2017 March April

ASCA member, Dorene Campbell, whose family has been farming
in the area for generations and very generously allowed ASCA
to use their entire property. That gave the judges lots of options
for plotting the TD’s and TDX’s. It also allowed the entry to be
unlimited, which means that everyone who entered got to be in the
test. It also required hiring two extra judges so that tracks could be
run simultaneously and save on time. One of the frustrating things
about tracking is that even though you have been training your dog
and feel ready, it can be very difficult to actually get into a test.
Entry is by a random draw and the tests are very often over-filled,
so it was really wonderful that everyone could get in!
I felt that my dog was ready to try for his ASCA TD, but
tracking can be so unpredictable that you just never know what
might happen – you are dealing with Mother Nature! There had
been no rain at all in the area for several months prior to the test,
and the fields were very dry. Add to that the fact that the fields had
mostly been mowed very short, and there was a breeze, which made
for some challenging conditions.
We drew Track #6. I prefer to draw an earlier track, so I don’t
have to wait around and perhaps get nervous, but you get what you
get. The judges were so well organized that it was still quite early
and not hot when we got to our track. It was possible to watch many
of the TD tracks from my vehicle parked on the farm roads. I saw
some very good dogs struggle and got to watch Jan’s dog “Cas”
pass her track! Tracks 5 and 6 were next to each other in one big
rectangular field which butted up to a shrub line.While Track 5 was
finishing up, I got Stealthy out of the van and gave him some time to
acclimate to the smells and make sure my line was untangled. That
was advice I got from my first tracking teacher, Jack Moore, back in
the ’90s, and it is still very good advice. I could see my track’s two
start flags and so did my dog – he kept trying to lunge forward and
get started, which I took as a good omen. We had to wait for what
seemed like forever, and was probably at least one whole minute,
until judges Ada McClory and Stephanie Gonyeau were done with
some paperwork and said we could go. I said “track” and off we
Tracking Field Notes
went. Most of the track is a blur, as it often is with this dog, but I
do remember after the second flag him checking out what might
have been some kind of cross-track. I remember trying hard not to
fall on my face, and then I saw him rushing toward something that
was light-colored and I thought might be a leaf. Not a leaf, he laid
down on it, which is his article indication, and “lo and behold,” it
was a light-colored glove and the end! The map says we started
at 8:20 a.m. and ended at 8:24 a.m. so I am not imagining it was
pretty fast.
I love the challenge that tracking training offers, and love the
bond it can form between dog and handler. I am always amazed at
what our dogs can do with their noses!
I would like to thank ASCA, Jan Wesen, all the judges,
tracklayers, committee members, and my husband, Super-John
Pochmara, who along with all his support through the years, took
time off work to get there extra early to supply the coffee and snacks
for the workers and exhibitors and help with laying the TDX tracks.
And I’m so very proud of my silly and wonderful dog Stealthy,
who is now Baywind’s Stealth Bomber TD CD BN RS-O GS-E
JS-O RNX RAX REX STDds.
News Flash:
At an ASCA-sanctioned tracking trial held on Dec. 14, 2016, at
the Barnett Ranch Preserve in Ramona, CA, Linda Ivy’s Aussie
male “Flash” passed his TDX track to become the fourth dog
to earn the ASCA Master Tracker title. Flash also is an AKC
Champion Tracking dog. For more about Flash, read Linda’s
article in the “Tracking Field Notes” column, the Aussie Times,
July/August, 2016.
Foreground: Linda Ivy, CT Flash MT, Judge Sally
Nesbitt; background: tracklayer Leslie Bouffard,
Judge Pia Paulsen.
Flash tracking toward his ASCA TD pass.
82 AUSSIE TIMES March-April 2017