Well, we didn’t have nearly as exciting a weekend as most of the Alta-Tollhaus dogs, but we did have fun.
On Saturday, Pieka and I drove to Cincinnati to track with a group of people. It was WINDY, which really made it tough. We stuck with baby tracks:
Here, we're tracking on pavement as per Chris White's method. You can see how the wind is blowing our hair around.
We're working on a serpentine. Pieka still needs some help, but she's getting it.
On Sunday, we headed off to our friend’s house for some playing and a cook-out. We had access to a 1.5 acre fenced yard – pure heaven – so I wanted to work on Pieka’s off-lead recalls. As you can see, she did pretty well:
Mom, wait for me!
Then, we played some fetch. Pieka LOVES fetch.
Fetch is going well…until Pieka discovers the swamp/large pool of water in the corner of the yard. I think this sequence of pictures pretty much tells the story:
And finally, thoroughly filthy and tired, she got to rest in the shade with a marrow bone.
Notice the beautifully clipped ears? You almost wouldnt' know she had serious dandelion fluff.
Wow, the pictures from Sunday look really grainy/blurry. Sorry, guys…they looked better on my computer.
Pieka is showing her true Alta-Tollhaus colors by dancing in the water.
Your pics are really good – better than any I ever post – don’t even worry about it…
Your photos are great! I’m the worst photog ever, I agree with Kimberly,don’t worry. Just love Pieka and her water long jump photo is so Alta-Tollhaus. Thanks for sharing! Julie H 🙂
Could you tell us briefly about “tracking on pavement as per Chris White’s method.”? Where can we learn about this tracking method? Is it foundation training for VST…? Very curious. Thanks!
Hi, Ron. It’s actually STEVE White’s method – sorry for the mistype. He is a former K9 Officer and came up with the “Scent in a Bottle” method. Here is a link to an article he wrote: http://www.dogstuff.info/scent_in_a_bottle_white.html.
He also has a DVD out there. I’m thinking of ordering it. I have a pretty extensive dog library,this seems like a good addition.
The group I’ve been working with primarily uses Susan Eldred’s (“Fascinating Scent” author) method. Ergo, the pictures of serpentines. But there is a woman with a malinois in the group who went to a White seminar and has seen a few dogs trained on this method. I think his method is interesting – it almost takes AKC tracking and turns it on it’s head, starting the dogs on pavement and progressing to vegetation – but in some ways, it makes a lot of sense. White does have a lot of practical experience in tracking, obviously.
If nothing else, using this does start to develop “nose down, body straight” tracking form.
I’m a new tracker, so I don’t have a lot of opinions other than this. 😉 I’d welcome your input on it.
One more thing and then I will stop. I DID notice on the pavement/Steve White track that Pieka was extremely methodical about the track. She seemed to get it. At the middle of the track (maybe 30 paces) the treats were fairly widely spread – and her nose stayed glued to the pavement, following right along.
Hey now that the Sieger Show is done I can start tracking!!!
Jamie, keep the photos coming! Thank you for the tracking info. One thing for certain, there is no doubt that Pieka is an Alta-Tollhaus dog—you just can’t keep these pups away from water!
she is one stunning long coat!!! pics are fabby!!
Jaime, I love the pictures…almost as much as I love that you are “working” your working dog! Kudo’s to you and many thanks for sharing your journey!