22
September
2007
Had a couple of days at the Shell hytte on Børøy with my friend Beth who’d come for a week’s holiday, generally pottering around, reading, relaxing, eating and sleeping lots. So there was plenty of time for the odd tracking training session, especially since the hytte is right by an area of deciduous forest and there was noone else around 
.
Thursday 20th / Friday 21st
Wet underfoot, but otherwise dry, little wind
Trail-layer - me
Waiting time - 1hour (each of 4 trails)
Length - 70-120m
End - biteleather or rag-on-rope
Terrain - deciduous forest (q. open) + heather/open rock
On both Thursday and Friday morning I took Mist for a quick morning walk, then left her inside while I laid out a couple of trails in the forest. Having had good results at Tjørn with waiting times of almost an hour, I left them for about an hour each time before taking her out. She worked consistently well, managing turns without going over more than a metre or two each time (she needs to track for S&R not competition so it doesn’t bother me that she isn’t pinpoint accurate at the moment, as long as she knows how to find the trail when she loses it. It’s a lot more demanding for the dog to track with perfect precision the whole way, and for S&R the important thing is finding the person at the end). Her speed is good - not too crazily fast, which I wouldn’t manage at the moment anyway 
especially in rough terrain. Once or twice I had to untangle the line from around a bush or tree, and she was clearly put off by this interruption, but she has to learn to cope with it. Each time, she did get back on track, so hopefully she’s learnt something from that.
Nice to get some training in a completely different location, and to see that the trackingline obviously has come to have meaning for Mist
__________________________________________
As well as training, we had some nice walks despite the poor weather, and even a boat trip. There are no photos from the boat trip since controlling the boat (neither me nor Beth had ever started or driven a boat before) and a puppy (who had never set foot in a boat before, and possibly never wants to again 
) was quite enough. We had thought of going fishing but I think the addition of a fish in the boat (as if we would catch anything 
) would have been too much.
We collected driftwood on the beach at Hovda, and found a swing to play on…
* NOT FOUND *
Posted: Miscellaneous / Diverse, Tracking / Spor
12
September
2007
Weds. evening training at Sviland
Tried ‘Frode’s method’, with a single ‘body’ lying out at 50m. Take the dog to the ‘body’ for the first go, so she knows exactly where he is, then go into the midline and send straight out for her reward. Once reward is finished, take dog in to midline on a diagonal line, while ‘body’ moves into next position, ~50m forward. Should get to midline well-placed to turn on the other side, and line up and send dog straight out to ‘body’ again. The idea is that the dog gets a strong cue by seeing the ‘body’ move forward, and learns to run straight out.
I had misunderstood a bit on the first go, and when in to the midline didn’t cross it to turn around but took Mist straight to the righthand side to send her again. Frode, who was ‘instructing’, got me to go over to the other side of the path and turn….but Mist got confused and thought she was supposed to be going out that side (naturally, since that’s what we had done previously - shows she remembers well ). A small sound cue for Hugo (’body’) was enough to get her concentration back on the RHS and off she went.
It wasn’t long since she’d had kennel cough (2 1/2 weeks) so I didn’t want to do too much, so after 4 goes we called it a day.
Thoughts: I can see how/why the method works (if I’ve understood it correctly), in that the dog gets used to the pattern of going straight out (especially since she is brought into that position from the other side of the midline), but I’m not so keen on the repetition on a single side of the midline…. 
when rundering is about alternating LHS then RHS. Mist seems to react to relatively small cues and is clearly focused on finding someone once she sets off, so I will probably go back to alternating sides with the more ‘traditional’ method of visual/sound cues, gradually reducing them until she’ll go out without any specific cue.
Once we were all finished, I got Hugo to show me how he starts training in indication using barking (instead of the more commonly used, in our district anyway, bringkobbel/special collar). I held Mist on a tight lead while Hugo tried to wind her up with a favourite toy. When she barked she got the toy. She was a bit confused by being held back by the lead (which normally means - No, you’re not allowed), and gave all sorts of calming signals - licking lips, turning away, even jumping at me which she wouldn’t normally do if she’s playing with someone else. I have been considering training in indication using barking and running back and forth from ‘body’ to handler, but want to find out as much as possible first before deciding. We’re going to the UK in October, and hopefully I’ll get to meet up with the Keswick SARDA training group where I can observe their dogs training, and pick some brains 
. There’s no rush to decide, and it may well be that I go with the ‘normal’ indication of bringkobbel just because there is a lot more experience in our local training group.
Posted: Rundering
9
September
2007
A select group gathered at the cabin at Tjørn (near Bjerkreim) for a weekend of training. After a somewhat hectic day, I got a lift there with Krissi as Jon was going to drive up on Saturday morning, bringing Mist, and cycle from there.
We arrived in good time and it was looking like a relaxing evening. Kai-Erik began cooking dinner, Tone, Krissi and I made ourselves comfortable and we waited for Aud and Kåre to arrive for dinner at 7. However, when A&K did arrive, despite us all looking forward to sitting down and eating, Kai-Erik suddenly announced that he’d had a phonecall from a workmate who was in the area checking out the fishing to say he and a friend had got lost while trying to find their way to two different small lakes in the area.
….and so the next hour and a half were spent on a search exercise. While Kai-Erik continued cooking dinner, Aud, Kåre, Tone and Krissi divided up the search area and set off to search for the two lost men. I acted as ‘headquarters’, keeping track of who was where and any messages from those searching. To cut a long story short, the exercise was very successful - the first was found within half an hour and another half hour or so later, the second was also found. I’d always dreaded being ‘HQ’ as it involves lots of use of the radio, often with less than 100% signal when people are searching a little further away. Still, it was a great opportunity to try it out with only a limited number of people to hear me and Kai-Erik was on hand to ask how to say something when I got stuck!
Once the two lost colleagues and the 4 doghandlers were all back at the cabin, we sat down to a well-earned evening meal. It was fun to hear Kai-Erik’s colleagues (who hadn’t been ‘bodies’ for S&R dogs before) tell their side of the story, especially the surprise of one when he found an enormous rottweiler ‘in his face’ having expected a cuddly springer spaniel to come to the rescue (We did explain that Snuppa is actually a very small rottweiler, and about as cute and cuddly a rottweiler as you could imagine! Good job it wan’t John’s Odin )
Saturday training - Air-scenting (+sheep!)
I wanted to use the chance of there being sheep in the area to train Mist with sheep nearby. In the morning Aud and I drove down the road to the gravel ‘quarry’ area where there were lots of sheep. Aud hid at one end of a low ridge. When she set off there were sheep on the ridge (the idea was that Mist would have to run past them to get to her) but the sheep were obviously air-scenting too, and took off when they got scent of Aud. I set off about 60m+ downwind with Mist on a longline and we crossed towards the ridge until Mist got scent of Aud. The undulating terrain meant that her first attempt to follow it up didn’t get very far and she came back to me. I walked up onto the end of the ridge and could see the sheep that had run a little way away. There was a group of maybe 20sheep and Mist saw them too. She got wind of them, and set off in their direction to check them out. I called ‘No! this way’ to her, and she came racing back and, perfect timing, caught scent of Aud again as she came back onto the ridge. This time she followed it up and found her ‘body’! Yeay!
For our second attempt we agreed that I should set off with Mist, downwind, at the same time as Aud, so that the sheep wouldn’t run away downwind - they would be ‘trapped’ between us. It worked great, and we ended up with the sheep penned against a fence parallel to the road, and parallel to the wind direction. It meant that Mist had to run right past them (and they couldn’t easily go anywhere) to get to Aud. As she got near to them they started to move about, so I asked Aud to jump up to ensure Mist would choose her over the sheep ( ) and it worked perfectly! Just what I wanted
In the afternoon Kai-Erik was ‘body’ for Mist and hid uphill from the rundering-track that goes to the small lakes. I walked with Mist loose perpendicular to the wind direction until Mist crossed into the scent-zone. It was clear she had something, but the terrain was quite difficult for her puppy legs (and perhaps puppy coordination ) and she came back to me when she lost the scent. We zig-zagged slowly, gradually nearer to Kai-Erik and at about 50m distance Mist was suddenly very certain, and took off to find him. Tjørn terrain is always tough, and the deep heather, boulders and endless invisible holes makes for slow progress. But she got there!
We did the same thing twice again, after which I decided that, physically, Mist had had enough. It was only about 2 weeks since she’d had kennel cough so didn’t want to overdo things.
Sunday training - Tracking
a.m.
Dry, little wind
Trail-layer - Kai-Erik
Waiting time - 10min; 20min
Length - 60-80m
End - Kai-Erik + kongs; rag-on-rope
Terrain - heather/bilberry (Tjørn terrain). Both relatively straight.
No problem with either trail - both were very fresh and Mist found the start and set off determinedly both times. Afterwards Kai-Erik and I discussed extending the wait-time since it was clear Mist knew what she should be doing.
* NOT FOUND * * NOT FOUND *
p.m.
Trail-layer - me
Wait time - 45min; 50min; 50min
Length - 70-100m+
End - bite-leather; rag-on-rope; rubber chicken
Terrain - heather/bilberry (Tjørn terrain). Straight; 3 x 90degree turns; 2 x turns, steep up and down and holey terrain.
Hadn’t meant to extend the time quite this much, but with hindsight am glad I did. Mist found the trail and got going without a problem, and worked at a much gentler pace than in the morning. On the second and third trails she concentrated when she got to the turns, and found where the trail had ‘disappeared to’ without going more than 2-3m past the turn (with experience this should reduce). I was especially pleased with the 3rd trail where the terrain was particularly difficult, with holes she had to concentrate on not falling in as well as checking where the trail went
Posted: Airscenting / Overvær, Tracking / Spor
3
September
2007
A bit belated, I know. But, anyway…. Congratulations!
Krissi & Snuppa passed their ‘B’ assessed week, plus the ‘B’ tracking test - just the rundering test to go before being B qualified.
Frode & Bandit passed their ‘A’ assessed week. Great news!
Posted: Congratulations / Gratulerer
2
September
2007
Better update Mist’s ‘training diary’ even though we’ve not officially been training this last week due to her kennel cough… Have tried tracking a few times on both tarmac and gravel/hardcore with mixed results.
Sunday 26th August
Tracking - Ikea carpark, tarmac
Weather - dry but had been raining, quite breezy (laid trails with wind on back)
Length - 50m, 70m
Waiting time - practically none
Trail-layer - me
End - rag on rope, biteleather
Laid out two short trails myself. Mist saw me leave the car with her toy, and as soon as the trails were laid, I took her to start tracking. The first started across short grass, then onto tarmac, roughly parallel to the road from Ikea to the trotting track (travbane), alongside some buildings (therefore not too much wind). She was distracted temporarily as we passed an open area of tarmac with some concrete plantpots which seemingly were very scary but then continued with nose down and found the end. She wasn’t entirely sure what we were doing at the start, but once she found the scent on the grass got going ok, and followed the whole trail without deviating very much, although with ‘breaks’.
The second trail was across the ExxonMobil carpark where there were cars parked, but I walked to the far side (furthest from the offices) where there were none, but can’t be sure that others hadn’t walked there. Again, she didn’t seem sure of what we were doing there, and then got distracted by two people at the other end of the carpark returning to their cars, followed by two young boys on bikes going past, and then back again. She wandered about a bit, sniffed a bit at the ground, I’d think she was on track and then she’d just sit down, clearly frustrated. The last 10metres or so, she seemed to find the trail again, and found the end. With hindsight I wonder if I should have just given up and gone back to the car - not sure it’s good for her to learn that by wandering around on the tracking line, she eventually finds a toy regardless how she gets there.
Thursday 30th August
Tracking - Risavika, tarmac/fine gravel
Weather - dry, quite breezy (laid trails with wind on back)
Length - 50m
Waiting time - practically none
Trail-layer - me
End - biteleather
After a bit of a walk in the heather/rocks by the sea, I laid out a short trail, wind on my back, on tarmac and some fine gravel. No luck! Although Mist saw me leave the car with her toy, the start was some distance away and I don’t think she had a clue when I clipped the tracking line on and started. After a few minutes with her wandering aimlessly around, sitting and whining and sticking her nose into the wind to see if she could find anything that way, I decided not to push it and changed to her normal lead, got her to sit and stay while I went and collected the toy. Wondered if the breeze was too much and maybe I should try on a still day instead - if and when we ever get one!
Friday 31st August
Tracking - Melshei (open forest)
Weather - dry (had been raining a lot), light wind
Length - 80m+
Waiting time - practically none
Trail-layer - Jon
End - Jon/rag on rope
Given that we weren’t seeming to have too much success with tarmac, I got Jon to lay out a trail in the forest for motivation’s sake. No problem! She was excited, impatient to start, then tracked with focus all the way to Jon, hidden under a jervenduk. Sadly, the reward didn’t last long as,, despite Jon playing very gently, it seemed a loose tooth became even looser and poor Mist started shaking her head and scratching at her mouth to try to get rid of it. There was blood on the rag too….. anyway, she found a couple of sticks to chew and shook her head a bit more and must have got rid of it! Decided to call it a day, since it had gone well and I don’t want her to associate sore gums with tracking 
. Had a short wander around in the woods, where Mist managed to dig up a small mouse, which she actually caught 
then let go and tried to play with! I was pleased that by walking away and calling her she gave up on it fairly quickly….. a good sign I hope
Sunday 2nd Sept
Tracking - Risavika (tarmac/gravel)Weather - dry (had been raining earlier), breezy
Length - 60m, 80m+
Waiting time - practically none
Trail-layer - Jon
End - Jon/rag on rope
We were at Risavika anyway, so thought we’d try a tarmac trail, with visual cue (Mist saw Jon set out). The first, shorter one, completely on tarmac, was very shaky to begin with, again she seemed not to know what we were there for, despite knowing that Jon had just disappeared - Mist was distracted by the wind and kept standing with her nose up to try to catch some air-scent perhaps. We have trained air-scenting nearby in the area, so maybe that influenced her behaviour. She did find the trail eventually and tracked the last 10m or so to Jon. We immediately set up another trail, this time across the hardcore/large-grade gravel and it went great . She actually got to see Jon start again, and was very focused and determined the whole way, despite a man in a tractor driving into the area and getting out, only about 100+m away in the direction we were heading. Not an additional challenge I’d have chosen to include, but she handled it fine and got her reward by finding Jon behing a pile of rubble
Next step: don’t try tracking on tarmac until there’s no wind! Gravel and hardcore she seems to manage fine, also in the forest. While I am training on tarmac I will set her straight onto the trail (therefore need to know exactly where it is), and train separately to find the beginning, in the forest where she’s more confident.
….oh, and getting over kennel cough so we can go back to training with others, of course
Posted: Tracking / Spor
