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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July 2004
University of Wisconsin, Whitewater Campus
Whitewater, WI

Urban Search Techniques and Theory
An Introduction to Urban Tracking (VST)
With Instuctor Ed Presnall, assisted by Lois Ballard

The UW Whitewater Campus is a beautiful site for tracking and has plenty of different surfaces and scenting challenges for VST tracking. The dogs and handlers attending this workshop were all new to VST but very eager to learn. It was a small group, with an interesting combination of breeds attending… a Norwegian Elkhound, American Bulldog, Standard Poodle, Australian Shepherd, and my Dachshund, which was used for demo purposes—guinea pig!

Saturday morning began with discussion on what VST tracking is about, what can be expected at tests, and what unexpected things can occur at tests. We did some adjusting of harnesses for proper fit on the dogs and then started them with an article game where the track started in short grass, transitioned to a blacktop path, back to grass, across a concrete basketball court, back to grass, and down a hill with wind swirling the scent. This short little track gave the handlers an idea of the differences between VST tracking and that of TD/TDX field tracking. We then had the handlers walk with us as we plotted a regulation VST track, discussing some of the possibilities for the track… where it could go, and where it couldn’t go. Later in the day, I ran this track with one of my Dachshunds, and after watching him on this track, these handlers had an idea of just how difficult and rewarding VST can be.

The dogs ran tracks with simple changes of surfaces after breaking for lunch. On Sunday, we spent some time working with the handlers and dogs to develop a solid start routine and had them doing short one-turn tracks in grass and a couple with transitions from grass to a blacktop road and back to grass again. They watched as I ran my dog on a blind regulation track. Half-way through this track a group of about 100 girls crossed the track on a sidewalk returning from soccer practice. Of course, some of them wanted to pet my dog. This type of thing happens in VST, and luckily, my dog was able to take a break to make friends with the girls, and then return to tracking. The workshop participants were amazed that this type of thing can happen, and further amazed that the dog was able to continue working after the distraction and contamination on the track.

One of the dogs is also working towards it’s TDX, so we plotted a track for him in a field that is on the edge of the campus with mowed walking paths, bushes, and down trees in the field. It was nice to see the dog able to do VST tracking in the morning, field tracking later in the day, and then back to VST in the afternoon. We had time to do about a half regulation length VST track for each of the dogs in the afternoon with buildings and surface transitions. It was another successful workshop with handlers and dogs going away with plenty of ideas for things they can work on to prepare for VST tracking.