We had some fun last week.  Winston is getting pretty good at closing drawers and cabinets.  Sometimes when I get toothpaste out of a drawer in the bathroom, Winston will come up behind me and shut it before I can.  We decided to shoot a little video of Winston showing his talent and it turned out pretty good (or so we think).

Winston working a deer track

Saturday we decided to get serious about Winston's tracking.  He successfully found 6 deer this year, two of which would have never been found without him.  However, Winston's method of tracking isn't the way I want him to track.  Instead of finding the deer's path, Winston found it easier to cast downwind in the direction I sent him and he would work an area until he smelled the actual deer.  Then he would follow his nose to the deer.  In the picture above, he's looking for one of our deer.

I guess bird dogs work in a similar fashion working an area when sent by the hunter until they find a bird.   This technique will work as long as he gets close enough to the deer.  I'd rather he would follow the  actual deer trail.  Oh well, the end is the same ... unless you are going for a TD title.

The AKC Tracking Dog (TD) title requires your dog to work a 30 min to 2 hour old track with 3 to 5 turns over a 440 to 500 yard distance.  It is a pass/fail exam.   Before your dog can take the exam, he must be certified by a judge that your dog can pass the test.  Once you are certified, you must then get drawn in an event to run your dog.  If you think about it, tracking trials are both land and labor intensive.  Only one dog can run one track per day and the tracks must be carefully laid.  2 judges must follow you and your dog across the course.  Therefore, much land is needed and several judges/support crew for each event.  Few dogs can run, so a lottery is required.

Winston works the track

 Last weekend we tried Winston on 3 tracks.  I made the first track before lunch and it was about 300 yrds long.  I went home, ate lunch and then we went back to the track area and Kelli handled Winston around the track which was now 45 minutes old.

Winston comes across a marker that makes my track visible to nose challenged handlers

 Winston was spot on and didn't need any help as he worked 5 turns and finally located the lost glove.

Winston finds the lost glove!

 For the second and third track, we took Winston to the local equestrian center.  This was a new area for Winston and I set a 400 yard track that we aged only 10 minutes.  I expected Winston to knock out such a fresh track in record time.  He performed terribly!  He was distracted by people, cars, horses, tarps and barrels.  Kelli had to repeatedly show Winston where the track was and encourage him again and again to follow it.  So much for slam dunking this TD title.

We tried yet a third track and this time Winston settled down and ran the fresh track with ease.  What I learned is that we have a lot of training to do to make sure Winston is dependable.

Post track debriefing meeting

Here I discuss the 3 tracks with Winston and point out his errors and our errors.  He seems to be listening.

Well, all work and no play is boring so we played for a while.  Here Kelli gives Winston a treat for his 'stack'.