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Tracking Girl - what's that?
A girl, woman, lady, female person who is a Tracking Enthusiast :-). And, what, you might ask, is a "Tracking Enthusiast"?
Well, to begin with, tracking enthusiasts are often thought of as nuts, to put it baldly. We like to go out at the crack of dawn or even in pitch dark, in all kinds of weather conditions from pouring rain to freezing snow, to train with our tracking dogs.
It's all about The Nose.
Even if you've never heard of tracking dogs, you may have noticed that all dogs love to smell things. They have an awesome sense of smell, far beyond our meager capabilities. For dogs, smelling stuff as they walk along is like reading the newspaper.
This amazing ability of dogs is useful for us humans, too. Pretty much everybody has heard of search dogs finding lost people, or seen a movie where the bad guys or the good guys are being trailed by a pack of slavering bloodhounds. "RELEASE THE HOUNDS!!!" Hahaha. Love that line. Bloodhounds are really sweet, by the way, and they have these wonderful wrinkles on their muzzles to help hold the scent near their noses. But, I digress.
So, there's this great dog sport we humans came up with called tracking, where the dog follows a human scent trail and finds dropped "articles" along the way. This is supposed to simulate the work of a police dog following the trail of a lost person, finding personal items that were dropped. The dog is given the scent of the "missing person" (in this case - the track layer) by having an article, such as a glove or a sock, at the start of the track. The dog wears a harness and the handler follows behind the dog on a long line.
One of the most fun things about tracking is that you can begin this activity with puppies as young as 8 weeks old. You can do it on your own or with a group. Tracking people often join tracking clubs to meet other people with the same interests. Clubs can help you with training and they put on tracking tests.
Want to find out more? Contact the Tracking Girl!
A girl, woman, lady, female person who is a Tracking Enthusiast :-). And, what, you might ask, is a "Tracking Enthusiast"?
Well, to begin with, tracking enthusiasts are often thought of as nuts, to put it baldly. We like to go out at the crack of dawn or even in pitch dark, in all kinds of weather conditions from pouring rain to freezing snow, to train with our tracking dogs.
It's all about The Nose.
Even if you've never heard of tracking dogs, you may have noticed that all dogs love to smell things. They have an awesome sense of smell, far beyond our meager capabilities. For dogs, smelling stuff as they walk along is like reading the newspaper.
This amazing ability of dogs is useful for us humans, too. Pretty much everybody has heard of search dogs finding lost people, or seen a movie where the bad guys or the good guys are being trailed by a pack of slavering bloodhounds. "RELEASE THE HOUNDS!!!" Hahaha. Love that line. Bloodhounds are really sweet, by the way, and they have these wonderful wrinkles on their muzzles to help hold the scent near their noses. But, I digress.
So, there's this great dog sport we humans came up with called tracking, where the dog follows a human scent trail and finds dropped "articles" along the way. This is supposed to simulate the work of a police dog following the trail of a lost person, finding personal items that were dropped. The dog is given the scent of the "missing person" (in this case - the track layer) by having an article, such as a glove or a sock, at the start of the track. The dog wears a harness and the handler follows behind the dog on a long line.
One of the most fun things about tracking is that you can begin this activity with puppies as young as 8 weeks old. You can do it on your own or with a group. Tracking people often join tracking clubs to meet other people with the same interests. Clubs can help you with training and they put on tracking tests.
Want to find out more? Contact the Tracking Girl!
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October 04, 2011 05:59PM
1ST BELGIAN TRACKING INVITATIONAL PASS EVER!!!!! On Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011, CT & Can. CH Montage Surfs Up VCD1, CDX, PT "Malibu" (bred by yours truly) became the first Belgian of any flavor ever to pass at the AKC National Tracking Invitational!!!!!! All AKC Champion Trackers are invited to enter the biannual AKC National Tracking Invitational event, and there is a draw to determine which dogs get in. The test is a mix of TDX and VST for this showcase event and very few dogs pass. 43 CTs entered hoping to get one of the 10 spots, and Malibu drew #9, so off she went with her owner/handler Maura Hogan to Kentucky! This was a truly wondrous thing as Malibu had completed her Champion Tracker title last year and she turned 12 years old in August, so surely this would be her one opportunity to be in the event. How amazing that she was one of the only 2 dogs to pass the test! I shouldn't be surprised as this "Stealth Terv" can do anything she sets her mind to. She is a thoughtful, deliberate tracker and always gets the job done.
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