Tracking - The Quiet Sport Article from GRREAT TIMES newsletter by Terry Ballard Imagine yourself in the middle of a huge grassy field with tall wild grasses rippling like waves all around you, your dog out in front of you, head down following a scent trail. You let your dog do his job and don't interfere unless he needs you to point the way. It's an unusual "sport" - no clapping, cheering or calling orders to your dog. No crowds or competitions. And there are only a handful of people and dogs. One or two folks follow a bit behind you to collect marker flags, check the course, talking in hushed tones when they do talk. AKC tracking is designed to train and demonstrate a dog's ability to trail human scent, much like what you see in a police manhunt or search/rescue scenario. Dogs are tested in a non-competitive format and receive recognition for their abilities. In the most basic form, a person walks out into a field, makes several turns and leaves an "article" such as glove, hat, etc. at the end of the 400+ yard track. After a period of time, the dog is brought out to follow the scent trail by sniffing it out with its nose, and ultimately locates the article. We had Ty for about 3 months and we were looking for something to involve him in. We had noticed that he has a great nose and even though he had been to obedience class, my husband preferred walking him on a harness and just letting him pull. Since dogs are put into harness and allowed to pull for tracking it seemed ideal. Ty and I joined Jacob Kay, president of the Tidewater Tracking Club and member of GRREAT on the club's last weekend before they stopped due to the hot summer weather. Jacob dragged some short, straight trails with plenty of yummies laid along the trail for Ty to get the idea of keeping his nose to the ground and finding the jackpot at the end. It only took Ty three tries to catch on. Jacob has two GRREAT dogs involved in tracking; Dailey and Cassie. "We have about 30 members at the club," says Jacob, "with just about every kind of dog you can think of... from Papillon to Mastiff, and a couple of Goldens too. It is a non-competitive sport, but does require the handler to brave the elements... cold, snow, rain, heat, mud, etc. Not to mention the sometimes nasty stuff like ticks and snakes." Tracking requires a very large area since each dog will be following a trail that can't cross any of the others. A small group of handlers and their dogs take over a huge field and divide it into areas. The dogs stay in the cars while their handlers lay down trails for each other. Everybody works while they wait their turn. The trails become increasingly challenging based on the dog's skill level. As a dog becomes more skilled, paths are lengthened, have more turns, there are changes in terrain, and they increase the amount of time which has elapsed from the time the trail was laid down (up to 2-3 hrs!). For around 10 dogs, it can take around five hours for the group to meet, drive to the field, lay down tracks, wait for time to elapse and let the dogs track. Jacob says, "Tracking is unlike any other dog activity because at some point during your training, the moment of truth will hit you - you have no idea how they do what they do! That's when you learn to trust your dog and work as a team to complete the track." Club membership fee is $35/year. They hold two AKC licensed tracking tests a year - a TDX Test (Tracking Dog Excellent) in December and a TD (Tracking Dog) test in February. If you are interested, contact Jacob at jkay@widomaker.com or (757) 838-7894 and he will arrange to have you come and see the Yorktown Club members train.

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