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.

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.

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.

Vital Statistics at Nearly Six Months

Weight: 20Kg
Height: 16" / 41cm

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.

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.

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