Tracking in an undeveloped field of a business park 4-5-09
(includes video link)
When you're starting out with tracking, you don't need tons of room. I drove up to a business park and tracked Jethro and Loretta in an undeveloped field that has not yet been mown.
When I arrived, I found one end of the parking lot was full - with a group racing their radio controlled cars. They had a little track set up, and were obviously quite organized with different races, etc. Though they are hidden by the trees in this photo, there were lots of canopies (like the ones we all use at dog shows) set up with what looked like each racer's complete repair/rebuild equipment. I'm sure there must be a regular circuit for their races just like our dog shows, agility trials, obedience events, etc.
So, with the racing on our left, a motel straight ahead, and a movie theater complex on our right, the road to the Sonoma County Airport behind us - we did a little bit of tracking.
Both dogs worked tracks that were 100 yards in length, one turn.
As the dogs progress, this field will be too small. It *might* fit a regulation TD track - just barely. But it's just right for what we are doing right now - and a perfect place for me to also be able to practice with my Terv, Ethan on a track all on asphalt.
Jethro's track was almost a mirror image of Loretta's, but not quite. His was about 80 yards (with some food "drops") along the way, to a right angle turn to the right for about 25 yards (with more food "drops") also to a sock that had a nugget of Primal raw food inside.
If you look carefully at this picture, you'll see that one of the men from the races was out in the field (almost directly in line with Jethro's corner). He had taken his Cattle Dog out in the field for a bit, but went back to his set up before Jethro ran the track.
There are fewer still photos of Jethro working his track because I video taped him while I was handling. Again, I would yell at any of my students who tried this stunt. Actually, I had tried to video Loretta, but had put my camera on the wrong setting. It's not good handling and some little errors that he made along the way could have been prevented by proper line handling. But it's not going to ruin them, so I thought it would be fun to see what I could get.