Dawn and Penny's Yellow Star Test Video

Here is Dawn and Penny successfully completing their Yellow Star test!



See you Sunday, September 2nd at James Logan H.S. at 8:00 am,

Dave Port

Dawn and Penny Earn Their Yellow Star!

Today Dawn asked me about the requirements to earn the Yellow Star. I reviewed them with her, and just for fun she agreed to try it. She laid a 107 pace track, aged 5 minutes, then got Penny out and got her ready. Penny aced it! Dawn reported that Penny only missed one or two pieces of food on the entire track! Dawn then provided me with three behaviors indicating that Penny was indeed tracking, and three behaviors that indicated that she had lost the scent and was searching for it.

Blogspot has recently added video uploading capability to their site, so with Dawn's permission I'll post it when I get it edited into a short clip.

Next week I had planned to switch from asphalt to dirt. That is now on hold, to allow any other members to try their hand at the Yellow Star tracking requirement. We will be at James Logan H.S. for the test.

See you on Sunday,

Dave Port

Sunday, 26 August 2007 Tracking

Once again, we will be tracking at James Logan High School at 7:00-8:00 am on Sunday, 26 August 2007. The time is flexible. Don't feel that you HAVE to show up at 7:00; Elissa shows up early to track, then teaches her agility class. I have a new handout for teaching lost track drills, i.e. what do you do when your dog loses the scent?

See you Sunday,

Dave Port

19 August 2007 Tracking

Tracking will take place on August 19th, 2007 at 8:0 am - 8:30 am.See you there!

This Sunday's Tracking

Lorril and Dottie arrived with Dawn and Penny at 8:00 am. Both dogs are now doing 'S' turns and missing food due to attention to the track. Missing the food in this case is not a bad thing. The dogs were passing over the food and not stopping to eat it, because they were more interested in the track.

I noticed one other positive sign from both dogs. When their handlers took them out of their cars, both dogs immediately put their noses down to the pavement! They were obviously enjoying their tracking.

Dawn told me that she doesn't like the idea of highlighting her copy of Scent and the Scenting Dog. To clarify the requirement, if you don't like the idea of marking up your book, just take notes on separate sheets of paper. The important thing is that you can show me that you have read the book. Anything you're comfortable with is fine.

Dawn let us know about REI Sporting Goods as a supply source for materials to use for making tracking lines. They have flat and round line used in mountain climbing that is excellent for our purposes. Clips can be purchased at Ace Hardware and other hardware stores. This will wind up costing a handler less money than a commercial line, and will be tailored to the individual's preference.

We retired to a local Starbucks after training. Lorril shared some neat organization ideas for the business management side of my little endeavor. I especially liked her card file attendance system, and her ideas about marketing and insuring that people stayed motivated to complete the course. Thank you Dawn and Lorril for your help!

We will be moving back to the dirt field at the beginning of September. Everyone has made enough progress that we can begin the next phase of training.

See you Sunday at James Logan H.S. at 8:00 am on Sunday, August 12th,

Dave Port

5 August 2007 Tracking

We will be tracking at James Logan High School at 8:00 am on August 5th, 2007. I will be available for those of us who are not attending the docTEC seminar this weekend.

Please bring your copy of Scent and the Scenting Dog, so that I can check the highlighting. The criteria for the Yellow Star level are now finished. There is an additional highlighting requirement, but almost all of you are at the performance level required.

See you Sunday,

Dave Port