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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Toad passed her TD test at a DCA (Dachshund Club of America) Regional tracking test in 1993 on the same day another of my dachshunds passed her TDX test. This was one week before my daughter was born--we were quite a sight in the tracking field. I continued to track with Toad hoping someday she would pass the TDX test and become my first Dual Champion TDX dachshund. Toad’s son, Owen, beat her to it. Owen loved tracking so much that after passing the TDX at 2 years of age I wanted to continue working with him, so began learning about Variable Surface Tracking. Toad continued to work TDX style tracks and was entered in several DCA National tracking tests before passing the DCA TDX test in Portland in June of 2001. It was a thrilling day for me—my young dog and Toad’s daughter, Hazel, passed the TD test in the morning and Toad passed the TDX in the afternoon. But it was no walk in the park! Her track went down a 5 foot cliff to a 6 feet wide and 2 feet deep creek then back up the other side of the cliff, and later crossed the same creek again, thankfully at a shallower crossing. I’ll never forget that track!

I thought I might as well work Toad in VST since I was already doing it with Owen. I think the challenge of something really difficult and different after 7 years of TDX style tracking was very appealing to her. I attended a VST seminar with Owen put on by Ed Presnall in 2000. Ed became an instant fan of Owen and was very impressed with his tracking ability. I had been able to track with Ed a half dozen times since Toad passed the TDX. It was a cold long winter and I had very few opportunities to track with either Owen or Toad until the snow melted and it warmed up just before our DCA National Tracking test. I tracked with Ed two weeks prior to the test and he said he thought Owen was ready. Toad was still getting the hang of it but learning quickly.

There were 6 doxies entered in the 2002 DCA National VST test, the biggest DCA VST test so far. Owen drew the first track and Toad the last. Owen overshot a turn in a parking lot to fail, but afterwards finished his track well, impressing those watching. I watched the next four doxies work real hard on each of their tracks but they also had one problem or the other resulting in the dreaded whistle being blown.

It was probably about 85 degrees and quite windy when Toad’s turn came. We walked up to the starting flag where she sniffed at the starting article while I put her harness on, talked to her a bit, told her that she’s a good girl and hoped she would give it a good try. Then off we went, me silently following as I trusted her ability. The starting leg was in grass heading straight towards a building. The track turned left and proceeded across grass and out into a parking lot with a few semi trailers parked in it. At the end of the parking lot there was a concrete ditch about 3 feet wide and a foot deep running the length of the parking lot. On the other side of the ditch was a slight hill with bushes planted along the edge. Toad investigated the concrete ditch, hill, and got tangled several times in the bushes but finally decided that the track was not there. She came back out into the parking lot and searched until she found where the track had turned in the parking lot and was now going parallel to the concrete ditch between parked semis.

We proceeded down a long parking lot and driveway where Toad found her first article, a piece of plastic. Oh, how wonderful it si to find that first article, gives the handler such a relief and the dog a reward that they have done well so far. After quick praise from me, she confidently went on. The track continued out of the parking lot onto grass and the company picnic area. Of course she had to check out the picnic tables just in case anyone dropped any food and across the concrete ditch were she found a tasty goose carcass before getting back to the track in the grass. Toad made another turn and paralleled a building with the wind swirling the scent around. It didn’t take long before we turned along another side of the building where Toad found her next article, a piece of metal. It’s about at this point that as the handler you begin to feel confident that this might be the track that you and your dog pass on, and sometimes that confidence is not a good thing. After that article there was a turn on a walking path which led us out into another parking area. There were cars parked on one side and a building with lots of doors on the other. Part way through the parking area Toad searched the ground diligently as if looking for something then continued on. The judges called us back. I thought maybe they were being nice by not blowing the whistle since we’d done such a nice job to this point but they said that the final article was missing and that she had properly searched and indicated the area where the article had been so she had passed the test! She had passed the test! It was so windy that the final article, a sock, had blown away. It was later found down wind at the edge of the parking lot about 50 yards away.

Toad is the 1st Dachshund to pass the VST and the first to become a CT (Champion Tracker) by passing all three AKC tracking tests. She is the only Triple Champion Dachshund, having both a bench Championship and Field Championship in addition to the tracking Championship. She was 10 years old when she passed the VST test, and is now 12, going on 4. Toad had only been working variable surface tracks for a few months, having never done anything but field tracking until after she passed the TDX a year earlier. Words cannot describe how thrilled and proud I am of Toad. She is truly a nose with a dog attached!