Mist

B qualified - yippee!8

Well, I wasn’t expecting to write this for at least another two weeks! We didn’t know beforehand, but we got the chance to take our B-assessment on Sunday. And passed both tracking and rundering at the first attempt. Yippee!
Even better was that both Nina with Bina and Ola with Leo, who were on the same training weekend, also passed both assessments, and 5 from our district who took the orienteering test also passed (well done Krissi, Kai Erik, Trond, John and Frode). So it was full points for District06 (Sør-Rogaland) this weekend.

(and I have to admit to being very pleasantly surprised to get the feedback that Mist and I were the best dog-handler team of the day in rundering. I apparently chose well where to send her out, followed where she was and had a good overview of what terrain she’d covered. They teach us well in Dio06 )

B-qualification doesn’t mean anything externally (re: callout list etc), but it is a major milestone in NRH on the road to reaching A-qualification which is when a dog/handler team joins the callout list. It’s great to achieve it relatively early in the year as it means the most possible time until A-assessments next year, which should allow for good preparation. My goal was to qualify before the end of summer as I expect there will be little training from September for a few months, when number2 joins the family.

We were in Etne for a training weekend - Nina, Ola and me were participants in the B-course which, although not a pass/fail course, is still compulsory and involves an incredible amount of different training exercises in the course of 4 days.

We covered:
Tracking
- trail search from an object (rucksack, jacket etc.). Had never tried this before - maybe it was an advantage that Mist still isn’t 100% indicating on objects, especially when I’m nearby. I took her forward to the rucksack, she had a good sniff, then set off on the trail away from it, as if we’d trained it lots before! She did stop up and consider alternative options (wandered back to the rucksack and around) when I didn’t follow her immediately, which I interpret as being the result of her being very sensitive to what I do all the time. But when I gave the command to search for trail,

- trail search 300m. Didn’t go so well - Mist found at least one other trail during the 300m (no surprise as the area had been used the previous day for a tracking assessment), and I stopped when I got to a fence/gate in the road as I could see another handler and dog searching on the same side of the road just past the fence. When I found nothing else going up and down the stretch I’d covered, I passed the gate/fence and Mist found something. Unfortunately, it seems other trails were laid by accident in the vicinity, and Mist managed to switch to another and actually found the bodyusing sight. Not a particularly good ending - better to not have found anyone than to be rewarded for doing things wrong. But, it’s something for us to try more of….. now we have the rest of the year without having to take any more assessments (unless we want to - search square and rundering in the dark we can take this year or next).

- 24hour-old trail. Also a no-go. The start of the trail was along a fence line, with thick juniper on the other side. There was really nowhere else to choose other than along the deertrod by the fence. So, although Mist set off in the right direction I don’t think she even thought about tracking. I found an article dropped by the trailsetter, and then let Mist find it, in the hope she would then be able to pick up the trail. But it wasn’t to be. We have successfully tracked 24-hour-old trails before (once), so it’s just another thing to add to the list…. and it’s a lot more realistic than 1-2hour-old assessed trails which are almost never going to be a reality in a real-life search!

- multiple dog-handler teams following a newly laid trail, switching dogs every 100m or so after finding an object.
This came after the 24-hour-old trail, and I wasn’t expecting too much from Mist. But she turned out to be a credit to our group! We were 4 handlers and dogs (Line + GSD, Harald + BCxgordon setter, Ola + Leo, GSD and me+Mist). One dog/handler took the trail search from a car, which after a false start, went very well, and we were off. With hindsight, it would have been good to take my GPS (easy to say afterwards), both to compare trail log with the trailsetter’s afterwards, but also to mark where we found articles ‘en route’, which would have helped us get back to the trail when we lost it. We spent easily as much time off track, re-searching for the trail, as we did following where Gunnhild had gone. But I was really pleased with Mist who not only

- tracking through a group (in my case, with a group nearby, as they didn’t actually know where the trail was!)
Went fine. Mist glanced at the noisy bunch as we passed a few metres away, but otherwise was not bothered. Unfortunately though, she then went past the ‘finish’ and we spent ages wandering round trying to find the trail again. The instructor who set us off didn’t know where the finish was, nor where the trail was, so she couldn’t stop us!

- parallel tracking - 18 dogs/handlers, a few metres apart, simultaneously across a football pitch. I hope I can get a photo from Annette (instructor) who was the photographer.
Not sure how much was tracking and how much was a race to get to the other side first! But Mist (and most of the others) had her nose down well over half the time, and considering I think she’s often easily distracted, she did very well.

- tracking on gravel and tarmac
Gravel - fine. Tarmac - no chance! Have tried this before with minimal success. If I use food in the trail, she just starts searching for goodies rather than tracking…. probably due to me setting it up wrong way back when, when I first tried. Anyway, Karen Sofie showed me how to pretty much show Mist each footstep (we’d marked the tarmac with chalk every 2-4 steps), and make sure she then tracked a step or two before getting a goodie. Will try this at home (or in a carpark somewhere!)…

- terrain changes (gravel to grass to gravel)
Not bad - I know it’s difficult, so I was expecting her to have to work. Went ok though and she managed it even with crossing of other trails and other dogs tracking nearby at the same time. In fact, tracking on short grass seemed to be as difficult as gravel.

Rundering
- indication of body in tree. No probs.
- indication of rucksack. As often, I was visible so when she found the rucksack she sat down by it and tried to stare me out! I waited her out, and eventually she barked. Something to concentrate on, as it will be part of A assessment. I need to find a really good reward that I can fit into a rucksack, under a jacket…..as it’s clear it’s nowhere near as rewarding as finding a person. A dwarf perhaps?

- indication of inaccessible body (up on top of an enormous boulder)
Fine. Took a long while to locate, but that was the idea. Indication fine.

Lyttepost (have no idea what that should be in English - dog/handler sit in one place and listen….. when the dog registers a noise, it is released and should follow up and indicate a find.
As I suspected, Mist reacted immediately and very clearly to the noise. I said ‘ok’ to try to make it positive as I expected she would be sceptical. She ran out about halfway to where the person was hiding, banging a stick against a log, but then thought better of it and came back. With a bit of encouragement from me, and from the body once Mist was within sight, she ’solved’ the problem herself. But it’s not a strong point - she’s a chicken!

Area search
- Searching an area using air-scenting, dog running free
- Planning, setting up a search for multiple lost people.
For us, during the search phase, the biggest challenge was making forward progress in huge boulders, massive holes and juniper bushes. There were places that I had to lift Mist up crags, onto boulders….and then climb up myself. Not the best for a 5-month pregnant person with a knackered shoulder!! But hey…. We didn’t find anyone- good to hear afterwards that there was noone in the area we were allocated (the exercise was partly an exercise in planning how to divide an area in to smaller search areas, and the people doing the dividing didn’t know where the bodies were).

Posted: Indication / Melding, Airscenting / Overvær, Tracking / Spor, Rundering

Success at Sviland5

Poor Mist has no real canine friends at home, so after a hard day’s tracking, has to make do cuddling up with Thomas’ toy dogs:

I signed up for tracking today, mainly because I had to be home by 1530 so Jon could take the train to Kristiansand for his training.

The plan was to do some ‘trail search’ and a B-assessment-like trail (~500m). It took quite some time to sort out who was doing what, where and ensure that all of us knew what others were doing so we wouldn’t mess up others’ training! Nina wanted to do pretty much the same as me, so we teamed up. It was 1115 by the time I got back from laying a trail for her up in the top (open) forest. Then we put laid the ‘trail-searches’ along the right-hand side of the main rundering track (noone was rundering today ). We put out 6 loops (3 each) from the track out into the terrain and back to the track, hanging a tape, visible from the track, once we were well out in the terrain and then leaving an article for the finish just 10-20metres further on. The idea was that, if the dog chose the wrong direction and ‘back-tracked’ then we would soon come back to the road where there would be so many trails that the dog wouldn’t be able to go any further. If they chose the correct direction, they would be rewarded promptly.

Mist was first to search for her trails. On the first attempt, she did exactly what we’d planned - she went the wrong way and led me back to the road where she looked at me confused! We went back to where we’d started, searched again and when she came across the track this time, she chose the right direction. Unfortunately she went past the ‘finish’ so I scooped it up, lobbed it in her direction and hoped for the best. Not the smoothest of rewards but never mind .
Whether she learned from that first mistake I won’t ever know, but on the 2nd trail-search she checked the wrong direction only 2metres before turning and going the right way. On the 3rd go, she took the right direction without hesitation. She found both finishes and seemed very pleased with her reward (a favourite home-made tug toy).

After Nina and Bina had done their trail-searches (very successfully ), we set off for the longer trail. We took a reasonably short trail-search (10m or so) and Mist set off in the right direction. Nina followed us, and collected in the tapes she’d hung to ensure she remembered where she’d been. The whole session went very well - she found and picked up all the articles (including a metal bike brake part, although I had did have to ask her to bring it to me… but she stopped at it and waited anyway) except for one which she missed on a turn (something to work on). She had to work hard when we first came out of the green forest into an open area just before a path. The path itself wasn’t much of a problem, but going from forest terrain to grass/heather etc. was something that required concentration. At one point Nina said we were off track, but Mist seemed sure so I followed her (I reckoned if she was pulling that hard, either she was right or she was onto something else and I should follow her and let her ‘fail’). Turned out she was right - we came across a couple of tapes before long. It is so easy to forget where you’ve been when you lay trails in forest terrain!

Right at the end, she was obviously tired and we went back into pine-needle terrain (difficult), and I misunderstood something Nina said to me. I thought we’d gone past the finish - which didn’t sound surprising since we were within 20-30m of the road. So I got Mist’s toy and chucked it in front of her. You’d think I’d practiced! It landed right in front of her on the track, and about 2metres from the finish…. which I only saw when Nina went to collect it. What Nina had actually been commenting on was that Mist was on a secondary trail because of a reasonable sidewind, and Mist crossed a wall further along than Nina actually had done. Ah well. If it had been ‘for real’ I would have found the finish as I wouldn’t have just rewarded Mist without her finding something and she was actually right by it! And not least because it was a brightly coloured lunchbox which was easily visible .

All in all, a really good training session . I will look for more opportunities to use the same method for teaching Mist to go the right way when she comes across a trail. And need to work on turns to ensure we don’t miss articles due to going too far past a turn.

Posted: Tracking / Spor

A month without training!2

Yes, it’s a month since we last trained! (due to a combination of being away with work, then being ill and then going on holiday). Not that I wrote about that day - when Mist did everything possible to make me seriously wonder whether we will B-qualify this year! We trained rundering in Vigreskogen and chose to not know where the ‘bodies’ were….. he he, first time I’ve tried this and yes it was a learning experience. Mist ran completely wild from the start, and not only searched a large part of the forest on her first ‘loop’, but also found more than one body and didn’t indicate, ignored my calls to come in, later needed help to indicate at an unfamiliar ‘body’, then finally legged it after something or other in the forest and didn’t come back for 5-10minutes (seemed like forever).
Well, at least Tone who was on the midline with me, got to see the ‘problem’ I’d asked for previously at Sviland, when Mist was playing model student .

So, today….. I’d planned on training ‘recall on empty loops’/rundering, but the list of people signed up to runder at Vigreskogen was incredibly long and I just wasn’t interested in fighting for space, and ending up in the ‘puppy forest’ for some half-hearted training. So, I changed my mind and signed up for Gravdal where there were only 4 others signed up.

What a good choice! Aud, Kaare, Frode D and Kristin T and I had an excellent day, with sausages cooked over a campfire at lunchtime, chocolate brownies, and plenty of space for us all to train what we wanted. Aud, Kaare and Frode stuck to the rules and trained tracking (that was what was training at Gravdal was supposed to be today). Kirstin wanted to do an area search and there was no problem with space so she got her wish. And I got to runder up from the cars, in open terrain where I could (mostly) see what the little minx was doing.
After some discussion on the way there (I shared a lift with KristinT), I followed Kristin’s suggestion of having a find (Kaare) on the first loop so that Mist wouldn’t search the whole area in a one-er. After a slight detour, where Mist shot off up the midline in the direction Kaare had walked, and I called her back successfully , she ran out well, found Kaare and indicated. I’d also sent out Frode on the other side for the 2nd loop, but when I sent Mist she didn’t find him, despite apparently (Aud was on a hilltop the other side of the road and saw everything!) searching all the way back down to the road, even across the road, and a large part of the hillside Frode was hiding. Anyway, what was good was that when I called her eventually, she came. And was rewarded with a long game of tug while Frode moved further on. Another empty loop on the wind-side was good - 50m out and turned and came when I called. And then straight out to Frode.
I’d asked the ‘bodies’ to help Mist with indication so that that wouldn’t be any hindrance in training today. I see that she can find it quite demanding to get started barking when she’s been running empty loops a while. So, they helped her by giving the bark command and also by rewarding immediately, then taking the toy away and asking her to bark to get it back.
At one point I tried to send Mist out on the other side while Frode was still in place, but she was very focused on him and in the end he had to come in so that she’d go out the other side. Then he ran (impressive stuff ), uphill in horrible terrain, while Mist was out the other side. Another two empty loops and Mist got to find Kaare for a final time, and we stopped there as I was more than satisfied.

Overall sequence - FBBFFBBFBBF.

My ‘recall’ today was quite dramatic - a pretty piercing whistle with fingers in mouth! I usually reserve it for ‘emergencies’ - it’s more a stop command than a recall, but it (usually) gets her attention. My intention is to gradually reduce the signal I need to use in order to ensure Mist comes in from empty loops, but for now I want to be sure it works!

In the afternoon, KristinT laid out a trail for Mist and waited at the end. It was just a few hundred metres long and we took it straight away. I just wanted something fun and motivating today, as I’ve trained far too much ‘difficult’ tracking recently, without much easy stuff. Apart from one point where she lost the trail, and had to work around in circles for a while to find it again, she was fast and accurate. Kristin was lying in a jervenduk (camouflage bivi bag kind of thing) and was so well camouflaged against the terrain that neither Mist nor I saw her before Mist was about a metre away, despite Kristin feeling very visible!

Thanks everyone for a very enjoyable day

Posted: Tracking / Spor, Rundering

A long overdue update0

Its been over 4 weeks since I last updated this. Life’s busy now I’m back at work and Thomas in nursery/barnehage 5days/week. We seem to have found some kind of routine, and working only 80% really helps as it gives us a bit more time for chores, dogwalking, training etc. etc.

Christmas/New Year was a good opportunity for some longer walks (and runs, for Mist with Jon!). Here’s Mist and Bina having fun at Alsvik:

And me, Thomas and Mist having a cake break (good pic, Nina )

So, a quick overview of training….

Sat 27th Dec
Rundering - Sviland
A rundering training that didn’t go as planned - I wanted to train empty loops but Mist’s loops were far too big for my liking (i.e. I had no idea where she was, and she was out a long time on some of them). Don’t remember exact details, but had a mix of probably 40:60 find:empty loop. Suspect I should have kept the ratio higher than that for now as Mist can be an independent little madam and clearly thinks taking in the whole forest is a good option when she doesn’t find someone immediately . Still, when I did get her back to me, there was no doubt that there was no motivation issue, as she wasn’t interested in any kind of reward from me, and just wanted to get out on the other side and search again.
In addition the lady with the puffin dogs (strange, 6-toed Norwegian dogs!) had parked in our rundering area and walked out with her pack of (?5 or 6?) dogs just as we were coming into the midline, and Mist was quite put off by it. Still, after a misunderstanding by me of what the others knew of where the lady and her dogs would be going, it became clear that she would not be nearby for very long and after a short break, we re-started and just ensured to have a body to find in the area where they’d just walked out into the forest.
I’d also chosen to use the rundering track ‘back-to-front’ and started up just past the junction, working back towards the carpark. Don’t know whether that contributed to Mist’s behaviour, but she should be able to runder wherever and in whichever direction I want!

Sat 3rd Jan
Rundering - Sviland
I asked Tone if she would help me with rundering today, as the previous rundering training didn’t go quite according to plan. Tone had control of the midline and set out the bodies and instructed me where to send Mist. And, of course, Mist was model student today . She searched well, she came when called, she found everyone she should, and indicated well. Problem…..? what problem?! I think we had about 50:50 finds and empty loops - I probably just need to be careful about increasing the number of empties I send her in a row. And feel confident about where the bodies are at this stage.

Weds 7th Jan
Tracking/practical - Dale
Parallel tracking - Nina, Ghita and I put out three ‘parallel’ trails on the big grassy field at Dale and Nina/Bina and me/Mist tracked at the same time. KristinM and Athena started soon after and caught us up at our ‘finishes’ as her trail went a lot further. It was interesting to see both dogs a little confused at what we were doing since they are very used to going for walks/playing together. But, despite many stops and looking over to see what the other one was doing, they both found and followed their trails to the finish (with a little help from a headwind near the end ). Still, the point was tracking alongside another dog, and they both managed it .

We also shared a search square (30m x 30m) with Nina/Bina - the dogs took turns to go out and search. Mist was somewhat embarrassing, Bina was model student, so I knew there was something I needed to work on! Mist zoomed out and ran around like a loony, inside and outside the trampled area (she ought to know by now that she only finds things inside, and I thought she’d learned that pretty well). We also think she chose not to bring back some object(s) she found as she was stationary at one point a couple of times. Since it was dark I couldn’t see to be sure and tell her to pick it up. So, not the best planned exercise for us - I thought she was more capable/reliable than that. But, since it was working with distractions (another dog) that I wanted to train, we did get something out of it. Mist did ‘visit’ Bina once or twice when I called her in, but she was willing to come to me and be sentout again.

Sat 10th Jan
Tracking/practical - Dale
I chose to do a ‘practical’ exercise this morning as I think it’s important that Mist understands that she is searching for people even though she doesn’t have a find within minutes (as is normal in rundering training). Aud walked up the farmroad to the top of the valley and went up to hide in the big scree on the south side of the valley. I started searching with Mist from the Dalevannet path, up through the forest and then down into the fields at the top, and round the back of an old electricity building, round to the other side where there is lots of scree, and finally onto the scree. I’d hoped to be able to send Mist to search up there and keep my feet on solid ground! But, the wind was variable, and on that side of the valley, it was blowing up the hillside so I had to go up onto the scree too, in order to get Mist high enough up to find Aud.
It was interesting to see Mist’s confidence increase on the scree, from a little whining at the first big rocks, to jumping confidently ahead of me after a few minutes. She’s got good balance and isn’t particularly wimpy in most terrain, but she can get a bit nervous when she has to jump from rock to rock with big gaps inbetween! Excellent timing then, when she got scent of Aud just after we came off the worst of the scree. Indication was good. We’d searched for just over half an hour. I hope I can train this kind of search perhaps once a month, or 1 in 4 trainings so that we can increase the time to the find and Mist learns that we’re not just out for a walk if she doesn’t find someone immediately.

We also got to join Ghita/Tara training search square with Paul instructing. He was showing Ghita how to get Tara to slow down in her search, but getting someone to walk about in a small area in front of Ghita/Tara, pretending to put objects on the ground and placing only one or two in fact, within just a few metres of Ghita. It helps encourage the dog to search, nose down, from the word go, instead of legging it 30m+ out into the forest before starting to search.
Aud/Speedy and me/Mist had a go afterwards. We took both dogs out at once and took turns to tie one to a tree - neither of them liked that idea, but neither was bothered by another dog nearby either. I think it’s good to take opportunities to have more than one dog out at once, so that they do get used to having to watch, and to working side by side with others.
Both Speedy and Mist are a bit too quick in their searching and bound around the area which isn’t as effective as those who walk/trot calmly with nose to the ground. Hopefully both of them will learn that it pays to pay attention from the start!

Weds 14th Jan
Sviland
The parking place was packed when I arrived, just after 6 ( ) so I chose to train search square in the Arboret instead. Ritva put out two ’squares’ for us - one 5×30m, one 10×10m. I’d tried the technique Paul showed Ghita on Saturday a few times since the weekend but wasn’t sure whether it had worked or not as Mist was sometimes still sprinting out, and sometimes searching from the start. I’d also got her to lie down before starting (therefore nose is closer to ground before setting off….).
The search squares were about 30-40mins when we started. We took the one in open forest (pine needles on the ground) first. And it went very well! She searched from the word go. Ok, so she bark indicated at one corner because I’d had the wise idea to hang up the reflective triangle that she wears when she’s working, so I could see where the corners were . But once I’d rewarded her for that, and brought in the triangle, she searched well and found all the articles in just a few minutes.
The second square was in more difficult terrain - lots of long grass and a gravel track that someone had actually walked along with a dog between when Ritva laid it out and Mist searched. But she managed well - she found 2 of 4 objects and I threw out another one so that she’d have another find before we gave up. She searched close to me when I set her off and worked her way out well. So, perhaps the previous few days of training had paid off!

Sat 17th Jan
Rundering - Vigreskogen
a.m. indication of rucksack/jacket in the ‘baby’ forest. Chose to send out to a ‘body’ first, but we’d not understood correctly where he was, so Mist didn’t find him, did an enormous loop coming out onto the path way ahead of me, got scent of the rucksack on the other side, and despite trying to call her in, she went out, ‘found’ it and indicated. Well, it was what we were training so was actually very pleased! Alternated between bodies and articles. All went well except for a pair of mittens hanging in a bush, which Mist managed to get hold of and bring back to me (she’s indicated successfully for gloves hanging in a tree before, but I think they were probably out of reach).
p.m. rundering (finds and empty loops) in the ‘grownup’ forest. We did about 400-450m with about 50:50 finds and empty loops (FBFBBFFBBBF). She ran out well, at least 50m each time, ran reasonable loops, a few times she took a while to come in when I called but it is her job to search and she wasn’t so long that I suspected she was doing other things (!). Even though it was blowing a hooly and it was very noisy in the forest with the trees and masts whistling and creaking away, I was pleased to be able to hear Mist’s indication each time without any problem.

Weds 21st Jan
Tracking - Dale
Just Paul, Steffen and me tonight in wet windy weather. I put out a trail for Paul, up the big field and into the woods and then managed to get disorientated and ended up clambering up wet slippy rocks and crags to get up to the path to walk back to the carpark! Steffen put out 4 trail searches for Mist - i.e. short trails that I would start at a distance from and get Mist to search at rightangles to, until she found them. Then she had to decide which way to go, and be rewarded pretty soon for finding/choosing correctly. It’s something I need to do more of as we need to be able to search 50m for B-assessment.
It’s a while since we’ve trained this specifically, although I always start Mist searching at least a few metres from a trail, so that I never set her straight on it. So, I was very pleased when, the minute I gave her the command to search for a trail, she set her nose down and walked calmly forwards, concentrating on her task and not darting off in other directions as I’ve experienced her doing before. When she found the trail she turned immediately in the right direction and pulled steadily on the line indicatng to me that she was onto something! Steffen asked if she was always so calm and concentrated? I admitted that no, not always, but I have to say she’s pretty good when tracking, to maintain a steady pace and it’s seldom she wants to go faster than is comfortable for me to walk. I made a big effort when I started training her tracking as a puppy, to keep her pace down, as I was pregnant and knew that if I wanted to be able to train with her as long as possible during pregnancy she would have to not drag me along!
We did 3 of the 4 that Steffen had put out -they went so well, that I didn’t want to risk getting it wrong on the 4th. She didn’t find the finish on one of them, so I just threw a toy to reward her since she was still on track. And she wasn’t too keen in picking up paper articles, so I need to train more of that (thinking about it, I rarely use paper/card, so it’s not so surprising). But, her search was really good and I was very happy with her

Posted: Indication / Melding, Article search / Feltsøk, Tracking / Spor, Rundering

An old track in the snow0

So much for an easy track for Mist’s next tracking training . Was out anyway this morning on Vedafjell so took with me the bits and pieces needed to lay a trail, in case Nina wanted one for later today. She didn’t, but I put it out anyway and wondered how it would go if I took it with Mist when Jon got home (8hours later). It was cold and frosty with a little snow on the ground. Not enough to leave a visible trail, though.

Amazing! Mist was a model tracking dog! Ok, she didn’t pick up the articles, but she found the finish, and from the tracklog from my GPS she followed the trail almost perfectly the whole way. Even the 90degree turn near a stile

Ok, the next one will have to be easy. And I need to train article pick-up and bringing back to me.

Posted: Tracking / Spor

A weekend of tracking0

Saturday 29th Nov
Sviland gravel/tarmac area
Cold and frosty
Trail-layer - Kaare
Waiting time - 1-1.5hour
Length - a few hundred metres
End - 3 Kaare-articles (glove-szied)
Terrain - thick, nasty, young forest, sand, grass, gravel + a bit of tarmac
Articles - a few

I asked Kaare to put out 3 ’short’ trails, one after the other (i.e. one long one with three larger articles as ‘finishes’). I wanted to train crossing other trails - Nina and I had been down on the gravel/tarmac area training obedience beforehand so I knew there were quite fresh trails (as well as, no doubt, others too). Mist is always quite distracted there, so it would also be a general ‘tracking with distractions’ exercise. And just to make it a bit more interesting, I wanted some of it on gravel/tarmac. And I got what I’d ordered

Started from gravel track, just past the track down to the gravel area. Straight down through horrible thick forest, with brashings and fallen (small) trees everywhere . Not somewhere I’d ever choose to go that’s for sure . But Mist went that way so I followed, and Kaare confirmed that yes, that was where he’d gone. Wondered if it was revenge for the last trail I laid for Speedy…. up Trollarinda….
Out of the horrible forest, over the main gravel track where both Nina and I had walked with the dogs before training, and apparently so had Ghita and a potential NRH’er (sorry, forgotten his name) soon after Kaare had laid the trail. Mist checked out the trail along the gravel track for a few metres then returned and followed Kaare’s instead. Very good On over sand, back into forest to finish.
The next part crossed the main gravel track almost immediately, and Mist found it very difficult and would have taken me completely the wrong way if Kaare hadn’t been with us. I didn’t feel Mist had ‘got going’ after restarting, so asked where I could take a new ‘trailsearch’. This time it went ok and we set off on the right track. Alongside the river, across the river (no hesitation there), up and over the grassy ‘field’ and towards the tarmac. Again some problems going from grass to tarmac - Mist was definitely on another trail and I needed some guidance from Kaare to get her to search in the right direction. Once she found it, she followed quite acceptably on the tarmac/gravel to the finish.
The third trail Mist had similar mixed fortune - some very good, some completely off. But after losing the trail quite soon, we had a little help to get back on track and she tracked very well to the finish, most of which was on tarmac and gravel this time. So I was very pleased. We haven’t done very much tracking recently, and I can’t remember when we last tracked on gravel.
Generally, she indicated articles, but needed encouragement to bring them to me. I can train that separately (delivery). But I’m pleased that, for almost all, she stands still and looks back to me when she finds something. And she was so pleased with the final finish article that she didn’t want to play with her own toy!

Sunday 30th Nov
Melshei
Cold and frosty
Trail-layer - Jon
Waiting time - 2.5-3hour
Length - 800m+
End - big glove
Terrain - mixed forest, some paths (some crossing, some going along)
Articles - 5 (found 4)

Jon took Mist for a 1.5hour run in Melshei and ‘they’ put out a trail while out. Mist clearly doesn’t concentrate when out running as she certainly doesn’t remember anything when we then go tracking later the same day .
Jon drew the trail on the O-map for me so that I could restart a trailsearch if we lost it - which we did, many times. The start went ok and when we came to the first path near a stile Mist took very little time checking out ‘alternatives’ before returning to the correct trail. Further on, we could hear people in the forest and this distracted Mist (note - something else to train specifically). We soon came across them and lost the trail completely. I don’t know if they’d been across Jon’s trail - quite likely since they were wandering around picking mushrooms, but after going round in circles for a while, I took Mist a little further up the hill and tried again. After a while she found the trail and off we went again.
The trail went through an ‘activity area’ with ropes courses, swings, teepee and shelters and here Mist lost it again. I think we then found the mushroom pickers’ trail again . But using Jon’s map to search in the right area again, we found the trail again and continued. We eventually found the finish, after around an hour. Jon was about ready to come looking for us when we eventually got home!

It was obviously difficult for Mist - possibly due to a combination of her having run for 1.5hours first (she was curled up on the sofa fast asleep just before I took her out!), people in the forest, age of trail (could have perhaps gone after 1.5hours since it was relatively long for Mist), length of trail, and all in a popular area of forest where there were probably multiple crossings with other trails. Still, I think it was a really good learning experience for her as it’s the first time she has searched and re-searched for a trail after losing it, and then succeeded.

I need to remember that the next tracking training we do, should be set up so that she succeeds…. a motivational trail.

Posted: Tracking / Spor

Update at last…0

Where did the last month go? For various reasons I haven’t managed to keep the ‘training diary’ updated, so will no doubt have forgotten a few sessions here and there. Anyway, here’s an attempt to recap on some of what Mist has been up to…

4 April - Tracking, grassy field, Sviland
A couple of 100-150m trails in the grassy field with 2 articles each. Went fine, nothing particular to comment on. Mist still picks up fabric objects and stops at plastic/other objects but rarely picks them up. Something to work on….

5 April - Tracking, Arboret
Not able to train with others (the lice issue!), we had a family outing to the Arboret. Jon laid out a couple of short (<100m) trails with the main challenge being path-crossings. We waited just 20-30minutes before setting off. And it was as if there were no paths! Mist crossed both small woodland paths and a slightly wider gravel path without even checking out alternative trails along the paths (including one of mine, which was very recent). Yes!

9 April - Search square, Sviland
KristinT laid out 3 ‘corridor’ searches for Mist. The first two had a single object each and Mist saw Kristin go out, the last one had 2 objects and we waited 15minutes before going back and searching. All went well. At the moment, I reward Mist with a toy for picking up and starting towards me. She isn’t required to bring the object right to me. The idea is we’ll shape this gradually, and it seems to be working. She certainly comes in at quite a speed!

12 April - Tracking / Search square, Dale
Krissi laid a 200m (?) trail for Mist which crossed the main path up to Dalevatn, twice. It laid for a couple of hours. Despite becoming a little distracted in the young, thick trees about 10metres before the first crossing, and struggling again a few metres after, Mist seemed to tackle the crossings themselves without a problem. Certainly the second crossing was excellent - Krissi had walked down a steep bank to the path, and then at a 45degree angle down into the forest on the other side (it wasn’t possible to go straight across due to fallen trees/branches), and Mist followed it as if there was no path. Well done Mist And thanks Ronny for pushing Thomas in his pram while we trained .

In the afternoon, Krissi laid out a large ‘corridor’ for Mist to search - about 20m x 10-15m. We definitely made it too easy! She raced out, found the objects in no time and came in at top speed. Need to make things more difficult….

16 April - rundering, Sviland
3 weeks since the op, and both Mist and I were itching to get back to ‘real’ training! It was nice to meet up with everyone at Sviland and train rundering. Don’t remember many details, but I do remember that it went well. She barked without any help each time she found a body. And she even had her first ‘blindslag’ (loop without any body) - totally accidental but although she searched for some time, she didn’t find the Bjørn, so I just called her in and sent her the other side. She certainly didn’t seem to mind!

17-21st April - holiday with Marie & Sisco
Jon, Thomas and I went to Scotland for a long weekend and Mist went to Marie’s for a holiday with best friend Sisco! It’s lovely being able to go away knowing that she’ll be having a great time .

22 and 25? April - tracking, Vedafjell
Not sure about the dates but sometime around then, Jon laid two longer trails for Mist. We have mostly trained up to 200m previously, sometimes a little longer. We’ve increased the time to up to 2.5hours, so thought it was about time to increase the distance too. It’s also easier than increasing the time even more, as I can get Jon to lay a trail when he comes home from work, then follow it later once Thomas is in bed - giving us a ~2.5hour old trail.
500m one day and 750m the other. Both with 4 objects. The first one, Mist picked up the fabric objects, marked one plastic object and didn’t notice another. The second, she only found the first object which was plastic (!) and I think didn’t get any of the others because they were along the top of the ridge (leading up to the concrete building halfway up Vedafjell), and there was quite a strong wind, so I think she was tracking quite a few metres from the actual trail. Still, the extra length didn’t seem to bother her at all and she worked well the whole way.

26 April - search square, Sviland
Jon was running Siddisløp (10km race) in the afternoon, and I wasn’t 100% well, plus Mist was back on antibiotics as a tiny part of her scar was infected….. so I didn’t go to NRH training. Instead we had a family outing to Sviland (!) and set up 3 short trail searches. Mist chose the right direction each time. The first one she went right over to start with, but when I wouldn’t pay out any more line, she came back and turned at the right place. The other two, she ound straight away and set off in the right direction with no hesitation.

Sometime during April we also did some more search squares at Sviland on the grassy area. Still working with ‘corridors’ - i.e. the full 30m out, but 10-15m wide. Mist found and picked up both objects both times. I have a suspicion that she sometimes finds one, but continues to look for another in case it’s more exciting. Still need to work on interested in non-fabric objects. She does pick up plastic/leather/paper items, but not with the enthusiasm she has for fabric!

Posted: Article search / Feltsøk, Tracking / Spor, Rundering

Tracking in the sheep fields0

Jon laid out a short (100m?) trail for me in the sheep fields below Ragnhildsnuten, with 2 objects (a bike reflector and a sock). It lay for about 1 1/2hours. I wanted to practice tracking on short grass, especially where there had been sheep as an added challenge. She started well, turning onto the trail in the right place (Jon had drawn a map for me to show me where it was). The ground was waterlogged, making it extra difficult in places. But, Mist tracked fine, only going ‘off’ in really wet areas, but I was really pleased when she found and picked up both objects (without encouragement) and even brought them in my direction, although not right to me (with encouragement).

Posted: Tracking / Spor, Uncategorized

High-speed tracking with Thomas0

Met up with Ghita, Nina, Krissi and KristinM at Sviland. Nina had kindly laid out two trails for Mist and while they ‘aged’, and after Thomas had had his mid-morning feed, we joined the others for rundering training. After disturbing Krissi and Snuppa by suddenly turning up on the path looking very odd (to Snuppa at least ) with Thomas on my front in the carrier, Snuppa took the bringkobbel and ran the few metres back to Krissi to tell her she’d found someone and got the handful of goodies in my pocket as her reward (sorry, Snuppa…. they weren’t really top-quality treats ). Next up was Nina/Bina, and we managed not to distract Bina too much! I then took Mist to do her tracking (below), and finally Thomas and I were ‘bodies’ for Ghita and Tara (who loves babies, but was still a bit surprised to find one in the forest ).

The first trail started near the carpark and went into the birch towards the stream, across the marshy area and ended in the open forest near the forest road. It was about 1 1/2 hours ‘old’. Mist was keen and pulled much more than normal (probably due to the insufficient exercise she’s been getting recently ). She found the article Nina had laid down and actually picked it up and started to come towards me with it . I was really pleased about that, and she got a good play with the rope ball for her good work - she does usually stop and at least sniff articles that have been put down, but she rarely comes in my direction with them (we are struggling with retrieve training). She lost concentration a bit after that - maybe because we’d played, but I still think it was right to really reward the article indication with a high-quality reward. Back on track, she dragged me towards the open forest, and I had to let go of the line. She then lost the trail again but fortunately found it again before getting too close to the finish. Nina had left a glove (?) plus a pile of treats as the finish, and I had a toy at the ready. Despite starting to eat the treats, once the rope ball was in sight, Mist forgot all about them and just wanted to play .

The second trail started just before the marsh by the forest road and went up onto the ridge, down the other side, up again and towards the forest road - main road junction. Generally went well, a couple of times Mist lost the track and wasn’t as careful in finding it again as she has been in the past (much bigger circles), but she did pick up the article Nina had left (can’t remember what it was!) which she was well-rewarded for and found the finish ok.

Posted: Tracking / Spor

A (too) difficult trail0

Jon ran with Mist again and laid a trail on his way back (still with Mist) on the fields below Ragnhildsnuten. Mist therefore had already ‘done’ the trail (!) although he made her wait a little way off when he put out the finish. The field was super-wet and it was dark by the time we went out, about an hour later. Mist struggled with the trail search, and I’m not convinced she was ever properly on track, although she went in overall the right direction (but then she’d done it before, hadn’t she ) and found the finish.

Think perhaps it was too difficult - Mist was alert to any noises given that it was dark, the terrain was completely waterlogged and she was tired. Whether the fact that she was with Jon when he laid it out had any effect, I don’t know. Will try to do some more training in those fields, in daylight. We haven’t trained much recently on grass.

Posted: Tracking / Spor, Uncategorized