encouragement to correct her. The good news is that she now seems to be willing to deal with obstacles such as brambles, and nettles. This gives her the ability to follow the track more precisely, and leaves me behind, slowing her down!
Age of track: 8hrs
Length of Track: Approx 450m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 200ml (1/2 diluted with cleave juice).
Wind direction: From the left initially.
Wind strength: 8-12 mph
Temp: 16ºC
Weather: Bright and cool.
Time: 03.00pm
Age of Dog: 6 months
Conclusions:
Heidi still need more experience in working over areas that have 'live' deer trails, but I can sometimes spot the difference in her approach to the scent line when she's on the right track. Her attitude is a lot more steady and almost cautious, whereas on 'live' deer she seems very, very keen, almost cocky.
We started off fairly easily covering around 300m of open ground along the outside of the wood.
However when we came to the right hand turn into the wood, she ignored it and continued on almost behaving cockily, that she knew what she was doing, wrong! Well not quite, I assume there was recent deer activity on the line we were taking, and that's what she was concentrating on. I let her get to the end of the wood before holding her back and encouraging her to turn around, which she did, but then again went past the turn, and continued in the direction from where we had started. Again I held her back on the leash until she return to me and found the turn into the wood.
Once inside I think there was a couple of times where she picked up on 'live' trails, and she just needed a little encouragement to correct her. The good news is that she now seems to be willing to deal with obstacles such as brambles, and nettles. This gives her the ability to follow the track more precisely, and leaves me behind, slowing her down!
Age of track: 8hrs
Length of Track: Approx 450m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 200ml (1/2 diluted with cleave juice).
Wind direction: From the left initially.
Wind strength: 8-12 mph
Temp: 16ºC
Weather: Bright and cool.
Time: 03.00pm
Age of Dog: 6 months
Conclusions:
Heidi still need more experience in working over areas that have 'live' deer trails, but I can sometimes spot the difference in her approach to the scent line when she's on the right track. Her attitude is a lot more steady and almost cautious, whereas on 'live' deer she seems very, very keen, almost cocky.
Training Track New Wood 1
This wood is a great training opportunity for us. A local landowner, Peter, has given us permission to use his woodland. It has no game shooting or deer stalking carried out on the place, but has a small abundance of Muntjac, Fallow and Roe. Just as importantly for us is has thick ground cover in the form of brambles, branches, shrubs and nettles. This combined with the deer population gives us very realistic training conditions.
We started on the field headland, and Heidi picked it up straight away, pulling very strongly on the leash right up to the right hand turn into the wood, which went down and up a very steep ditch. This was now problem for Heidi, but she had to wait for me to scramble through!
Once back together she carried on the right line, and I thought this was going to be too easy for her-wrong! After about 20m, she suddenly went off in totally the wrong direction, so I thought I would go with her idea for about 20 or 30m, hoping she would realise her error. Sadly she didn't and I had to bring an end to her ideas, and returned her to the correct line. At this point she did no more than go off in the completely opposite direction, but in a very convincing fashion, so again I thought I'd go with it for a short distance. Unfortunately it got us nowhere, as we started going round in circles, with the leash going round and round trees, so again I brought the proceedings to an end. Because of all this time wasting you will see I have left all of this out of the video so as not to bore anyone watching.
Not wanting to finish on a negative, I decided the best thing was to do was keep calm and quiet, but gathered up the leash with Heidi still in her collar, took her out of the wood by going well away from our track line, and came back down the side of the wood to point where we entered via the steep ditch. She immediately picked up the line again, only this time when we got inside things went a lot better, with her following the line very well, and only on one occasion did she think about going off on a different path, so I decided to correct her instantly, whereupon she went back on track with no problem, and continued very steadily and calmly all the way out of the wood, up and down another ditch, leading to her find just a few meters into a field headland.
Age of track: 12hrs
Length of Track: Approx 400m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml (1/2 diluted with cleave juice).
Wind direction: From ahead initially.
Wind strength: 8-12 mph
Temp: 18ºC
Weather: Dull, damp ground.
Time: 07.30pm
Age of Dog: 6 months
Conclusions:
Having Heidi work in this environment with lots of 'live' deer about was definitely a massive challenge for her. I could clearly see fresh slot marks everywhere when taking her through, they definitely weren't there when I put the track down. We both need more experience with this situation.
It also proves that taking the dog back to a point on the track to where you loose it, or if things go wrong can and does work.
We started on the field headland, and Heidi picked it up straight away, pulling very strongly on the leash right up to the right hand turn into the wood, which went down and up a very steep ditch. This was now problem for Heidi, but she had to wait for me to scramble through!
Once back together she carried on the right line, and I thought this was going to be too easy for her-wrong! After about 20m, she suddenly went off in totally the wrong direction, so I thought I would go with her idea for about 20 or 30m, hoping she would realise her error. Sadly she didn't and I had to bring an end to her ideas, and returned her to the correct line. At this point she did no more than go off in the completely opposite direction, but in a very convincing fashion, so again I thought I'd go with it for a short distance. Unfortunately it got us nowhere, as we started going round in circles, with the leash going round and round trees, so again I brought the proceedings to an end. Because of all this time wasting you will see I have left all of this out of the video so as not to bore anyone watching.
Not wanting to finish on a negative, I decided the best thing was to do was keep calm and quiet, but gathered up the leash with Heidi still in her collar, took her out of the wood by going well away from our track line, and came back down the side of the wood to point where we entered via the steep ditch. She immediately picked up the line again, only this time when we got inside things went a lot better, with her following the line very well, and only on one occasion did she think about going off on a different path, so I decided to correct her instantly, whereupon she went back on track with no problem, and continued very steadily and calmly all the way out of the wood, up and down another ditch, leading to her find just a few meters into a field headland.
Age of track: 12hrs
Length of Track: Approx 400m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml (1/2 diluted with cleave juice).
Wind direction: From ahead initially.
Wind strength: 8-12 mph
Temp: 18ºC
Weather: Dull, damp ground.
Time: 07.30pm
Age of Dog: 6 months
Conclusions:
Having Heidi work in this environment with lots of 'live' deer about was definitely a massive challenge for her. I could clearly see fresh slot marks everywhere when taking her through, they definitely weren't there when I put the track down. We both need more experience with this situation.
It also proves that taking the dog back to a point on the track to where you loose it, or if things go wrong can and does work.
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
BMH HEIDI'S 1ST OVERNIGHT TRACK IN WOODLAND
I know Heidi has done an overnight track before, but that was open ground. This time it was to be as real as possible. The track was laid around 8.00pm, using the same wood as our previous track, but I must point out that over one week has since passed, and the route taken this time was completely different.
The start point was on a fairly open path, but not long after we came up against thick undergrowth, nettles and dense vegetation, so on this occasion distance was not to be a challenge, but everything else was. To compound the track for Heidi, about one hour after I got back from laying the trail, it rained for a couple of hours. This was not forecast!
About 13 hours after laying the line, at 9.00am, I took Heidi to the wood, where I was definitely not optimistic on her chances of success. Against her were the previous nights rain, age of track, thick vegetation, fallen trees and branches, with worst of all nettles. Anyway again within 15m of the 'impact area', fitted her tracking collar and leash. As usual now, she picked up the starting point, and was off before 'track on'.
She went off at a good pace, using her nose a lot more now than when on her earlier tracks. We reached the first left turn, which was on an clear path in the wood, with spare ground cover that had been open to the rain from the previous night. The turn was dealt with very well, with no overrun as in her earlier months.
We then headed on, with Heidi using her nose very well and pulling at a good pace. We eventually got to the next turn which was a right hander, going off through fallen branches and undergrowth. This sort of cover was new to Heidi, and she dealt with it pretty well. I could see she knew the line but tried going around the branches rather than through them, which she did for a distance of a couple of meters, but then locked back on to the line when through the obstacle.
Next up was tall vegetation, leading through to a short open section which was to be crossed on a diagonal path. Heidi however decided to investigate to the right, for the distance of the leash. Now at this point I should have let her go with it, to discover for her self that it was a dead lead, however I was carrying an overloaded kit bag, with a spare piece of skin wrapped up in a bag because I thought there may have been a possibly of her find have disappeared to foxes/badgers overnight, and did not want her to bee disappointed at the end, plus it was now getting hot. So I let her get to the end of the leash, and then held her from going any further, and gave one gentle tug. With this she happily came back, picked up the line quickly, as though she knew it was there all the time and off we went again.
The next section took us through a really thick section of nettles, which she took very cautiously, but never the less, stuck to the line, and once through it was just a few meters to her find. Success!
Age of track: 13hrs
Length of Track: Approx 250m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 200ml (1/2 diluted with cleave juice).
Wind direction: From ahead initially.
Wind strength: 8-12 mph
Temp: 22ºC
Weather: Bright and sunny, damp ground after a couple of hours rain the night before
Time: 09.00pm
Age of Dog: 5 3/4 months
Conclusion:At the point where Heidi went to investigate an area where I held her back on the leash, I realise now as I write that at this point I took the track there myself, but decided it was to thick for me to get through, so back tracked the short distance, back the the original line, D'oh! Just shows the dog knows more than me!
It has now become apparent that Heidi is not too interested at the find. I guess it's just her nature, as I have in my opinion not overworked her, now laying a track only once every week/week and half, and always trying to make the find interesting. She does however 'love to track', and that is obvious, from the moment I grab my kit bag, even to when we get back home. She just loves to do the job. Maybe when we get on to live work things will change.
The start point was on a fairly open path, but not long after we came up against thick undergrowth, nettles and dense vegetation, so on this occasion distance was not to be a challenge, but everything else was. To compound the track for Heidi, about one hour after I got back from laying the trail, it rained for a couple of hours. This was not forecast!
About 13 hours after laying the line, at 9.00am, I took Heidi to the wood, where I was definitely not optimistic on her chances of success. Against her were the previous nights rain, age of track, thick vegetation, fallen trees and branches, with worst of all nettles. Anyway again within 15m of the 'impact area', fitted her tracking collar and leash. As usual now, she picked up the starting point, and was off before 'track on'.
She went off at a good pace, using her nose a lot more now than when on her earlier tracks. We reached the first left turn, which was on an clear path in the wood, with spare ground cover that had been open to the rain from the previous night. The turn was dealt with very well, with no overrun as in her earlier months.
We then headed on, with Heidi using her nose very well and pulling at a good pace. We eventually got to the next turn which was a right hander, going off through fallen branches and undergrowth. This sort of cover was new to Heidi, and she dealt with it pretty well. I could see she knew the line but tried going around the branches rather than through them, which she did for a distance of a couple of meters, but then locked back on to the line when through the obstacle.
Next up was tall vegetation, leading through to a short open section which was to be crossed on a diagonal path. Heidi however decided to investigate to the right, for the distance of the leash. Now at this point I should have let her go with it, to discover for her self that it was a dead lead, however I was carrying an overloaded kit bag, with a spare piece of skin wrapped up in a bag because I thought there may have been a possibly of her find have disappeared to foxes/badgers overnight, and did not want her to bee disappointed at the end, plus it was now getting hot. So I let her get to the end of the leash, and then held her from going any further, and gave one gentle tug. With this she happily came back, picked up the line quickly, as though she knew it was there all the time and off we went again.
The next section took us through a really thick section of nettles, which she took very cautiously, but never the less, stuck to the line, and once through it was just a few meters to her find. Success!
Age of track: 13hrs
Length of Track: Approx 250m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 200ml (1/2 diluted with cleave juice).
Wind direction: From ahead initially.
Wind strength: 8-12 mph
Temp: 22ºC
Weather: Bright and sunny, damp ground after a couple of hours rain the night before
Time: 09.00pm
Age of Dog: 5 3/4 months
Conclusion:At the point where Heidi went to investigate an area where I held her back on the leash, I realise now as I write that at this point I took the track there myself, but decided it was to thick for me to get through, so back tracked the short distance, back the the original line, D'oh! Just shows the dog knows more than me!
It has now become apparent that Heidi is not too interested at the find. I guess it's just her nature, as I have in my opinion not overworked her, now laying a track only once every week/week and half, and always trying to make the find interesting. She does however 'love to track', and that is obvious, from the moment I grab my kit bag, even to when we get back home. She just loves to do the job. Maybe when we get on to live work things will change.
Tracking Shoe Modification
Shortly after buying my Waidwerk Scent Shoes I got fed up with the securing system that attaches the cleaves to the back of the shoes. It consisted of a large hose clip, that required the use of a screwdriver, cordless or otherwise to tighten it each time you used a new cleave.
I found that I had two problems with this. The first being that sometimes the cleaves worked loose when using the shoes, and the second which was a bit more painful, was the cordless screwdriver often slipped out of the screw and into my hand!
My solution therefore was to use two automotive exhaust clamps on each shoe, as shown below.
I found the best size of clamp to use was a 42mm type, as this fitted around the mounting bracket just nicely.
As my main training cleaves are Roe, I found that the semi circular part of the clamp would not tighten down enough on these cleaves. This was easily cured by grinding or cutting the 'tangs' off at the point of the dashed line (shown above). I don't think this will impair their use if larger species cleaves are used. When this set up is tightened on Roe cleaves it holds them absolutely secure when adjusted to the maximum thread on the 'U' clamp.
To make things even easier I use a 3/8 drive, 13mm 'deep' socket on an adapter to fit a cheap cordless drill, which is left set up on the bench just for the job of tightening/loosening the clamps when required. Its a job which now just takes seconds.
I found that I had two problems with this. The first being that sometimes the cleaves worked loose when using the shoes, and the second which was a bit more painful, was the cordless screwdriver often slipped out of the screw and into my hand!
My solution therefore was to use two automotive exhaust clamps on each shoe, as shown below.
I found the best size of clamp to use was a 42mm type, as this fitted around the mounting bracket just nicely.
As my main training cleaves are Roe, I found that the semi circular part of the clamp would not tighten down enough on these cleaves. This was easily cured by grinding or cutting the 'tangs' off at the point of the dashed line (shown above). I don't think this will impair their use if larger species cleaves are used. When this set up is tightened on Roe cleaves it holds them absolutely secure when adjusted to the maximum thread on the 'U' clamp.
To make things even easier I use a 3/8 drive, 13mm 'deep' socket on an adapter to fit a cheap cordless drill, which is left set up on the bench just for the job of tightening/loosening the clamps when required. Its a job which now just takes seconds.
Monday, 9 August 2010
HEIDI'S 1st WOODLAND TRACK
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
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
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Monday, 2 August 2010
Heidi's First Real Overnight Track!
Heidi is now 5 months old, and the weather now has turned a little cooler during both night and day, leading to to slighter damper air in the evening, right through to sun break. With this in mind I was keen to to see if Heidi could manage a proper overnight track. Not one from midnight through to 6.00am, but from being laid at 8.00pm, and following up at 8.00am the next day. So with a bit of reconnaissance a day or two before, making sure the ground was suitable, this is what we did.
We started off on the left hand side of a grassy track. Again I suited Heidi up with her tracking outfit 15 or 20m before the starting point. At this stage she now always becomes really excited, and know that its work time rather than just going for a walk. Mind you I'm sure my kit bag is a dead give away to her.
Well as we approached the starting point, she became very interested, and by the time I said 'track on', she was away. Now after a while she was going really well but for some reason, slightly to the right of where I had laid the line, but never the less she was following it. I'll point out here that the wind was from behind us, and the ground on this section was mainly short, dry grass. Something else to mention is that on a couple of occasions she suddenly stopped, went to the right a meter or two, had a sniff around and then got back on track. Thinking about this since I believe it could have been the strong smell of rabbits that frequent this path, and she was distracted by them, but only briefly.
Next up we came to a short, narrow path between two woods, which was pretty much just dry mud, and last night at this point I did drip just a bit more blood at this section, anyway she pulled through okay. This led us on to a strip of set aside, where there was a natural track to the right on the field edge, but I had laid the line around the middle, and thought that Heidi might be tempted take the natural option, but rather pleasingly she picked up and followed the correct path. For this whole section along the outside of the wood she went at a very slow and steady pace, sometimes stopping and even looking lost. This surprised me, as I thought this would have been the best section for her, as at this shady edge of the wood, the vegetation was quite dense, damp and lush, given the weather we have had. All I could do was be patient and quite, with the odd exception of telling her to' track on', when she stopped completely and looked at me. This seemed to re-focus her and she was able to continue. It was around this point the first video stops, but the track had a gentle turn to the right, which she picked up fairly easy considering the trouble she had been having along this section, turning into the corner of the wood, and then out again within a few meters by means of crossing a small, narrow footpath bridge.
Across this wooden bridge I noticed she seemed to be able to pick up the scent from the day before without any trouble. Once out into the field edge the other side the rest is pretty much history. Heidi just picked up the scent and went off, giving really good tension on the lead, all the way to a left hand turn which she had no trouble with, and then within a few meters, her find!
Conclusion:
If I had to give Heidi a rating for this track, I would say 65-70%. The middle section was really strange, and seemed more difficult for her than I imagined it would be. Maybe because the vegetation was so long here, the drips of blood did not get down to the ground where she was scenting? I think this because I distinctly remember getting blood on my trousers along this section, where I was walking through the long grass.
All in all though, 700m, 12hrs old track, 5 month old Bavarian-Team Heidi was very happy.
Age of track: 12hrs
Length of Track: Approx 700m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood. Fresh defrosted cleaves.
Amount of blood: 250ml (1/2 diluted with cleave juice).
Wind direction: From behind
Wind strength: 4-7 mph
Temp: 24ºC
Weather: Dry, very close, but just had a very, very light drizzle for about 5 mins
Time: 08.00am
Age of Dog: 4 1/2 months
We started off on the left hand side of a grassy track. Again I suited Heidi up with her tracking outfit 15 or 20m before the starting point. At this stage she now always becomes really excited, and know that its work time rather than just going for a walk. Mind you I'm sure my kit bag is a dead give away to her.
Well as we approached the starting point, she became very interested, and by the time I said 'track on', she was away. Now after a while she was going really well but for some reason, slightly to the right of where I had laid the line, but never the less she was following it. I'll point out here that the wind was from behind us, and the ground on this section was mainly short, dry grass. Something else to mention is that on a couple of occasions she suddenly stopped, went to the right a meter or two, had a sniff around and then got back on track. Thinking about this since I believe it could have been the strong smell of rabbits that frequent this path, and she was distracted by them, but only briefly.
Next up we came to a short, narrow path between two woods, which was pretty much just dry mud, and last night at this point I did drip just a bit more blood at this section, anyway she pulled through okay. This led us on to a strip of set aside, where there was a natural track to the right on the field edge, but I had laid the line around the middle, and thought that Heidi might be tempted take the natural option, but rather pleasingly she picked up and followed the correct path. For this whole section along the outside of the wood she went at a very slow and steady pace, sometimes stopping and even looking lost. This surprised me, as I thought this would have been the best section for her, as at this shady edge of the wood, the vegetation was quite dense, damp and lush, given the weather we have had. All I could do was be patient and quite, with the odd exception of telling her to' track on', when she stopped completely and looked at me. This seemed to re-focus her and she was able to continue. It was around this point the first video stops, but the track had a gentle turn to the right, which she picked up fairly easy considering the trouble she had been having along this section, turning into the corner of the wood, and then out again within a few meters by means of crossing a small, narrow footpath bridge.
Across this wooden bridge I noticed she seemed to be able to pick up the scent from the day before without any trouble. Once out into the field edge the other side the rest is pretty much history. Heidi just picked up the scent and went off, giving really good tension on the lead, all the way to a left hand turn which she had no trouble with, and then within a few meters, her find!
Conclusion:
If I had to give Heidi a rating for this track, I would say 65-70%. The middle section was really strange, and seemed more difficult for her than I imagined it would be. Maybe because the vegetation was so long here, the drips of blood did not get down to the ground where she was scenting? I think this because I distinctly remember getting blood on my trousers along this section, where I was walking through the long grass.
All in all though, 700m, 12hrs old track, 5 month old Bavarian-Team Heidi was very happy.
Age of track: 12hrs
Length of Track: Approx 700m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood. Fresh defrosted cleaves.
Amount of blood: 250ml (1/2 diluted with cleave juice).
Wind direction: From behind
Wind strength: 4-7 mph
Temp: 24ºC
Weather: Dry, very close, but just had a very, very light drizzle for about 5 mins
Time: 08.00am
Age of Dog: 4 1/2 months
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Trained To The Rifle
Well a couple of days ago we continued Heidi's training to the gun. She had got to the stage of being totally not bothered about the .22 rifle blanks fired directly overhead, so today we moved on.
I started by getting Mrs Y to play with Heidi in the garden, and fired a few more .22 blanks around her, just to make sure everything was still okay-no problem. I then took a 12 gauge shotgun to the end of the garden (about 70m away), and fired a shot-no reaction. I then continued by firing at an ever decreasing distance, until I was directly next to her, while she was being played with. Absolutely no problem. Next up was the .243 (moderated) with one shot about 25m away, and another next to her, still no reaction. Cracked it! This was a momentous occasion not to be forgotten and a relief to me as I want Heidi to be a true staking dog, and accompany me when out, not sit in the truck all the time.
I started by getting Mrs Y to play with Heidi in the garden, and fired a few more .22 blanks around her, just to make sure everything was still okay-no problem. I then took a 12 gauge shotgun to the end of the garden (about 70m away), and fired a shot-no reaction. I then continued by firing at an ever decreasing distance, until I was directly next to her, while she was being played with. Absolutely no problem. Next up was the .243 (moderated) with one shot about 25m away, and another next to her, still no reaction. Cracked it! This was a momentous occasion not to be forgotten and a relief to me as I want Heidi to be a true staking dog, and accompany me when out, not sit in the truck all the time.
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Heidi's 1st 500m, 7hrs old
Today I decided to lay a track on Ians field that had been cut about three weeks ago. As Heidi had been having a bit of trouble on tight turns I thought it would be a good idea to just stick to a square shape formation of track without too many turns, although most of her trouble seems to stem from the dry conditions we have been having, and the short vegetation in the areas of the tracks.
If I was to keep the turns to a minimum then I would have to add another challenge. This was by increasing the age of the track to seven hours, and the the distance to half a kilometre.
Things started well. I put Heidi's tracking kit on about 20m from the starting point, and as I led her to the area, she picked up the line with no problem, and I almost felt useless as I told her to 'track on'. We have used this field before, and it always seems to have been frequented by game of some sort, but never other dogs. As Heidi led the way all the leash was out, with good tension and her nose down. Then suddenly she stopped to sniff a specific spot for about ten seconds, which to my mind had no relevance to the line, then just as quickly carried on as before.
All went well until we approached the first left handed corner, when suddenly two rabbits bolted from the hedge on the left hand side, ran across in front of her, then dissapeared out of the field right in front of Heidi's path. This was a major distraction for Heidi, even though she has never been encouraged with rabbits, and never will be. Not that she ran after them, but was very curious and wanted to investigate the area where they had been. I stopped her on the leash and gave her a verbal sign of dissaproval. She thought about what she had just witnessed for a few seconds, and returned to the area of the line, whereupon after a bit of ringing, she got her nose down, dealt with the turn and continued on her way towards the next right turn. The way things were going I thought we were on for a record run!
Once we approached the turn, she got to 4 meters or so, and cut straight across the corner (above pic).
This would have been in accordance with the direction and strength of wind, so I thought this was pretty good going, and she took off up the field towards the next turn, with a good tight leash. Once at the turn, she went left instead of right, realised she was on to nothing, came back, picked up the scent, and started off at great gusto, only to stop after about 20m, turn round and come back towards me, having apparently no idea of where to go! After what seemed like an eternity of me just standing still and quiet, and her going backwards, forward, round and round, she got her nose down again and off we went.
This was on the home straight, no more turns as such, just a fairly straight line back towards the field gateway, and again it looked great with another tight leash.
However, we got to within several meters of her find, where I had gone off to the left at a slight angle to place her finish and Heidi slowed right down, and went off to the right! After her sniffing and looking around, she came back to me looking bewildered.
After scanning my eyes across the ground in front of us, I spotted the problem. Yep, those wretched thistles, Hiedi's worst enemy, had just started coming through, and I had not noticed them when I laid the track. As you can see from the pic above, she just sat down and refused to move forward, even with a gentle tug on the leash, she just dug her heels in. I ended up going up to her giving praise and encouragement whilst guiding through the small minefield of about 3m of the things.
Once through she almost dived on her find, as if to say 'I knew it was there, but its not worth the pain of the thistles'.
We then proceeded to have a great play with the skin, again trying to get her to speak at it by holding it above her and teasing her with it.
Age of track: 7hrs
Length of Track: Approx 500m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml (1/2 diluted with cleave juice).
Wind direction: From the right and ahead
Wind strength: 8-12 mph
Temp: 18ºC
Weather: Cloudy, rain previous night
Time: 06.00pm
Age of Dog: 4 1/2 months
If I was to keep the turns to a minimum then I would have to add another challenge. This was by increasing the age of the track to seven hours, and the the distance to half a kilometre.
Things started well. I put Heidi's tracking kit on about 20m from the starting point, and as I led her to the area, she picked up the line with no problem, and I almost felt useless as I told her to 'track on'. We have used this field before, and it always seems to have been frequented by game of some sort, but never other dogs. As Heidi led the way all the leash was out, with good tension and her nose down. Then suddenly she stopped to sniff a specific spot for about ten seconds, which to my mind had no relevance to the line, then just as quickly carried on as before.
All went well until we approached the first left handed corner, when suddenly two rabbits bolted from the hedge on the left hand side, ran across in front of her, then dissapeared out of the field right in front of Heidi's path. This was a major distraction for Heidi, even though she has never been encouraged with rabbits, and never will be. Not that she ran after them, but was very curious and wanted to investigate the area where they had been. I stopped her on the leash and gave her a verbal sign of dissaproval. She thought about what she had just witnessed for a few seconds, and returned to the area of the line, whereupon after a bit of ringing, she got her nose down, dealt with the turn and continued on her way towards the next right turn. The way things were going I thought we were on for a record run!
Once we approached the turn, she got to 4 meters or so, and cut straight across the corner (above pic).
This would have been in accordance with the direction and strength of wind, so I thought this was pretty good going, and she took off up the field towards the next turn, with a good tight leash. Once at the turn, she went left instead of right, realised she was on to nothing, came back, picked up the scent, and started off at great gusto, only to stop after about 20m, turn round and come back towards me, having apparently no idea of where to go! After what seemed like an eternity of me just standing still and quiet, and her going backwards, forward, round and round, she got her nose down again and off we went.
This was on the home straight, no more turns as such, just a fairly straight line back towards the field gateway, and again it looked great with another tight leash.
However, we got to within several meters of her find, where I had gone off to the left at a slight angle to place her finish and Heidi slowed right down, and went off to the right! After her sniffing and looking around, she came back to me looking bewildered.
After scanning my eyes across the ground in front of us, I spotted the problem. Yep, those wretched thistles, Hiedi's worst enemy, had just started coming through, and I had not noticed them when I laid the track. As you can see from the pic above, she just sat down and refused to move forward, even with a gentle tug on the leash, she just dug her heels in. I ended up going up to her giving praise and encouragement whilst guiding through the small minefield of about 3m of the things.
Once through she almost dived on her find, as if to say 'I knew it was there, but its not worth the pain of the thistles'.
We then proceeded to have a great play with the skin, again trying to get her to speak at it by holding it above her and teasing her with it.
Age of track: 7hrs
Length of Track: Approx 500m.
Type of track: Shoe and diluted blood.
Amount of blood: 250ml (1/2 diluted with cleave juice).
Wind direction: From the right and ahead
Wind strength: 8-12 mph
Temp: 18ºC
Weather: Cloudy, rain previous night
Time: 06.00pm
Age of Dog: 4 1/2 months
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Training Heidi To The Rifle
An important part of Heidi's training started a couple of weeks ago, and shall continue steadily until she becomes 100%. This of course is training her to the shot of the rifle.
I don't know if it is the Bavarian breed, but she has been great regards loud noise since day one. We did however make a point of banging and bashing around her from a tender age, this also included power tools and lawn mowers, and all of this seems to have stood her in good stead for this period of her training.
For the first part of the process I got the wife to play with Heidi at the far end of the garden, this was having a tug game with her, (Heidi's) favourite rope toy. I was then about 50m away, and with an old, worn out air rifle from my youth which I am lucky enough to have, I cocked it and fired it without a pellet in, up in the air. Whilst doing so observing Heidi's reaction, if any-there was none. So I continued repeating this process every couple of meters, until I was able to get right up to, and stand next to Heidi. She was not bothered in the slightest.
After a few days we went on to stage two. This was to repeat the same exercise as before, but use a .22 rimfire with blanks instead of live rounds, and with the sound moderator removed. I have to mention that before going on to the rimfire we had a quick refresher with the airgun, just to confirm all was okay, and that she was not bothered in any way.
Again starting from around 50m away, I was able to get up to and above Heidi, firing the blanks towards the wall of the house, so as to increase the sound as much as possible. Again Heidi didn't even batter an eyelid, and showed no signs of being worried.
My next step will be to use a 12 gauge shotgun from a distance, and then follow up with a .243 centrefire deer rifle. As things are at the moment I cannot see that there will be any problems, but won't rush things, and keep starting from a distance.
I don't know if it is the Bavarian breed, but she has been great regards loud noise since day one. We did however make a point of banging and bashing around her from a tender age, this also included power tools and lawn mowers, and all of this seems to have stood her in good stead for this period of her training.
For the first part of the process I got the wife to play with Heidi at the far end of the garden, this was having a tug game with her, (Heidi's) favourite rope toy. I was then about 50m away, and with an old, worn out air rifle from my youth which I am lucky enough to have, I cocked it and fired it without a pellet in, up in the air. Whilst doing so observing Heidi's reaction, if any-there was none. So I continued repeating this process every couple of meters, until I was able to get right up to, and stand next to Heidi. She was not bothered in the slightest.
After a few days we went on to stage two. This was to repeat the same exercise as before, but use a .22 rimfire with blanks instead of live rounds, and with the sound moderator removed. I have to mention that before going on to the rimfire we had a quick refresher with the airgun, just to confirm all was okay, and that she was not bothered in any way.Again starting from around 50m away, I was able to get up to and above Heidi, firing the blanks towards the wall of the house, so as to increase the sound as much as possible. Again Heidi didn't even batter an eyelid, and showed no signs of being worried.
My next step will be to use a 12 gauge shotgun from a distance, and then follow up with a .243 centrefire deer rifle. As things are at the moment I cannot see that there will be any problems, but won't rush things, and keep starting from a distance.
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