Fall sports

Fall is my second favorite season because it means that winter, and the potential for snow, will be here before you know it.  It is also my favorite time of the year for sports, both human and canine sports.  Football has begun (and so far the Steelers are 1-1), NASCAR is winding down (my favorite driver is coasting towards retirement and there isn't anyone in particular that I want to show an allegiance to), and this is the time of year when tracking picks up as well as the fall shows, obedience trials and agility trials.  For Swing we are dabbling in the show ring but I'm also putting her back on the tracking line with the goal of getting her certified before winter officially arrives.

Last week was the first time we had been out in the field since May and I didn't start off where we left off but rather pushed forward.  What I learned from the first dog that I tracked was that you shouldn't spend too much time on a step when your dog is catching on to what you want them to do.  With the Weims I noticed that they can be pushed quickly in the early stages and once they pick up the idea of working turns, distance and age can be worked on almost immediately.  Since Swing when from a double laid track with the track layer standing at the end of the track to a single laid track with the track layer following us in 3 sessions, I felt confident that once she figured out how to do a turn, adding more than one to a track should be fairly simple.  She did not disappoint me, last week I put in a "U" track and she ran it almost perfectly (she had a little problem working against the grain of the field, but I was patient and let her figure it out).  I also used her track to have a cross track for Dodge to work through, one advantage to having two dogs tracking.

Since the weather put a damper on agility training this evening, I promised myself that I'd get the duo out in to the field again.  This time the U track had two left turns (last week it was two right turns) and she did much better going against the grain (I put two of the three legs against the grain of the field).  My objective is to do one or two more U's and then I'll get her back on a long straight track that I will begin to add some age to.  If I can get her out at least once a week I should be on schedule to set up a certification track by late October/early November.

For those of you that do not participate in tracking, in order for your dog to be eligible to enter a tracking test, you have to have a judge "certify" that the dog can track.  It is the one sport where the dog must show that it has the ability to do the job before it can enter a test.  This only has to be done once (unless you can not get in to a test within a year of being certified) for each dog and only to get their TD (Tracking Dog).  The certificate is good for you a year and you enclose it with your entry to a tracking test.  I prefer to track when it is quite cool/chilly out.  I've been known to be out in 20 degrees with a good wind going.  So you can see why Fall and Winter are my favorite seasons.

Stay tuned, I'll see if I can get some pictures of the little girl on a track.  She still has a ways to go but what I'm seeing looks very promising.  And as for the conformation ring, she is still looking pretty immature compared to some of the bitches that are out there.  Amy thinks she's just going to be a slow maturer (and I'm sure Ella and Milo are in the same boat) that may not fill out until she is closer to 2 years of age.  We'll enter some outdoor shows but we are not going to go at it like gangbusters.  I can spend that entry fee a lot more wisely on matches and other training.

Swimming in Lake Redmond

Saturday we went for a swim with the GraytSky family.  Amy and Michael wanted to get Fala, now 19 weeks old, in the water again after a successful intro at an indoor doggie pool.  I'm toting around Ziva, my friend's welsh springer spaniel, so I wanted to see how she would do, as well as Swing who's been in my friends pool a few times.  Dodge has been in water but I wanted to get him doing some more retrieving.  We had dogs at all levels, Beau was still tentative at first (but quickly came around) while the others were either willing or bold.  The area we chose to get the dogs in the water was knee deep until you got about 10 feet from the bank.  It then became thigh deep and since neither Michael, Howard or I were wearing swim suits we didn't bother venturing out much farther than that.  I am sure it was closer to chest deep when you got 20 feet out since we were throwing bumpers that far for Dodge and he was swimming to get them.  Anyway, the following shots will tell the story better than words...

In case it isn't obvious, the little red and white one is Ziva and she and Swing have been having a blast together.  I'm sure they will enjoy seeing each other again after Ziva goes home at the end of the week.

Fall show season will be starting very soon and we are kicking it off next weekend by going to a match where Fala will make his ring debut.  We will also be joined by another GraytSky bred dog, Buzz from MD.  So far the weather is favorable but who knows what it will be like 6 days from now.  I know that sister Ella will be showing soon and hopefully Ann will let us know how she does (oh, Swing is entered at a show on the 15th so the match is a warm up for her).

Puppy sitting is taking up a lot of our time right now so training has been limited to doodling in the house.  And on this Labor Day we are doing some doodling and watching marathons of NCIS and Rizzoli and Ives.  What else should you do on a dreary/rainy day?  Other than housework that is!