Are You….?

Apparently I’m feeling bloggy today😁.

Are you following one or two dogs (other than your own) in the journals? We strongly encourage you to do this! You will learn from watching dogs besides your own, and as importantly, you will see where others are training. Susan Kolster has a great video of tracking in some public space with rampant auto traffic right behind her. Awesome training! Emaline has video of taking her tracks across dirt roads—awesome training. Ellen has done roads, small buildings, fences. Andrea tracks at Meadow Farm—so farm animal smells and tons of contamination. More locations, more challenges, better trained dog. It’s that simple.

Here’s the thing….we want your dog’s TD test to be the easiest thing he’s ever done. We want so many cards in his Rolodex that he laughs at the challenges of a TD. You’ll get treat ideas of things to do, places to train from other’s blogs. And, it’s super helpful to follow a dog at your level as well as one further along. Today, when Fletch lost his mind, I consciously reminded myself that he and Evie were at the same level of training (they earned their TDs on the same day), and it helped me find the humor in his antics. It’s good for our mental health to see that our dogs are pretty much doing what everyone else’s is!

So go peruse the journals, pick someone who’s dog tracks like yours and is at about your level….and then pick another dog, not like yours, and perhaps more advanced. Follow their blogs. You will learn a ton, and be a better trainer and handler for it.