I love this week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. It is a perfect time for reflection about what has happened over the past twelve months, and using all that to build Hopes and Dreams for the next year.
A New Year is like morning — so many possibilities!
Today’s tracking field
One of my 2024 goals is to have Capella ready for both a TD and TDX. I am training her with this mind.
One thing I learned from re-training Claire for her TDX last spring was the value of tracking a lot — Capella is tracking 5 - 6 days a week and she LOVES it.
I am mindful of the need not to push Capella too quickly — but I also know what things can be pushed. For example, in a TD test there are two start flags and the dog is walked to the start in the straight line used by the tracklayer. In a TDX, there is one start flag and the team is intentionally not sent in on the line used by the tracklayer.
I use one start flag with Capella and do not line her up with the track — it her her job to find the track at the single start flag. This is Capella heading to the start of today’s track.
I am also intentionally using terrain that could be challenging — like hills and culverts. That said, these are fresh tracks (easy) that have higher reinforcement when the elements are challenging. I also do not let her get lost or fail. If she is working on something, the line stays relatively short and I do not follow her until she sorts it out.
Today she did a great job starting on the hill — no issue. Culverts were a bit of a speed bump for her — very interesting. The track crossed two of them and she checked out the downward direction of each culvert and then quickly figured out to head up and out on the track.
After clearing the second culvert
I took photos of the culverts on the walk back so I would remember. I was struck by how slight they were — and yet each clearly did something to the scent. Good info. This is the same one as the photo above.
And this is the other culvert.
No snow but the frost is reliable if I track early enough. It is so important in training to know where the track is and the frost is working very well for this but yes — BRRRRR.
I hope you are having a lovely day.