Quinn's Tracking Blog

Class has ended but exploring the wonderful world of tracking continues!  The Plan , such as it is: Quinn has qualified for a few things at the NASDA 'championship events' this fall so we will be working hard to prepare for those. I am planning to establish Mondays as regular tracking practice days (after our swim time at Paws to Swim, since they've kindly allowed us the use of their big field) and work in extra practice days as much as time and weather allow. After September, with nationals behind us, we'll focus specifically on tracking again for the winter. We both LOVED tracking class this year so participating again is definitely at the top of our list!  I hope that some of the things we're working on for NASDA (blind searches, Quinn's confidence, handler-letting-dog-figure-things-out, etc) will support us in tracking, even though the sports are not the same.  Anyway, as for today: Temperature: 57° F  Wind: SW 3 MPH, gusts to 14 MPH Humidity: 72% Overall: B...

RDOC Tracking Class for 2025-2026 was an adventure! After lots of cancellations due to weather, we had our last class meeting on Tuesday, 3/17.  True to form for this class, the weather was wild! Very strong wind always seems to distract Quinn so I was really proud of him for working as well as he did.  When I looked at the map that our fabulous track layer (Susan) gave me, I realized this track was about 40 minutes old. That was a first for Quinn so perhaps contributed to some of his distraction/uncertainty in this effort. Considered in a vacuum, it was not our strongest effort in class, but taking the conditions into account, I don't think it was as dire as I initially felt. We got there in the end, and learned some useful things along the way. Quinn was further hampered, as always, by his handler's bumbling with the line. I will keep working on it!  

Thursday was our best chance for tracking based on our schedule, so despite the weather, we went to Dorey Park to practice.  Weather conditions at beginning of session: Temperature: 48° F  Wind: N 12 MPH, gusts to 36 MPH Humidity: 86% Overall: Rapidly getting colder, rainy, VERY windy  Track 1: Laid 11:34 AM, Run 11:42 AM  In light of the bizarre weather and our first attempt on a longer line, I made a pretty simple track to start with: flag with article (sock) with food inside; scuff 10, W20FD10, repeat to R turn. Scuff 10 from the turn and repeat W20FD10 to the final article (glove) with food. Quinn had no trouble with this and we had a little celebration then walked back. There was trash blowing around before/during/after, so I picked up what I could. I was impressed with his focus on the track even though there were some empty food containers amidst the trash items near the track. He checked a few but did not really pause or indicate them so I let him keep going ...

Quinn's first multi turn track! Part 1:    Part 2:  Part 3:  

After class last week, I updated our track-laying pattern a bit, and focused on some turns and uneven terrain. In class we talked about knowing our dog's dominant side and Quinn is definitely right-handed, so today both of our turns were to the left.  That didn't seem to pose any challenge for him, though! He's such a good dog. Weather conditions: Temperature: 55° F  Wind: 0 MPH Humidity: 99% Overall: Sunny, warming up quickly  Track 1: Laid 9:56 AM, Run 10:04 AM  In keeping with our tracks from class, I set up as follows: start article with food inside at the flag. Scuff 10, walk 15 with food drop at 7. Repeat till the turn. I put a flag about 5 steps before the turn (usually I use landmarks but today I was trying to fit in as much as possible before it got any hotter so I used a 'warning' flag like we did in class. Hope that's okay?!)  I scuffed 10 after the turn then resumed the W15FD7 pattern, similar to our second class track from last week. I don't thi...

 Quinn was able to return to class on March 3rd and showed me that all my worries about what he would (and wouldn't) remember were entirely unfounded.  

Quinn has been tentatively cleared to start activities again so we are excited to be back to tracking! On Monday, I wanted to remind him what tracking is and make sure we were all-systems-go to return to class on Tuesday (3/3).  Usually I lay out all the tracks I want to do at the beginning, but since I wasn't sure how he was going to react (and how hard to push him), I laid one track at a time, got him out to run it, and then let him have a break in the car while I set the next one.  Weather conditions: Temperature: 39° F  Wind: NE 2 MPH Humidity: 69% Overall: Cloudy, cool Track 1: Laid 9:53 AM, Run 10:01 AM  Track 1 was very elementary, but it has been a while since we put the pieces together. I made a scent pad, scuffed (robustly!) 5, food drop, repeated for about 75 feet, article at the end was a glove. I was not sure he would remember what we were doing so I put an article at the start flag and had him lay down and think about it before asking him to track....