TCoW - The Tracking Club of Wisconsin

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The Tracking Club of Wisconsin is a Licensed Club of the American Kennel Club

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© 2007 Judith Young

Ch Huggables Fine Memory, RN, CGC earns her TD

After having no success finding a group to join in my area, I found Ed and TCOW on the internet. Ed was kind enough to get back to me and after emailing back and forth with questions and answers, Ed put me in touch with Lois. We patiently waited for April and classes to start, then the unthinkable happened and Lottie had to have surgery to remove a rock that she had swallowed, so she missed her first two classes. Two weeks after surgery and with the vets blessing Lottie and I showed up in Stratford for our first class. Lottie loved the classes and she adores Lois. Lottie's favorite day of the week is Thursday, when she gets to go tracking and see Lois.

The weekend of July 13th, Lois was going to be doing some certifications at Hartman Creek. Lois said we could either have a class the day before at Hartman or following the certifications. I chose to watch the certifications and then track with Lois afterwards. As the day progressed, I asked Lois if Lottie and I could try to be certified. After some discussion Lois said ok and went off to lay a track for Lottie. Now it's time, we had never worked with me following at 20 feet, never without multiple articles, never worked without Lois behind us encouraging/helping us, but we were going for it. Lottie and I went to the start, I told her to find it and off she went. She checked out a deer bed and kept on going. On the last turn I stepped into a woodchuck hole and lost my shoe and injured a toe. Lottie was on a mission, unable to put the shoe back on, bent down grabbed the shoe and continued limping behind Lottie to the glove, lead in one hand and shoe in the other. She had her certificate!! Now to find a TD test.

The opportunity came in September at Mead Wildlife Area. So I entered Lottie and off we went. When we got there no Lois! and I found out we were moving to another area. Panic time! Lottie drew the second track. I met the judges, Ed and Mel and started to relax. Stay calm, stay focused we are going to do this. We have never done anything like this before.

It's Lottie's turn, go to the start flag and with a "find this" command, I sent her on her way, it seemed like forever to get to the first turn, I'm thinking we missed it, we missed it, Lottie where is it? When Lottie swings a little to the right and comes up with a dead bird, my heart sank, thinking what am I going to do now, how do I get that thing away from her and get her going again? A "leave it" command worked, she dropped her prize, went a few more feet and turned left, there is no mistaking when Lottie is on her track, she is deep in her harness, very focused and has the strength of two hounds. At one point she brought her head up for a second and seemed interested in something and I could here in the back of my mind Lois saying "stand still" in class, so I stood still and asked her "is that your track?", "find your track" and soon she was back to business and off again, her last turn was an open turn which threw me off a little but not Lottie, I stood still for a second, hearing Lois in the back of my mind "trust your dog", felt that mighty pull of hers, there was no stopping her and she was now pulling with all her might, she was on a mission and a few seconds later came to her glove, tail just a waggin at having found her real treasure. I scooped up her glove, turned back to Lois and said "did she do it?" Remembering Lois giving us the thumbs up sign and the smile on her face, I knew my Lottie had done well. I was so proud of Lottie AND so thankful that we didn't embarrass Lois. Thank you so much Lois for all your encouragement.