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Twice As Nice! © 2004-1997, Ed Presnall Published in the Clumber Spaniel Bulletin (USA) and the Clumber Crier (Canada) 
T
he walk from the van to the start flag in a tracking test is a long one. There is, sometimes, perhaps too much time to relive earlier tracks and errors you might have made. To second guess your training or the ability of your dog at a time like this is a mistake too many make during the treck to the flag.For me it is a time to think back about my dog and all of the things we have done together. We are prepared, we know that as a team we are unbeatable, we are positive! As we walked I thought back over the past few months and the accomplishments of the “never give up” attitude this dog and this breed has. I remembered that it was only ten months ago to the day that our vet had said that Merlin was going to die and he did not know why. The vets were stumped. As the process of total shutdown of his kidneys progressed, we watched him fade, but always with the strength to wag his tail or give us one more sloppy lick. 
I remember asking for assistance with my friends on the Internet and getting a recommendation from a vet and fellow Clumber owner over 1,400 miles away. My vet discarded the recommendation as a waste of time and money to run such specialized tests. I recalled my determination as I refused to accept his opinion or heed his warnings and carried Merlin to the van. In a last minute effort to save him, I raced through the night, fighting a rare ice storm, to the vet school over a hundred miles away.But most of all, I remembered that Merlin never gave up. My friend on the Internet was correct, the specialists at the university quickly diagnosed Merlin as having contracted two very rare strains of Canine Leptospirosis. Serovars were pomona and tarassovi. Pomona had only been diagnosed in one case in the US in the previous 15 years and tarassovi, in canines it was thought, had rarely been seen outside of Russia. But with treatment and the ever present Clumber stamina he recovered and continued his training. I thought back to our 1,200 mile drive to this place and the hours of discussion with my tracking partner. Our determination to work in this new sport and to learn as much as possible with our willing dogs. The hundreds of questions we asked and the use of sometimes unorthodox training methods. We cussed and discussed the months of practice tracks in the sauna we call Houston. Heat indexes during much of the summer exceeded 100 degrees as we laid the tracks, and sometimes dipped down into the 90’s as we ran them. Smiling, I recalled the tracks late at night, carefully planned to time our running with the automatic sprinkler systems. A reward for our hard work and an opportunity to let both the handlers and the dogs cool off.  The thousands of yards of track we laid each week had paid off in a very short time frame. The dogs were steady and sure of the track and had become confident and somewhat exhilarated by the numerous challenges and scent obstacles we’d put them through. During this period, we had learned that the dogs could track on asphalt, concrete and rocks almost as easily as they crossed the manicured lawns surrounding the buildings of our training sites. Grinning to myself, I remembered my pride only a few moments earlier as I watched my partner and her dog locate the final article on their track and triumphantly hold it up for the world to see, thus becoming the youngest dog to ever attain this title. Now Merlin, my Clumber Spaniel, and I stood at the start of our Variable Surface Tracking (VST) track, attempting to do what no Clumber had done before. Our friends and supporters were in the crowd watching as the judges nodded that they were ready. As I snapped on his harness and laid out the long line, I quietly reassured Merling and myself that we could do it! The start was in a large grass field. Merlin had a good start and proceeded 105 yards, made a nice right turn for 25 yards and crossed a large berm surrounding a big parking lot. Without missing a step, he crossed 50 yards of asphalt and made a perfect 90 degree turn to the left (one of his moments of truth). After the hard surface turn he crossed another 20 yards of asphalt, a mulch island and 20 more yards of asphalt. Exiting the parking lot onto grass he again crossed a large berm and entered a grass field for another 60 yards. 
He turned right and continued for 35 yards where he stopped and stood, indicating an article. As I approached him, I did not see an article. He was very excited, with his tail wagging and looked up at me as if to say, “Well, it was here”. He restarted and continued on. Merlin is a very intense tracker, and a good problem solving dog. He simply refused to admit that the article was missing. He started a precise and somewhat frustrated search in a grid pattern, looking for the “lost” article. On four separate occasions, he returned to the last corner and finally convinced himself that the article was not going to be found.Merling returned to the track and proceeded 25 yards, executed a 90 degree right turn on grass towards a building. After 20 yards, he entered a covered alcove and proceeded 25 yards on stones to the brick wall of the building. Appearing still to not be satisfied that he had not found the “lost” article, he backtracked across the stones to the grass, re-executed his last turn and attempted to return to the spot where he had indicated the article. During this treck, we encountered the Judges, who were rushing to catch up after we had turned the corner of the building. Merlin stopped in front of the Judges and I explained, with a grin, that he was still not satisfied. 
Seemingly, the confrontation of the Judges had given him a solution to his puzzle of where the missing article might have gone. He looked in the direction of the spectators and quickly returned to his track and retraced his steps to the building. Once again crossing the 25 yards of stone, he turned left at the brick wall and followed the edge of the building across stone, grass, and a cement pad to the end of the building. He continued on across a grass area and a sidewalk where he stepped out into another asphalt parking lot.He proceeded onto the asphalt for 13 yards and made a very sharp 90 degree turn to the right, continued through the parking lot for 70 yards where he downed at a leather wallet. Restarting, he worked 15 more yards of asphalt heading towards a mulch island. In the asphalt, before the island, he executed an open turn to the right. The track followed the end of a line of four islands across the parking lot for 72 yards. Stepping off of the asphalt onto a grass island, he immediately downed to indicate his final article, a plastic reflector. As I raised the article over my head, he jumped into my lap. I held him for a moment before Merlin, the first VST Clumber, turned his attention to the gathering crowd. 
I had returned to Illinois for this test, to a site very similar to our training area in Houston, with a goal in mind. Ironically, Merlin and I stood only a few yards from where his companion and housemate JJ became the first VST English Springer Spaniel three and a half months earlier. Once again we had done what many said could not be done.As I shook the judges’ hands and Merlin received praise from the crowd, I watched as my tracking partner quietly approached. We congratulated each other and silently walked together back towards the van. With smiles of satisfaction on our faces and two good dogs at our side, we knew that it was, like they say, “Twice As Nice”! |
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