HITT Tracking

  Earlier this year, I bought Steve and Jennifer White's Tracking DVD, second edition. I've always wanted to try tracking, and after reading about the Whites' innovative method of training police dogs, I knew that's what I wanted to train.
  The Hydration Intensified Tracking Training method dovetails well with my training philosophy:

1. Train for the most difficult situations right from the beginning.
2. Break everything into small, easily achievable units.
3. Allow the dog to fail, but only after thoroughly training the exercise.
4. Never correct the dog.
5. Start on asphalt- a big advantage when living in the middle of the city. I have lots of places to train!

 I chose Wager (Scottish Terrier) to be my HITT guinea pig. Wager started training last spring, completing some easy tracks on asphalt in various of places around town. I didn't track all summer, but when I took him out for a refresher last week, he picked it right up where he left off. The video above is from last spring. Wager seems to LOVE tracking. He barks impatiently in the van while I prepare his tracks. It is so exciting to watch a dog follow his nose! I love it too.
  The only disadvantage I have with this training is the lack of a training partner. I am laying all of Wager's tracks myself. Not many people train for AKC tracking tests in Colorado Springs, and none that I know of are using the HITT system. I was discouraged about this because I was afraid Wager might not be able to pass an AKC tracking test after being trained with handler-laid tracks. But someone on the HITT Yahoo Group recently finished her VST (Variable Surface Tracking title, considered to be the most difficult tracking test) and SHE said she laid all her own tracks during training. So I think it's possible.
  My plan is to eventually get Wager into a "traditional" tracking training class, after he's already been trained with the HITT method. Of course, I'd still love to have a tracking partner! Contact me if you're interested.

Crafty Contacts

  I've been researching the Hit-It Board, to train running contacts. It gets lots of praise, a little criticism, so overall it seems like a good thing. But it's $130! Yikes!
  Being a cheapskate with a degree in art ("Do you want fries with that?") I started thinking of a creative, yet very inexpensive way to mark the exact moment the dog strides through the contact.
  Here's what I came up with:

  Materials needed:
  A piece of scrap plywood about 12 inches by about 10 inches. I found some about 1/8" thick
  A "naked squeaker" plundered from a toy (ask a Border Terrier about performing a "squeaker-ectomy")
  A little bit of velcro
  A little bit of non-slip carpet liner stuff (the Hit-It board has neoprene on the bottom)
  Adhesive (this is where the glue gun comes into play)

Assemble all this so the squeaker is under the board, attached with velcro. Glue the non-slip liner stuff along one bottom edge so the board doesn't slide all over the dogwalk. Mine isn't painted yet, but I will do that, so it matches the DW. Or maybe I'll glue some thin foam sheeting to it. Oh good, a trip to the craft store!

  I'm already thinking of design improvements- I'm sure you can think of some too! For Cheap Hit-It Board, v 2.0, I bought a small piece of masonite at the craft store, covered the top with a sheet of craft foam, and glued small squares of fabric on the back to hold the squeakers. This works very well! I might need a way to secure the board to the dogwalk. Maybe not.

  For the actual training, I'm relying on http://www.running-contacts.com/rcblog/. This is the most comprehensive site for training running contacts that I have found. Many, many videos and links  are available, covering at least six methods. I will focus on Silvia Trkman's method. She breaks down the performance into very logical steps.

Snow Day Crafts and Training

It's a cold and snowy day here in Colorado. Cozy and I braved the trip across town for NoseWork class, of course. And it wasn't too cold to take Wager out for a short practice track. However, it was too cold for a second practice track.

  Here is my accomplishment for the day:

  I've had this planned for about a year, and finally got it done. I used MS Word to make the design. The knit clipart is from the web. That's an actual photo of Jackson weaving. I made an iron-on transfer and used fabric markers to enhance the color. It's on a gray hoodie. I'm very pleased with the result!

  This is what the aviary looks like today:

  The parrots are staying warm in the house!

DOCNA Weekend

  Last weekend the Highlanders and I went to a DOCNA trial in Golden. The weather was nice, even a little too warm. The arena was too crowded for me to be comfortable, but with the warm weather we crated mostly in the car and didn't walk through the building unless absolutely necessary.  Too many people don't watch their dogs! I saw several instances of "flashing teeth" in the close quarters.   
 Wager had one run each day, and was confident enough to Q in jumpers. He bailed from the teeter and ran around the Aframe on Sunday, and offered to play with the next dog in line at the end of his standard course, but he came back and finished. He was high as a kite after his run! I think he gets over-aroused and doesn't know what to do with himself. He performed a good dogwalk, and didn't go off-course. His check-outs were minimal.
  Cozy and Jackson qualified for DOCNA nationals next year. Jackson had some good runs. He dropped a couple of bars- one that was set too high and another in a soft patch of dirt. I noticed the deep dirt in the walk-through, but there's not too much I could do about it.
  Cozy ran well in spite of the warm weather. Her NAC run on Sunday was slow, but it was a Q.

   I watched the new "Masterpiece Mystery" tonight: "Case Histories" based on the book by Kate Atkinson. It was wonderful. The soundtrack was perfect, the scenery was wonderful. I watched it online. The book is fabulous, too. It's fun to put faces on the characters.

   On the job front, we lost our biggest client last week. I don't know what the long-term effect will be, but I know my boss was very bummed. I hope I still have a job at the end of the year.
  I haven't uploaded the video from last weekend, so here's a photo of Jack from a couple of weeks ago.


The Flying Scotsman!
Photo by Ken Gee



What Is Truly Important

In 2005, his remarks to Stanford graduates included this line: "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important." Steve Jobs.

Have fun with your dog today.

My dear Buddy, at CSU after finishing his last radiation treatment.