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by Pam Bethke, Dell Rapids, SD We woke up at 1:20am, before the alarm went off. I had to pull Posey out of her crate by her tail as she did not want to wake up at that time of morning. She was laying in her crate on her back with all fours in the air. She did not budge when I opened the crate door and called her. She gets to sleep with me if she can behave herself and settle down, but she was wound up when I NEEDED to get to sleep. I have a crate beside my bed for her when she feels it is way too early to be in bed. We left the house by 2am so we could make the 8am draw. My son was just getting home from helping a local farmer combine corn as we were leaving. My family thinks I have gone totally WHACKO! We got there in plenty of time to make the draw. We got to pick second and drew the 9th track. This was good because it was really cold and wet early in the morning. The sun came out to dry and warm things up. I went back to my van to sleep until it was time. Posey went back in her crate to catch up on sleep, although she didn't have to help with any of the driving. They drove us out to our track. We got the harness on and took off. She ran down the track for the first few yards but then heard Roosters crowing and some other strange farm noises so had to stop and look at me for reassurance. She did keep tracking but acted a little spooked. She settled down after a little while but then came upon some very interesting smells in the grass. She was really interested in smelling something about 10 inches up on the grass surrounding the track. I kept telling her to "track it" and she worked but was very slow. The turns were not a problem for her. I counted 4 turns so knew we were getting close to the end. The grounds are well used so there are lots of paths throughout. I was convinced I was going to hear the whistle on the last few yards when she picked the path that went to the left. The path to the right looked "fresher" but what could I do when she is running down the left path? Luck would be with me when just a few more yards she stopped, downed and wagged her tail on top of the GLOVE!!!!! As soon as we got back to headquarters I put a big hunk of cheese in her glove for her to pick out of it. The judges and track layers signed all the gloves. I let her play with it a little when we got home. The thoughts of wondering if my family was right and I really am crazy were far less on the way home. My family is very proud of her too. Posey will be 7 mos old on Oct 27th. She is a MW puppy bred by me out of DC Doxikota Redi or Not MS x CH Sandar's Alibi of Sagerun MW. This was my very first attempt at a training a dog for tracking. Lois Ballard gave me a quick lesson at the shows in August and lots of internet encouragement. PHOTO: Pam Bethke, Dell Rapids, SD. With her dog Doxikota Pick A Posey MW TD (Posey) earned their TD. |
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