Tracking: the Lonely Dog Sport

Just wanted to thank those of you who have been reading and commenting on this blog. I just recently noticed the comments because I thought that I'd get email notice when someone commented like I do with my Live Journal blog. I haven't had time to explore Blogger enough to figure out the options. When I do I'll try to figure out how to allow commenting without using a google ID.

Yes, Tracking is an interesting sport. It can be very lonely out there, especially if you're struggling with a problem and you can't find help. And it's mostly mental exercise, not physical. I can't explain why I like it, I just know that it's really thrilling to me when I see my dog actually tracking. I guess because, in this case, the dog is in charge, not me. Especially when you are running a blind track (one you didn't put in and have no idea where it goes), you are really just a passenger. The dog is in charge and you have to trust your dog and go with her even if it looks like it couldn't possibly be the right way. Let me tell you, that takes a kind of courage that agility doesn't.

And it's lonely in the sense that it's hard to find help. Nowadays you can find an agility class almost anywhere but just try to find a Tracking class. Tracking takes a lot of time, a lot of space and someone willing to help you. I'm lucky in that I just happen to have access to a lot of really nice fields near where I live which is rarely the case if you live in a large metropolitan area. And sometimes, even if you live in the country, you can't find a field that doesn't already have inhabitants of the bovine variety. And once a field has been used for cattle, it's pretty much useless for teaching a green dog to track.

Then there's the whole issue of getting into a tracking test. there are relatively few of them and they usually have to hold a draw for who gets in. The good thing is that you only have to pass once but when you reach the TDX level, you could test and test and test and still fail if just one little thing goes wrong. Plus you have to find a judge to certify you before yo're even allowed to enter a test. I guess because so few spots are available, they want to be sure that your dog is really ready so you have to find a judge who will come out and put in an appropriate track for you to run. I'ts good though because it's an excellent test of whether you and your dog are ready.

All those issues and more are why you can almost never find a Tracking class and even if you do, you still need space to put in tracks and run them that haven't been over fertilized, over used for some other purpose or infested with fire ants, ticks or other unfriendlies. No wonder why so few people acheive Tracking titles. My goal is to get a TDX on Zodi. I'm pretty sure I can get a TD but a TDX is another story. It's a much longer track, it's aged longer, it has change of cover and cross tracks that the dog has to ignore. But I'm really excited to be tracking again. I just wish I had started last Fall so that I wouldn't have to stop for several months due to the heat and bugs (ticks).