One evening, I get a call from my grandmother. "Hello?" I asked. "Hey, Jill!" she said. "So, I heard that there's a tracking test at your elementary school, this Saturday." Even though I knew she couldn't see me, I nodded excitedly. 'What kind of test is it?" I asked. "It's a certification test," she answered. I frowned. "Rudi is already certified," I pointed out. "I know," she said. "But, it could really add to your experience if you title two dogs. It's really a great accomplishment. I was wondering if you wanted to title Cork this weekend." My eyes lit up. "I would love to!" I squealed. "Okay. Ask your mom if you can come this Saturday." "Okay! I love you!" "I love you too! Bye!" "Bye!" I raced to my mom's bedroom. She agreed with my grandma on the fact that it would be good for me to title two dogs. So she let me go. The week flew by and soon Saturday was finally here." I spent the night with my grandmother the night before. We discussed the terrain and what might happen on the track. We went to bed early because we had to get an early start the next morning. When I got up, Cork was already dressed in his red harness and in the car. I got ready quickly. We drove to Wendy's for breakfast so we could both get oatmeal bars. We drove to my elementary school then. We were the only ones at the test, so we went ahead and got started soon after we got there. Cork is really different to read than Rudi. He's a small beagle, so that affected the speed and weight that I worked with. He also doesn't hesitate and works really fast. He's a real power house for such a small dog. The first two legs went great. Very few mistakes, and the ones we made were not very large and couldn't prevent us from passing. Then we got to the end of the second leg. I saw some poop from what looked like a rabbit and pulled cork away from it. He kept pulling me toward it, and I kept resisting. After a little while, the judge stopped me and told me that I had failed the test; the only and first test I had ever failed. The leg apparently went that way, and I didn't trust Cork. He was trying to pull me in the right direction all along. I was so disappointed in myself. It wasn't even my dog. I had ruined this for my grandmother and Cork. I went home and carried on with my day. My mom kept telling me, "You can't win 'em all," went I got upset. Then, later that night, I got a call from my grandmother, that fixed everything. Apparently, since we were two different people, they let Cork go again, with my grandmother tracking him. They had passed! I didn't get to title two dogs that day, but I didn't care. Cork and my grandmother got Cork certified, and I couldn't be happier. He could now start entering tracking tests, and become the great tracking dog he was today.
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"Okay. Now, do you have anything in your car of your's? Like a sock, or something?" I asked him. "I can go check," he said. He took off towards the car, and came back with a small pink jacket. "It's my little sister's," he said. "Will it work?" I thought it over. "Yes, just put it under your shirt to get your scent on it. Even if we don't get a lot on it, families share a common scent component, so it will still smell a little like you," I said, patting him on the back. "It'll be fine." It wasn't long before Tyler was hidden behind the building, and Dessi was dressed in her harness, ready to go. My grandmother handed me the line. "You want to track Dessi?" I asked. I had never tracked her before. "You were wondering what it would be like to track a dog other than Rudi, so go ahead," she said. I took the line. Dessi sprinted down the track, me struggling to keep up. I was soon running. She had absolutely no chill, unlike Rudi, pulled harder than he did, and wasn't as controlled as he was. We went behind the building, Dessi pausing for a second and looking up at Tyler before barking triumphantly and licking him. "It looks like Dessi made a new friend!" I giggled. We went to the other side of the park to see a little toddler walking up to Dessi. "Is this your kid?" my grandmother asked a young woman a few yards away. "Yes, thank you. She's a curious little thing," she replied. "Well, just make sure you watch your kid and make sure she knows the fog before she goes to pet it." A couple of her siblings asked if they could pet Dessi and what we were doing. We let them pet her as we explained how scent works. I talked to the first student while the other student worked her dog. She and her dogs were new to tracking, so they had a really easy track. We decided to do a split trail with Gosh next so she could work with child scent. That's where you have a few people walk the track and slowly split off, so you know the dog can follow the right scent. I pulled some hairs from my head and my grandmother put them in a plastic bag to let the dog smell it. The we walked the track. Gosh got a little off and went to follow my grandmother's trail, probably because we're family and we smell the same, but eventually made it back to the track. She stayed a little bit away from the footstep, and didn't make that clean of a corner, but she found me. I reward her with a piece of chicken from my jacket pocket. I'd say we had a pretty fun and very successful day. Rudi did good on his track. Both Gosh and Dessi got exposed to child scent. We even taught some kids about how scent works! I got to see a beginner at work. I got to see a skilled dog at work. I was very satisfied with how it turned out. (2017, January 11). Giant Schnauzer. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Schnauzer http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/03/11/istock-4306066-baby_custom-aee07650b312c1f240125b669c2aa92a7d36e73b-s900-c85.jpg
My mom wasn't off work yet after we tracked, so we decided to do some obedience, which is where you command your dog to do something, like sit or laying down, and see if they do it. If they do it, you reward them with praise or food. If they don't they just don't get treat or praise. Well anyways, we went to the other side of the park to train. Then, all of a sudden, kids just ran out and distracted Rudi. We didn't want to risk Rudi freaking out, so we packed him up in the car and plotted a track for one of my grandmother's student's coming. Then one of the students arrived. Her dog's name was Gosh, a Giant Schnauzer. Very cute and so talented. She would make very clean corners, lay down on an article immediately, and pee on the track to she could lead her handler back if they got lost. I was honestly a little jealous, because I had to command Rudi to lay down on the articles and Gosh just did it on her own. Rudi, even though he always follows back tracks, has no way of marking check points to come back to and re-scent. We just have to work together to find it. Gosh's handler got lucky to have such a good tracking dog! We were also planning on tracking Dessi with child scent, because she had never tracked with child scent before. Child/teenager scent is more dense than adult scent, which kind of means it's very strong and while contained in a trail, it presses against it, not going anywhere, making the scent very strong. This is because dogs can smell hormones, and because children and teenagers are still growing their hormones are crazy. Teenagers and pre-teens produce the strongest scent because of this. The hormone thing also relates back to the theory that dogs can smell fear. Because different hormones can control different emotions, they have different scents! So, when you think about it, dogs can actually smell feelings! How cool is that?! So, anyways, we were going to train Dessi to work with child scent and see how she would react to it. The kids that ran out in front of us earlier, asked if they could watch, and if we were getting the "big dog" out. I told them that they could, and that we were just tracking a little beagle puppy. I told my grandmother this, and she told me to deliver a message to them. "Excuse me, ma'am," I said, tapping the mom on the shoulder. "I was wondering if one of your kids would like to track lay for the beagle puppy we're about to track." The kids started saying, "Mama! I want to do it! Pick me!" to their mom. She said, "Here, Tyler can do it, because he's the oldest." The little kids sighed and complained, but stayed in the car to watch. I took Tyler by the wrist and I said, "Okay, here's what you're going to do. I want you to take off toward that building and hide behind it. You got it?" I asked. He nodded. Lombrozo T. (2013, March 11). Is Having A Child a Rational Decision?. Retrieved from http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/03/11/istock-4306066-baby_custom-aee07650b312c1f240125b669c2aa92a7d36e73b-s900-c85.jpg Over spring break, I went with my grandmother to go tracking. We hadn't tracked in a while, so we figured we needed to go soon, and Spring Break was the best time to do it.
I got up at nine and got ready. Me and my grandmother drove to city park with her new beagle puppy, Dessi. My grandmother got out of the car and started plotting the track. We did what we call a blind track, where the handler doesn't know where the track goes. When my grandmother got back, she said, "I think I know what causes the scent to be pushed out!" I was surprised and curious, because we didn't know what causes scent to move the way it does. She pulled up a picture on her phone. It was of discoloration in the mud by a fence. It made the same pattern as the fence. "It's the wind!" She said. I understood immediately. The wind was what made the scent blow out, and it would've gone through the same path as the sunlight did. That's why it was on the ground away from the fence. I started applying this concept to other things. Like tracking in forests, for example. The tree's coverage wouldn't let the wind interfere as much, letting the scent spread out and take a wider path. Close to the ground, the tree's trunks are all different sizes and shapes, causing the wind to spread the scent out oddly. Every forest would be different to track in. It's really cool to think about. We had finally found out what causes scent to be this way. In one of my future blog post, if I can discuss all the things I wrote about in my first blog post with my grandmother, I would like to make one about the science of scent, using this new philosophy. Anyways, I got out of the car to track Rudi. Poor Dessi was whinnying. You may be wondering, why do all these dogs have odd names? Every dog has a tracking name based on their real name, with some meaning behind it. Rudi's is "Rudi von Henderhoss," because von Henderhoss is a German name, and Rudi's a German Shepherd. Dessi's real name is Destiny, (we just call her Dessi), and I helped my grandmother come up with her tracking name. It is "A Fortunate Does of Karma," which is our own definition of the word "destiny." We named her Destiny because she wasn't the dog my grandmother was planning to get, but it was love at first sight, like destiny. Cork's mother had to have a c-section, because he was stuck in her uterus. So, they named him Cork, with a tracking name of "Pebble Mist, Message in a Bottle." I went to the start flag, and told Rudi to lay down on the first article. I praised him and we walked on the hill. He was right on track for a little while, until gravity pulled the scent down the hill. Then he went off the hill, and eventually found the track again. He stayed on track when we went to the woods line too. When we went into the woods, and thought about the wind and the scent in forests, I realized how much I trusted him to lead me on the right scent path, and what a good tracking dog he was. We continued along the track, and soon came to a huge rain puddle. Since water draws the dogs in, we expected Rudi to drift off the footstep, but he kept going. We followed it on a hill, until he overshot a corner that went down the hill. He searched for it, but soon we went back to where he started and found it. A long leg later, he finished the track by laying down on a final glove. He was so good! I was very proud. I decided to take a break from tracking this week and post my young author's. Colors By: Jillian McGauley Red Red. Fiery, whipping, merciless, Shattering all its path of destruction. Dripping dark pride. Red. Unforgiving, unpredictable, indestructible, Standing strong against all odds. Drawing you in. Red. Frightening, glowing, glorious, Out of control. A stream of regret. Red. Beautiful, dominant, untouchable, It’s so close. Yet always out of reach. Red. Romantic, blushing, ablaze. Intoxicating and bittersweet. Lust opposed to love. Orange Citrus and sunshine, Candles ablaze. Inviting you in, To it’s soft, warm embrace. Carrots and pumpkins, Fish in the sea. Smiling up, Spreading sheer glee. Fall leaves and melons, Copper and brass. Golden and shining, With special class. Marigolds and honey, Amber and bronze. Sweet and juicy, Bright, glowing dawns. Kittens and candy, Ginger and spice. Anything orange, Is everything nice. Yellow Ducks in water swimming. Golden canaries singing. Yellow’s in the air. Sweet butterscotch candy. Butter and honey spreading. Yellow’s in the air. Beautiful shining stars. Tall sunflowers and daffodils. Yellow’s in the air. Delightful lemonade. Happy bumblebees buzzing. Yellow’s in the air. Yellow: pale, old gold. This is the color of joy. Joy is in the air. Green Green is sick yet healthy. Green is soft yet stealthy. Green is poor yet wealthy. Green is light yet hefty. Green is pure yet filthy. Green is short yet lengthy. There is so little of it, yet plenty. There’s sickly green and fresh, clean green. There’s soft mint and strong neon green. Cheap, olive green, and rich, emerald green. Light, soft green and heavy, dark green. There’s pure, classic green and darker shades of green. Green life lasts long, but so short does it seem. Oh, dear green, what do you mean? Blue Blue is the color of the sky. The kingdom where the butterflies fly. A kingdom, filled with who knows what? The heavens that hosts God’s hut. Blue is the kingdom that sits so high. Blue is the color of the sea, Shining and shimmering, beautiful is she. The alluring realm, divided in four. But many don’t get past the shore. Blue is the realm we shall never see. Blue is the color of sapphires, Something that radiates fresh desire. Wisdom, virtue, and serenity, Faith, good fortune, sincerity. Blue is the domain we can only admire. Blue is something that only perceives you. The sky, the sea, and sapphires too. Blue has something to teach, We love it so, but it is out of reach. Maybe that’s why they call sadness blue. Indigo I am the color nobody knows. The color of night, I come and go. I am brief, and small, and rare, Though I am nearly everywhere. I’m seen in the milky way, I am the evening that makes the day. I’m the shadows that make the light, Without the dark, stars wouldn’t shine so bright. I am the dusk before the dawn, The time of day you rest and yawn. I’m the bad before the good, I’m the place where you once stood. The time that people laugh and sigh, The most cheerful hellos and the hardest goodbyes. Deep confessions after midnight. The smiles shared in the midst of twilight. The time you rest your weary head, The time that you head off to bed, As well as the time when you dream, Things aren’t always as bad as they seem. I’m not red, orange, or green, Nor yellow, nor blue, nor anything keen, When you see me next, I hope you grow, I’m none other than Indigo. Violet Violet is majestic, Violet is royal, Violet is the ruler. Violet is mysterious, Violet is demanding, Violet is the secret you long to know. Violet is the sunrise, Violet is the sunset, Violet is the beginning and the end. Violet is the lightning, Violet is the lavender, Violet is beautiful, yet frightening. Violet is peaceful, Violet is striking, Violet is the unexpected. Violet is love, Violet is war, Violet is everything you want, everything you yearn for, and everything you don’t. In my first blog post, I told you what a TD was: a simple tracking test. But my TD, wasn't as simple as I thought it would be.
After lunch on a Friday in the fourth grade, I was checked out of school by my grandmother to go to the Basset Hound TD Test. I was the only Junior Tracker there, a tracker under age 18, and the only tracker in the event without a Basset Hound. It was a six hour trip, but we finally made it to Sullivan, Missouri. We checked into our hotel, and got ready for bed. We put Rudi, and my grandmother's Beagle puppy, Cork, in their crates. Cork was just a puppy at the time, and my grandmother refused to leave him at home. Rudi barked at the footsteps in the hallway outside the door, while Cork wasn't as fazed. My grandmother and I looked at pictures of Rudi when he was a puppy before drifting off to bed. We woke up early the next morning to make it to the drawings. The drawings give you the order that you, and the other people tracking that day, would track in. It was considered good luck if you drew number one, the first track of the day. It was unlikely I would draw it, because I was the only tracker with a German Shepherd, I would draw last. We got breakfast at the hotel and drove to where the drawings were held. We went into a room with four other women already there, three of them with adorable Basset Hounds at their sides. I had woke up that morning confident for reasons I don't know, but seeing the actual dogs there made my stomach drop. There were four peanut butter bones on a table, surrounded by the owners of the dogs. The woman with out a dog told us to draw a single bone from the table. Each bone had a number written on it in a type of frosting, telling you what number track you got. When she finally said my name, everyone else had already drawn and there was one bone left. I looked at the other bones that had already been drawn. There was only one number left. I picked up the bone, and surely enough, written on it was the number 1! The other women were happy for me. I tossed the bone to Rudi, smiling, and he caught it in his mouth, mid-air. I scratched his head and kissed him, excited for the tracks that would soon begin. We drove to the field where my track was laid, and my stomach dropped once more. It was a field of tall, yellow grass. We had never trained in this kind of field before, and we didn't know how the scent would react. We harnessed Rudi up, Cork whinnying in the car. I walked him to the flag that marked where the track would start. We were told there would be a glove at the end of the track. My grandmother told me to stand up and wave the glove in the air at the end, because the grass was almost as tall as me. I took a deep breath and tugged on the line. "Down!" I said. He laid down on the start article, sniffing it. "Now get to work!" I shouted after scratching his ears. He got up and we walked into the tall grass. He stayed in a straight line and made a clean turn on the corner. This happened again before we ran into another article. He laid down on it and got up again before I could scratch his ears. He was really onto something. We continued down the leg and made another turn. We walked down the next leg. After a little walking, I saw something on the grassy floor. A leather and cloth glove! I squatted down with Rudi after telling him to lay down. I kissed his head, smiling. I couldn't have been prouder! While I was praising him, I remember what my grandmother told me. I picked up the article he was still sniffing. I didn't even bother to bother to get up. I stuck my arm in the air as high as my little arms could reach, and waved the glove. I met my grandmother and the judge of the test in the middle. My breathing quickened. "Did I pass?" I asked nervously. It felt like I waited an eternity. She nodded. I cheered. I couldn't believe it! It didn't matter if we had never worked in tall grass. We passed! We headed back to the car and met up with some of the other trackers. I even got to spend some time with some really cute Basset Hounds and their sweet owners! They were all so nice and happy for me. I had never and will never see greater sportsmanship. There, I found out I was the only one who passed that day. I guess that bone really was good luck after all. It started to drizzle on our way home as I thought over the events of the day. To some, that day may seem boring. To me, that day was one of the best I had ever lived. Tracking is something I have done since I was a little kid, so I really enjoy it. I taught Rudi to track when he was a few weeks old. I got him for Christmas when I was eight, so I've been tracking for five years. I named him Rudi after Rudolph. He moved to live with my grandmother when he was a year old, because my little sister kept putting a coolar and leash on him, which he didn't like. So he put his teeth on her. He didn't really bite her, but it was like a warning. So, he moved to my grandmother's. If he bit her, he would've had to been put down. I miss him. He's not as wild now, and neither is my sister, so he could come home, if my cat didn't hate him. So he's still there, and I spend the night with her whenever we want to track the next morning.
Like I said in my first blog post, there are different types of tracking: TD, TDX, and VST. Each type of track has different requirements. According to the American Kennel Club, or AKC, these are the requirements for a TD test: Track length 440-500 yards. The dog must work 3-5 turns. Age of the track 30 minutes to 2 hours old. Two articles in track one at the start of the track and one at the end. The end cloth will always be a glove or leather wallet. These same conditions are used for TD certification. According to the American Kennel Club, or AKC, these are the requirements for a TDX test: The track in length must be 800-1000 yards. The track will have anywhere from 5-7 turns. Their will be 4 articles through out the track all cloth or leather scent articles. The age of the track will be 3-5 hours old. Their will be two sets of fresher cross tracks crossing the track in two different areas of the track. They have two obstacles it can be woods, creeks, roads or fences. According to the American Kennel Club, or AKC, these are the requirements for a VST test: Track length 600-800 yards. 4 scent articles which will be cloth, leather, plastic, Metal. The age of the track will be 3-5 hours old. Their will be three surface changes. Vegetation, cement, Asphalt, dirt , gravel..etc. the track will be close to buildings through parking garages and will include a moment of truth turn in the middle of a parking lot. But to track, you need a certification. I got my certification when I was eight years old. It's a very simple few legs, usually in grass: very easy. Rudi and I had trained for about nine months to prepare for this test. We went to Bernheim Forest to track for a judge and good friend of my grandmother, Tony. I tracked the leg, and though I had trouble reading Rudi, we passed! Reading your dog is all about paying attention to your dogs body language and trying to figure out what he/she is telling you. I was so excited! I could finally start tracking tests to get my champion tracker! Here's a picture of us when we passed. Tracking. It's one of my favorite things to do, although few know what it actually is. Tracking is an activity where you handle a dog on a leash called a line, and follow scent trails. There are three types of tracking you can do: TD, a simple trail in grass, VST, where you track on a hard surface, and TDX, where you track a dog through pretty much anything with a complex trail.Throughout the track, never on turns, aka "corners," there are things that the track layer, the person who walked the track, owns to help remind the dog what scent it's following. These are called articles. It can vary from a glove, to a shoe, to a lid they use in their kitchen. Different materials that the articles are made of holds the scent better than others. Cloth holds it the best.
There is little information on the science of scent, and what affects it, so my grandmother, who teaches me everything I know, found out all these things with trial and error. There are many things that can affect scent. In shaded areas, the foot path is wider and easier to follow than in sunlight. If there is fog outside, the footpath gets wider and draws the dog in. Water and snow also draw the dog in. Scent usually collects in valleys because of gravity. If there is a fence or building along the trail, then it gets pushed further out than where the person actually walked. On hard surface, the scent gets pushed up, causing the dog to have a high nose. If you walk under a power line, there's really no telling what the scent will do. It will just be all over the place! If a car travels over the trail, the dog may or may not get distracted based on whether its the track layer's scent or not. If it either way, it usually throws the scent off, while some dogs are unaffected. It really depends on how good the dog is. If a person or animal walks over the track, it usually distracts the dog momentarily. Sometimes, if its the track layer's car, then it will widen the scent path. Grass clear of trees in a sunlit area is what we consider the "norm." It's what we compare other weird tracks to. And these are just the basics! |
Jillian M.I am Jillian. I've been tracking since I was eight and I love what I do. Archives
May 2017
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