Swing's track, the action shots

One of the volunteers at last weekends tracking test followed along and took these pictures of Swing and I on her track.  There was a slight breeze that morning but you could not have asked for a more beautiful setting.  Enjoy!

 Working between the start flag and the 2nd directional flag

 Judges are on the move, always a good sign!

 Just completed the first turn and working on the second leg

 Completed the second turn

 Third turn complete, working the 4th straight section

Turn four done!  Now in the home stretch!

She got it!  Showing the glove to all.

It's not enough for the dog to find the glove, you have to raise it up so that the judges can see that you have it.  Swing surprised me by actually picking the glove up to show ME that she had found it.  I was then able to go up to her and pick it up for everyone else to see.  Thank you to Lee for sending these shots to me.  And thank you to the Golden Triangle Obedience Training Club for putting on the tracking test.  Tracking season is not very long and we were fortunate to get in to two of them early in the season.  Next up is the TDX, a bit harder to get in to since clubs offer fewer tracks per test.  And I'll have two of them to work with!

That first title (and the miles we drove to get there)...

Saturday afternoon, after showing Swing in breed in the morning, the crew and I hit the road for Mingo Creek Park outside of Washington, PA.  While zipping along I-99 in Blair county I ran through a rain storm which produced some of the most brilliant rainbows I had seen in a long time.  At one point there was a double rainbow, something I feel is very lucky to witness.  The shot I took from inside the van isn't of the double one but hopefully you get the idea of how pretty it was (and how beautiful the sky that I was driving towards was).  I wish I had actually pulled over earlier because the colors were so intense on a super dark sky.  But I was on a mission, I had 150 miles to put behind me after I had already driven 180 miles round trip that morning.

Sunday was a gorgeous day in Western Pennsylvania, perfect for a tracking test.  Crisp and chilly early in the morning, a nice dew on the ground to hold the scent, and gorgeous fields to have a tracking test in.  The headquarters were in Mingo Creek Park which is between Washington and Charleroi (my old stomping grounds as they say) off or I-70.  The TD tracks were held at a farm right off of Rt. 136, grounds that are almost identical to the farm where we've done most of our tracking (and other than the huge hills, the park grounds are a lot like the farm as well).  Because Swing was just coming out of heat, myself along with the Secretary/Chair and judges opted to have her run the last "T" track which was Track 3.  None of us wanted to take a chance of her "interfering" with any of the other dogs at the test.

Track 1 was run by a lovely yellow lab bitch who had little issue completing the track and finding the glove.  I think she hesitated on only one of the turns.  Her owner had driven in from Cleveland to be in the test.  Track 2 was the clumber's track and unfortunately he went the wrong way at turn 2 and had to be whistled off the track.  I talked to his owner, from Cresson (and an exhibitor I have seen at agility trials), and she said his start was very shakey and he just didn't seem to be working like he normally works.  She should be in a test this coming weekend and I hope they pass as he is a nice working dog.

Track 3, the "chair" track.  If you see the track on paper it looks like a chair.  The first leg was very long, something that is good for Swing, then there was a left turn (her strong side), another left, a right and then one more left before a nice straight leg to the glove.  I had been concentrating on her starts since Nationals since she had not been strong between the flags (she would do a lot of casting and she didn't seem to pull in the harness until she passed that second flag).  Well she lunged forward when I hooked up the harness and other than one quick stop to shake, she was off to the races.  She performed the first turn quite well even though I had to untangle her from the tracking line (she hesitated and did a bit of casting about 10 yards before the turn and I couldn't get the line out of her way), the second one came up on us pretty fast and she did a good job with it.  Turn 3 was the right turn and there was very little hesitation on her part and then turn 4 where she pulled me along at a good clip to the glove.  I believe she gave me a good yank on turns 3 and 4.  What really pleased me was the fact that she stopped and picked up the glove to show it to me!  Normally she nose it and steps on it but yesterday she was determined to let me know that she had it!  I raised the flag for the judges to see and Swing leaped up at it and me in celebration.

The cool thing about getting in to and passing at this test was that our friend and judge Sandy was there to congratulate us.  While I started Swing using the method she taught me years ago, Sandy helped me work through the slow start issue that I felt needed addressed, and she's always enjoyed my Weims (Dodge is  her favorite, surprise surprise) so getting the title under her is extra special.

Now that I have two with TD's I'm ready to start gearing them both up for TDX's.

Swing, TD

Feral cats, raccoons and Milo the surfing dog

Milo and I are in Florida visiting my parents.  My parents are very old and fragile.  Milo is young and very active.  What I have noticed is that he treats them very differently than he does other people.  He is careful not to jump on them or bump into them.  It always amazes me what dogs instinctively understand.  Milo and my dad have bonded.   Dad’s hands shake and when he eats he tends to drop food.  Milo, who is never fed people food, has decided that the best place for him during lunch and dinner is with his head on my dad’s lap.  Milo polices the area to make sure it is clean of all dropped food. 

Mom feeds feral cats; consequently they are always around the house.   When I take him for a walk Milo, has made several attempts to pull my arm off to get at the cats.  The cats,  the wood storks and raccoons that my parents also feed keep Milo busy patrolling the parameter of the house. 

Not far from where we are, there is a dog park attached to a beach.  Dogs are allowed on this part of the beach and Milo and I have been visiting to go swimming.  Yesterday the waves were quite high.  We are on the gulf coast so there are no really big waves; quite high is about 2 to 3 foot waves.  This was a new one for Milo.  But when a ball is thrown, it must be retrieved.  He got use to the waves and actually learned to body surf.  I had never seen a dog do this.  When Milo felt a wave lift him he started swimming and rode the wave into shore.  He did this several times and seemed to be really enjoying himself.  

Milo is continuing with his obedience training. He is almost ready to show in novice.  His big failing is stand for examination.  He understands what he is supposed to do, but when the judge comes up to examine him, he melts in a pool of dog happiness, wiggles and greets the judge, thus blowing the examination.  We are working on this and he is getting better. 

We are also working on agility.  The instructor says that Milo is doing great, but that I am making lots of mistakes and really need more work.  I have never done agility before, so I am figuring it out as I go.  Can anyone recommend a place where I can go to pick up some pointers?  Milo loves agility, but we are just not getting enough practice time.  Our class has about 15 dogs in it and that means very little time working each week. 

Attached is a picture of Milo, relaxing on the couch after a hard afternoon of swimming and patrolling for cats, raccoons and wood storks. 

I'm not sure why the picture is sideways, I hope everyone can see how comfy he looks ln the nice leather couch!  Thanks for the update Art, looking forward to hearing more from you and Milo.