"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
1 Comment
Jenna
4/26/2017 06:57:54 am
Hi Jill, I thought that this blog was a good blog. There is room for improvement, but you are doing very well. I love how it was very detailed and I would love to see more like this!
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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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