Holy 🐮 was this hard

You liked the last one….so try this!

https://youtu.be/hosBTlvPNRc?si=12plgWVpU4p-bVhD

Nice start!  So my first thought is, “3hr, 20min, ok.  He’s a little wobbly on the first leg—not bad, but not what I consider our normal. At 52 seconds he stops for a food drop, and doesn’t immediately refind the track.  Huh.  At 1:05 he weakly casts off, again, not the behavior I am used too.  And again, I think, “huh.”  1.25…he takes the leg, but doesn’t hang onto it when I give line.  He gives the direction of the track, but isn’t on it.  I make a decision to wait for accuracy, that’s my priority most of the time.  At 1.57 he tries straight ahead…and says no. I praise him for giving it up.  I WANT him to know to give up dead ends.  Not sure you can tell, but by 2.08, I have turned in the direction of the next leg.  I’m not yet taking steps to help him, but I am turning to assist him. At 2.15 I give him a LOT of line…and he comes up and corrects to the track.  Whew.

From the point where he enters the rough field on, it’s an exercise in reading my dog.  This is the ultimate in teamwork.  Profile?  I’m going to wait.  If I see the dog I know is tracking, I take a few steps, even if I know he’s not quite correct.  And he rewards me by repetitively, over and over again, coming back to the track and giving a clear indication.  I think we were both happy to find the article!  And, after it, the same erratic tracking.  4.19: I have no idea why this is so hard..BUT, he is clearly saying “nope, not here.”  If I had ‘happy feet’ (you know who you are!), I’d be making excuses and moving out after him. But I don’t….I’m going to let him work this out.  TRUST YOUR DOG.  THE DOG IS THE ONE WITH THE NOSE.  IF YOU INSTALL THE FUNDAMENTALS, THE REST WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF.

5.24.  What an amazing turn.  For all he’s had to work through…when the track moved, he clearly said so.  This is what trust is all about. Because I KNEW where the track was, I could be chill and let him show me how brilliant he is.  Truth-that gave me chills.

The next leg is all about trusting your dog vs micromanaging you dog.  Yup, he’s off some, proven by the missed article.  But holy cow is he working!!!  So I’m going to thread the needle between letting him work, and keeping him within range of track recovery.  And yes, he missed an article, and I stood quietly, played line, limited options, and he came back.  I KNEW he needed to find this article to feel confident.  And I sure as hell wasn’t going to undermine his confidence by telling him he made a mistake.

At 7.18 I think he’s looking for a food drop. Didn’t find it and went on.  At 7.27….do you see how much line I’m giving him to look?  I have no idea, zero, why this is so hard.  what I do know is that he hasn’t lifted his leg once—he has never given me reason to think his brain is somewhere else.  So, TRUST YOUR DOG.  Give him the tools to solve the problem, not randomly, but because he has clearly told me he is working on it.  And, rescenting.  It’s possible? He went back to somewhere the scent was clear to him….rescented himself, because he clearly went back to work afterwards.  We saw the GSD at the VST test rescent himself—it was equally clear.  I can honestly say I’ve never noticed that before, and now I am looking.  WAY to early to draw conclusions, but it certainly has me thinking.  Are they so smart they can go back to where the desired scent was obvious to them, rescent themselves, and then go back to work?  Jury is still out……

7.54. Another nice LOS.  And a great head snap at 8.04.  And if there is ANYTHING you take away from this video, please let it be recognizing that I stop the instant he shows me anything except tracking…and showing me his side (circling) is 100% a stop cue for me.  It is my job to listen to what he is telling me…..

9.17.  Can you see the clear indication? He doesn’t take it…but goes in that general direction.  I make an instantaneous decision to follow him.  And he corrects back and finds the glove.  And fails to down.  Damn it.

Do you guys remember me talking (recently) about Dr Hall’s work on different substances (different plants, or different dirt, whatever), being different as defined as the dog’s ability to identity scent in/on/around them?  I was thinking about that the entire time I was following him. Maybe there were patterns? Not sure.  Here’s what I do know, for sure.  He was working.  It was hard for him. He kept working, and clearly indicated when he found it.  He couldn’t hold on to it.  But he kept trying to find it again. He never stopped working, despite tons of failure.  That is a resilient animal.  Turn the volume on….I NEVER told him he was wrong.  I never corrected him with the line.  I trusted him.

Not worth mentioning, but good for stories. For the last 3 nights Clint and i have laid in bed and listened to the foxes finding their mates (mid January is peak mating season).  We’ve seen foxes in the agility field, in the front yard, and heard them everywhere. For hours on end.  There is a den along the side of this field.  And nope, that’s not my story.  My story is, this was hard.  It’s up to me to make it easy. Oh yeah, and my BIL was burning his trash/wood/brush pile about 25 yards from the start of this track.

TDX tracks are OFTEN in fields like this. It’s not all hayfields!!! Make sure your dog is exposed to as many different types of cover as possible. And NO, this field is not open for people to use. I didn’t get shot, I can’t promise that for you. I’m serious.

Training comment: If you think you need to use corrections to teach a dog resilience, please watch this video again.   

Question:  If you were me, what would your next 3 tracks look like?