TRACKING, SEARCH AND RESCUE, AGILITY AND FIELD WORK

It was a very busy weekend....after a tough week, Quila and I decided it was best to get back to work ....so off we went.
First we went to Red Deer to meet up with our friends for some tracking. Lorrie and I haven't seen each other in awhile and it was great to spend some time with her and her dogs.
 I know Quila enjoyed playing with Zevah.
The conditions were some of the best we have worked in and it was a delight to work on nice green grass. While training for tracking we have worked in various conditions...such as snow, rain, wild fields with animal droppings, areas with some urban etc...this has all helped us in training our dogs to perform in any conditions. Recently we have be working in a field at Michelle's that had deer and moose dropping, grophers etc...and so after the hard training at Michelle's ,todays tracks were a dream for the dogs. Even though we had a little rain to begin with...we enjoyed the rest of the day in the sun. 

Here Zevha is nose to the ground and at a steady pace. Interesting that this was about a foot or two off the actual track due to the wind blowing the scent towards the fence and the fence helping to hold it there.

Tracking helps you to look at your wind and evaluate what might be happening with the scent that the dogs are getting.

Quila is also going well on her trail...nose to the ground and the rain doesn't seem to be bothering either of us. Tracking is different than when she is doing Search and Rescue for a person ...when she is looking for a person her head will be up and she will be air scenting...that is catching the scent cones in the air rather than the path of a scent on the ground. She seem to know the difference...which to me is amazing.

Here is my friend , Lorrie, and her afgan, Shirmar....although afgans are usually sight hounds he seems to be well on his way with his nose down.

Here is Kristine and Teah going a  steady pace , nose down.

The line is held nicely, not to tight and not loose so that it doesn't  tangle the dog.

Also a nice distance away....it has to be a min of 10 feet.

Just another one of Shirmar to show you his nose down position...

                             Michelle and Ash working really well here....nice taunt line! ( it is nice to see Michelle'a hair looking so fine...and also the color coding of her jacket and Ash's harness!!)

All of the dogs did really well....we had a great time and learned what we need to work on .
After a great day we headed off to Star Bucks for a cool drink and to compare notes on what we are going to work on with each of our dogs....also to have a look at the pics!





For me it was just the start of the weekend....Quila and I headed to the trabin in Bashaw for the night and them off to Edmonton in the morning for Search and Rescue.
It was being held at a farm which offered numerous options for training. We had open areas, woods, high grass etc. It was a beautiful, hot day out.

I know it looks like she is just grazing but she really is looking for articles...or items that people have dropped. She alerted later and I thought she was just laying down as I couldn't see anything....I had to really look to find the glove hidden in the tall grass...it is amazing at how they find these articles...which in looking for someone could be such a clue in finding them.

Here she is alerting on an article that is in the grass....she went over this area for quite awhile until she alerted on the article.She is so proud of herself!!

Here Quila is finding a hider....Steve was hidden in the grass. Quila has not had a person in the grass , just laying there before and it was interesting as instead of her bark alert  she did her article alert, which is to lay down....so need to do some work on this.

Here we are having a BBQ for lunch....

A new member of SARDAA

This pup, Viv....is our newest member and has already started training.

I have to say that training for SARDAA is very rewarding and I am really enjoying everything it entails...the training, the workshops, the people etc...I just wish I could be there every week...but work and distance hinder me.

You couldn't ask for a more supportive group of people...

Well with search and rescue training over for the day Quila and I head to Calgary....we are staying at my breeder, and friend...Shannon's.

First we play a little on the agility equipment

Then we had a good night sleep before we headed off to our friend Jackie's place....to do field work
I have never done field work or even seen it done...so was excited to give it a try.
Now you have to understand that Quila can not do the actual birds as we don't want her running off trying to catch a bird while searching for someone...so she just used the bouys....but the other dogs got the real deal!!



First we did some retrieves of the bouy on land and then we moved to the water....Quila has never really like retrieving and so need to do some work on that....she did great in the water and then was much better on land as well....she had a great time...and so did I!!

Here she is in the water....she is a smooth swimmer and had no problems retrieving in the water.

Now here are some of the other dogs....Quila was put away when they were working with the ducks...

There is a thrower...this person throws the duck, or bouy...into the air and the dog is commanded to retrieve..

Here Shannon has just thrown the duck for one of the dogs

We had my dog Quila, Angus and Jethro ( Shannon's dogs), and Jackie's two dogs...Luke and Quincy

Jethro is only 9 months old and already knows this game....

                                           Angus is a pro....no problems on land at all...

                                        The dogs loved the water as it was a nice hot day out...

                                                                           Jethro

                                                                         Quincy

Luke wasn"t really taken with the real thing...so he used a bouy this time....next time he will take to the real duck I am sure!!

All the dogs and humans had a wonderful time....and Jackie's husband made us a delicious lunch!

I love these pictures as they truly show the dogs working how they were breed to be ....and they are so happy doing it.!!

After lunch the sun went away and the rain started....we didn't care out we went anyways!!

Shannon and Jackie also did some hides for me for Quila....in the tall grass again as she needs practise with that

Here Quila has found Jackie...the hider

Now she has had a play session as a reward and doesn't she look so proud of herself!!

Well that was the end of our fun filled weekend....home we went!!

IN MEMORY OF TANENBAUM

Yesterday I had to make a very difficult decision...to allow Tanen to leave us. She was almost ten years old

She was such a great dog in so many ways....she loved her cats, she allowed me to dress her up for pictures, she loved to be in the ring showing off her obedience, she loved visiting the Continuing Care Residents as a pet therapy dog and much much more....below are a few pictures of Tanen growing up....there are thousands more but those are for my memories...I don't need to bore you with them all.

It was only thru training and patience that Tanen became the dog she was....it is so important to spend that time with your dog to make it a good member of your family, community etc.

Tanen was my "Tanen Girl" and I can not put into words how much I will miss her...let her be at peace and let our memories of her be good ones.

               You were so loved and you will be forever missed....love you Tan!!

SEARCH AND RESCUE WITH A LITTLE NAVIGATION

Well today at Search and Rescue we did some of our probationary testing...I wasn't sure I was ready for it...thought it would be next week , but glad I didn't have time to stress over it. We passed the first two tests, now just to finish up the rest next week. Today we did the obedience and article search tests...we did good...during the article search it was pouring raining, really windy and the grass we were searching was over a foot high...Quila still got the items...so all is good. We do need to continue to improve on her article search and make it more exciting for her....in order to get that high drive.
Next week we will do the vechile test...numerous dogs and handlers in the vechile with us...then we change postitions so that I am not beside her...and they will lift and carry her. We will also do an agility test...as it is important that the dogs can go thur, under and over trees, tunnels etc. when doing searches. I feel confident that we will pass all the tests and then be off of probation....

 Although I didn't take to many pictures at training due to the raining...I did get a couple ....here is a dog finding me ....I was tucked away in a piece of equipment

                 Reward time for one of the dogs finding me....I threw his ball numerous times for him.... 

Here we have a few members and and one of their dogs.They are working on HR,human remains, training in water....they have put a item ( no not a body part!!) in the water in the ditch. It was very interesting watching the dogs .

After the morning training a number of us went with Steve for navigation training with compasses and GPS's...it was fun and really good for me as I have no sense of direction

           Here we are gettting ready to walk around in the woods....we are having fun...even in the rain!

 Steve is explaining the different types of maps to us...never knew there were so many different ones

 Here Steve is blowing up the world....always wanted to say that. Steve loves his learning tools....they were fun!

                 Not sure but I think I am getting a little attitude here! Maybe she is just lost!

                                                 Doing an exercie in the woods.

 Now we are using our GPS ....not as easy as you would think....especially when Steve tells us the markers we are finding aren't in the bush....really Steve ....then why did we find them in the bush?

                                                   Here Steve is giving us instructions

We had fun even in the rain....and learnt lots ....thanks Steve for you knowledge, expertise, patience and time,