Serpentine Tracks - Everything That is Old is New Again

Sod Farm where we often track.


The idea of running serpentine tracks is not new... many experienced trackers use this technique to their advantage. Serpentine tracks help the dog to understand that the track can go "anywhere", can slow the dog down, teach the dog to be more careful when searching, and can help with corners. I saw the value in using serpentine tracks quite some time ago, and I did try a few of them. The problem that quickly became apparent is that if I cannot see the track... I do not know where it is, and I have no way to assess how accurately my dog is working. Very frustrating indeed. Because of this, I stopped running serpentine tracks.

Recently I came across an experienced SchH competitor who routinely trains with world level competitors. He recommended serpentine tracks, and uses them more often than straight line tracks. He and his club members have had great success in competition with their dogs. I decided to pick his brain for more info.... How does one know where the track is? Well, his advice was helpful for sure. He does use a distance object (as if you were running a straight line track). This distance object then becomes your "centre line"... Meaning you walk your serps out to the right and left of this centre line, but always come back to this centre line. Then you use a natural landscape marker for knowing where your curves are, or use an artificial marker, such as a thin rod or dowel. Sounds easy enough.

In practice however, it has proven to be much more difficult. On the occasions when I could see my track, the dogs have done reasonably well. When I have not been able to see it, disaster has ensued. My dogs were casting and circling a lot, and despite there being a ton of food on the tracks, both dogs had considerable trouble. One night recently Arlo decided he was going to go in a straight line anyway, and because I did not know where the track was (except of course, for the centre line - track could easily be seen when laid... disappeared by the time I ran it), he proceeded along in his straight line, intersecting the serps along his way, finding food of course, and believing he is somehow "on the track"... how utterly frustrating. My dogs have been running straight line tracks for quite some time now (with corners of course), and seem to be so conditioned for this. When I see them having difficulty with the serp tracks despite a lot of food for bait on the track, it makes me wonder if they really "know" how to track? When I have a really bad tracking experience like this, it puts me in a really, really bad mood. Clearly more skill is needed on my part to somehow remember or know where the track is if I want to run serp tracks.

From now on we will only run a serp track when I can clearly see it (heavy dew, frost...). Until then, we will continue on in our normal fashion.


Arlo navigating a serpentine track.

Wallace Payne & Pedro - 2007 North American FH Champion

I am sure this video has been well watched by many in the Schutzhund world, but I came across it just recently in a round about way. I have heard of Wallace Payne, but I was really not that familiar with him. I was on a tracking blog, and his name was mentioned... The name rang a bell for me, but it was not immediately apparent who he is. With the beauty of the internet, he was just a few clicks away. Needless to say, this video speaks for itself. Pedro does an "off-leash" 99 point FH track. It is spectacular. For the untrained eye, it may just appear that the dog is merely... "tracking". To those of us who actively train and compete in the sport, we are awed by Pedro, and even more so that this entire track is done off leash, with no communication from Wallace. Even though when we trial, we are not allowed to "help" our dogs via the tracking line, there is still an element of communication that goes on there between dog and handler. Even subtle changes to the tension in the line can affect the dog. Here is the link for this amazing track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=YV7retd4WQU

And here is Wallace's website:

http://www.schhcompetition.com/index.html

This style of tracking is what we are all striving for in schutzhund...

Enjoy!

Olympic's Zorro, TD - CKC Tracking Dog Title

Myself, CKC tracking judge Dawn Sanderson, and trial secretary Pando Stepanis at Tersha Kennels. I was accepting Eros' plaque, ribbon, and his tracking map from the judge after the test.


We were at Tersha Kennels in Thorndale, near London, Ontario today for a CKC tracking test. The test was hosted by the German Shepherd Dog Club of London. Tersha Kennels is the home of CKC judges Sharon Smith and the late Terry Smith. I was very pleased to be a part of this test, as those hosting the test are good friends. It was also that much more special, as it was a great way to honor Terry's memory by participating in a tracking trial at his home club. His presence could be felt all around, and I knew he would be proud.

After Arlo passed his TD test in June of this year, I decided to give it a try with Eros. Eros is not as confident in tracking yet as Arlo, but I had quite a few weeks to prepare, plus access to many different practice fields. Additionally, I had the help of my club members to help with laying "stranger" tracks and articles for Eros. I was feeling very confident about Eros' skills going in to this test. The other issue for us here in Ontario is that there are relatively few opportunities to enter tracking tests, and when one is offered, there are so few spaces available. One often has to try entering many times to actually get a chance to run their dog in a tracking test. I felt I had to take the opportunity when it was available.

There were 4 TD tracks today, with 3 of the 4 dogs passing. The tracks were laid on alfalfa. It was a sunny day, with moderate temperatures, and moderate winds. The field was dewy, but the track was not at all visible to the handlers. It was a great lesson in "trusting your dog"... I did not know where the track went, I could not see it, so I had to trust my dog. Eros did have a bit of trouble with the wind, and he circled at two of his corners, but after a bit of searching (which felt like an eternity when out there) he found the track again and carried on confidently. He found the article at the end without difficultly, and indicated clearly. I was very, very proud of him.

Now the option is available to us to train for the higher level tracking tests, and I do want to work towards these titles with both dogs. Happy Tracking Everyone!


Myself, Eros, and judge Dawn Sanderson after Eros passed his test. Dawn is holding Eros' plaque and ribbon, and Eros' glove is on the ground at his feet.

Dream Tracking Fields Turned Into Nightmare...

This was the scene last year at the Brayford sod farm, photo was taken in early fall 2008. It is 300 acres and only a 10 minute drive from us. I was able to get in a lot of practice time here, it is so huge I could go several times per week. The quality of the sod was excellent. It was pristine tracking conditions.


The excellent tracking conditions continued into the spring of this year.
Arlo tracking in April of this year. The grass is brown, but is short, well maintained, and uniform.

Later on in the early summer, we found the sod farm had been neglected, was full of weeds, overgrown, and had bare patches of ground spread throughout. It was a nightmare! I was so disappointed... sure enough I find myself an excellent field for tracking, one that is not used by any other trackers, is close by my home, and then shortly afterward it turned into a weed infested mess. To make matters worse, because of the neglect, it seemed that local ATV riders took advantage of this and would make it a habit of ripping around out there creating dozens upon dozens of unavoidable cross tracks. Ugh!
Virtually the same view of the sod farm as in the top photo, this one taken in the summer of 2009. Over grown madness with far from uniform vegetation.


I was initially quite disappointed at the time when I first discovered that the sod was not being maintained. I would drive by often, hoping each time that I would see that it had finally been cut. It was never cut the entire season. So, I decided to track there anyway. It turned out to be an excellent practice field for running tracks in "less than ideal" conditions. You could not lay a track that did not include some changes in terrain, be it from short to long grass, several different types of vegetation, bare patches of dirt, and cross tracks. The usual wild animal cross tracks were always there, but the ATV cross tracks were a sharp thorn in my side. Sometimes I would not come across the particularly bad ones until I was well into my track. Very frustrating! Well, as the saying goes... when you get lemons, you make lemonade. So, I used these fields to increase the dogs' confidence on terrain changes and navigating through cross tracks. It increased Arlo's confidence in particular in a short time.

Close up view of a typical patch of ground on the once pristine sod. You can see bare patches and several different lengths and types of vegetation.


Another typical patch of ground we would track through.


ATV cross tracks. They were unavoidable.


How many cross tracks can you see in this photo?


And this one?

Sometimes I would see this while half way through laying my track.


How many cross tracks do you see here? Arlo seemed to be able to navigate well through cross tracks like this. Eros had quite some difficulty.


We have since found other sod farms to track on that are well maintained, yet they are considerably farther away from us. Nonetheless, we are extremely grateful that the land owners are allowing us to use their fields.

Tracking Training - Remembering Your Track

One of the most important skills a person must learn when teaching a tracking dog is remembering where your track is. This becomes essential as soon as you move on from basic straight line tracks and introduce corners and articles. You must know where your track is. If you do not know where the track is, you are of no use to your dog. Over the years I have heard many different methods people use to mark important points on the track. Everything from flags, to coloured chalk, to large bolts tied with bright ribbon, to picking natural landscape markers have all been used by tracklayers. Ask anyone who tracks regularly with their dog, and I'm sure you will hear a few other suggestions. Certainly, on a dewy morning while tracking on short grass, one can often clearly see the footprints of the track that has been laid. Especially if the track is run relatively soon after laying it. The trouble begins when you cannot see your track... how will you remember where it goes? Where exactly the corners are? Where exactly you dropped articles? These are all skills we must master as track layers if we are to be successful at teaching a tracking dog. Dogs are very observant creatures, and if we use artificial markers on the track, such as flags, it won't take long for your dog to become "flag smart", and quickly realize that a flag must mean something; a turn, an article. Also, when placing a flag or other object along the track as a marker, this flag will undoubtedly have your scent on it, something that will clearly draw the dog's attention to it. Dogs should never be faulted for "indicating" these objects, as we spend a considerable amount of time teaching our dogs that articles, any article, with human scent on it should be indicated along the track. So, what do we do about this? One of the best ways, albeit most challenging, to remember where our track lies is to teach ourselves to use natural landscape markers while laying a track. This is much, much easier said than done. It can be especially tricky on large fields that have mostly uniform vegetation coverage. Things get even more complicated if we are laying more than one track for more than one dog in a given training session. Imagine laying two or more tracks, with multiple corners and multiple articles along each track... that is a lot of pressure, especially of we are using trees off in the distance and random weeds out in the field for "natural" markers. It has been on more than one occasion that I have forgotton which weed was marking a corner, and which weed was marking an article... sometimes my dog does it correctly anyway, sometimes no. In the latter case, if I cannot remember what was supposed to be happening at that point on the track, I have failed my dog. This is definitely a skill that needs to be practiced and nearly perfected. I still use artificial markers on my training tracks when needed, as I believe it is still more important to know, really know, where your track is, than to risk losing the track or forgetting where corners or articles are on the track - the latter two being absolutely crucial.

Below you can clearly see the footsteps of the track on the short grass on this dewy morning.

This field below would be a difficult one to pick out natural landscape markers due to its mostly uniform vegetation. The trees off in the distance would be useful for distance markers, especially since they turning colour.

Arlo - TD, Tracking Dog

All of the dogs passed their TD test today, Ben & Joanne, Lianne & Brody, Myself & Arlo, Judge Sharon Smith, and Sandra with Murphy.


Myself & Arlo with Judge Sharon Smith, and Arlo's plaque, ribbon, and glove.


Me accepting our award, the plaque, ribbon, and a copy of our Tracking score sheet, with Judge Sharon Smith.


Today Arlo passed his CKC tracking test, the TD. The test requires the dog to navigate a track that is at least 45 minutes old, approximately 400 meters in length, with 4 to 5 corners, and one article at the end. Arlo has been training in tracking for 4 years, and I was very happy to have this opportunity to participate in this test. The test was held in memory of Terry Smith, a CKC tracking judge who was supposed to be the judge at this event. Terry passed away in May of this year of pancreatic cancer. His battle was long and hard, and he will be sadly missed by all who knew him. I will always remeber Terry as being happy, having a great sense of humour, and being very helpful at our training sessions and at trials. He was always willing to answer questions or explain things to those of us who were new to the sport. Tracking was his passion, and I am happy to be able to honour his memory today by by participating in this tracking test and making him proud by helping Arlo be successful.

This one's for you Terry. We know that you are at peace now, yet we cannot help but wish that you were still with us.