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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June 2002
Ottawa Field Trial Grounds
Eagle, WI

Introduction to Tracking Workshop
With Instructor Ed Presnall, assisted by Lois Ballard

This was a workshop geared for beginning trackers and/or beginning dogs. I saw progress in the dogs and handlers between Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. The weather was just about perfect. By Sunday afternoon, we were making use of the shade for dogs waiting their turn to run. We had hamburgers and hot dogs cooked on the grill, with more than enough food for everyone... although I should have made 2 key lime pies! We had several Dachshunds, a couple Cocker Spaniels, a Clumber Spaniel, a Field Spaniel, and a Standard Poodle attend this workshop.

So what did we do in this workshop… we started with Ed talking for a while about general training techniques, and answering questions. Then it was time to get the dogs started tracking.

We started by doing an article game to get the dogs used to indicating articles in short grass, then went into longer grass and worked a longer track with a couple turns and using plenty of articles. After that, the dogs were put on a track that crossed a previous track to introduce them to determining proper track direction. We did a demonstration of proper line handling--tension and learning to stop when the dog is off track, dealing with a tangled line, etc. At the end of the day on Saturday, the dogs worked the original article game again, all dogs were already much improved!

Sunday started with handlers learning to count paces and calculate their yardage per pace. After that, handlers were put into teams to plot tracks, and each dog was worked on those tracks, each of which was quite different--different cover, one with crosstracks from the day before, one with a short grass path to cross that horses had been ridden on earlier. In the afternoon, we did more work with crosstracks, stinky weeds, and helping the dogs learn to follow the tracklayer when two people walked side by side and then split at a T. One more long track in a field of thicker, taller grass ended the day. Both days were filled with Ed answering lots of individual questions and sharing his vast tracking knowledge with a group of eager trackers. I think everyone, people and dogs, went home tired but happy.

This is what one of the workshop participants had to say about the workshop: “I attended both days and thought it was excellent. Having very little tracking experience, I was amazed by what the dogs did from day one to day two. It was terrific and I look forward to any other workshops and also to a tracking fun match. To Ed and Lois - a great job. Thanks Ellen and Darby”