tracking day

This weekend is the weekend for the dog club's tracking trials. I have pictures from the October tracking trials two years ago (2006) and will post those. Tracking weekends are fun, and I always try to make sure I don't have anything else scheduled. The blessings include being outside no matter what the weather (and realizing that being a little bit cold or having a little rain on you won't kill you), all the good exercise, socializing with people you don't see very often, and the bliss of watching people pass.

For those who haven't seen or heard about tracking, it is pretty simple : a person goes out & walks in a predetermined pattern across a field or sets of fields/woods/roads, etc. and drops articles (socks, gloves, belts, hats, bandannas (spell check just suggested I put down bananas, but unfortunately, food items are not allowed), on the track. Then a dog and its handler/owner try to find the articles & find the ending article. If they do, they get a title, much excitement & celebration, and usually a trophy of some kind.

The weather today is great for tracking (in terms of having dogs pass) because it is cool & rainy. I've noticed before that when we have rain the day of plotting our tracks, and rain at night, we normally have a very good pass rate. Here's hoping!

I will try to get some better pictures tomorrow. Today was too hectic to try to take pictures, especially with the rain and trying to manage the tracking maps I was drawing, plus running through muddy swampy fields.

And yes, I do find all this tremendous fun. I did miss my little buddy riding shot gun, and thought about her often today. She never liked being left in the car, and I've looked back more than once to see a friend pushing Bridie back into the car, because she was half way out. She'd managed to pull the window down a bit & as spaniels do, was climbing out to get to mom. Nothing (except death) could ever have separated her from me. Good memories, always.