May 21st..Back to Tracking..

It has been terribly hot for a few days, and today was no exception. Normally, I would not plan to track on really hot days, especially in urban tracking. The asphalt gets very hot, very fast, and will disperse quicker than a cooler, or damp day. My dogs' welfare comes first. So the only way to work around the heat is to get out as early as possible in the morning, and not age the tracks as long. Trust is an alternate in an upcoming UTDX trial, so we need to find days that we can work...just in case...
She is on her first leg, approaching the first corner. Scent will be slightly different moving from shade to sun. She moved out fairly strongly, and was right on her corner when she turned left.

Her first and second leg was working around a building, lots of people take shortcuts across the grass to various entrances. Trust has easily found her wood article on the second leg, it was still cool under the trees here...nice for sitting...

She will continue out onto the parking area in a curve, as I was avoiding all the painted lines. The track goes way back behnd 3 double rows of parked cars before turning left. I was surprised (and pleased) how well she did here. There were two articles in the parking area and it was a very long stretch of asphalt with one turn.

The first article (2nd of track) I had thought may be missing...it was an old Tim Hortons' card still right on the crack I left it, only 10' from parked vehicles.

She made a left turn after the Timmies' card and we are almost 1/2 across the parking lot here.

She has already found her third article, a sock, and is moving strongly.

Originally, I planned to make another turn on the asphalt, but it was already hot when I laid the track, and decided to go over to the grass before turning. I expected the fence to suck in the scent but she stayed right on the track down to the end of the grass. Another article, plastic, was placed a little ahead of the driveway.

She was drawn a little around the grass beside the driveway and after checking the air, turned back toward the track. I purposely laid the track between the cracks, not on them, as I had already used cracks in previous areas. She will move up onto grass again, across a sidewalk, more grass, and a turn to the right, over the driveway, and over onto grass again.

Another left turn on the grass and we head towards a busy road crossing. We are approaching a ditch first, unfortunately full of garbage and a bit of a steep climb out. She loves working through these areas, and just plowed through. I move up close to tell her to 'wait' at the road after she has determined where the track crosses.

We have crossed the road, moved onto a scrubby grass aread, then crossed a driveway and are up on a freshly cut area of grass. When I was laying the track, I noticed two trucks with trailers and lawn equipment parked near the building...figured they were going to be cutting. After I finished the track and walked back for my van, I drove over to talk to the workers. One had been wondering what I was doing, so explained where I left two articles, neither on grass and made sure they weren't putting anything on the grass. Knowing that when I returned with Trust, the grass would all be freshly cut was another unplanned obstacle for her. She had no trouble with it at all.

I have to admit, once again, she surprised me here. She was right on the track and the corner the whole distance.

Trust had made her turn, and I'm still on the previous leg, as you can see by the line, waiting for her to move out on the pavement and commit before I move forward.

Once again, I avoided walking on all the lines when I laid this track. I stepped over them when I had to cross them. She really seemed to do much better than when I was walking on the lines, which I had thought, previously, was a good idea. I left a metal article at the end of one line. It wasn't on it, but looked like it was part of it, so it wasn't easy to see. The blue arrows in this picture are pointing out the lawn equipment guys.

And here she has indicated it. She had been moving a little to the left of it, and suddenly turned and swung right to it. It was like "Wow! Look at this!!!"

From that article we moved up onto a grass island, off it onto pavement, then up onto another grass island. The final article was on the other side of the the second island. I had planned to leave it on grass, but after seeing the lawn guys there, knew I couldn't do that.

For whatever reason, Trust moved along the curbs instead of on the grass, but headed right to the final article fairly easily. What the difference was between these freshly cut grassy islands, and the first stretch of grass freshly cut, I'm not really sure.

But you never know what happens while you're aging these tracks; today it was just over 2 hr. because of the heat, but I know there was a lot of "action" there with the lawn crew. There were also bags of garbage, so I assume someone was walking around picking that up as well.

I thought Trust did great today and she was really happy working this track. Some days she just surprises me, and when I think it will be a tough one, it isn't, and when I lay one that should be a breeze for her, she finds it difficult or stands and watches clouds change shape...who knows!

A Golden Winged Warbler

I'm afraid the quality of this photo is poor, but I'll likely never have an opportunity to take a picture of this bird species again. This is a male Golden Winged Warbler, apparently a species at risk not only in Ontario, but the world. I sent a couple of photos to our local bird expert in this region, Mr. Parker, who confirmed the identification. As he noted, it is one of the most spectacular warblers in our area. This little fellow hit our window tonight and I was sure it would be dead or seriously injured. Luckily, it was not. I brought it in to put in our "rescue bird box" to recover, and when I later peeked in, it flew out. It flew directly onto a screen window and I quickly got a picture while it just peered about. I was able to catch it quickly and we went outside and released it, happily flying off into the trees. He was only about 4" and the songs from the warblers in the forest are magnificent.

Black Flies in Northern Ontario

We wait for lovely weather to enjoy all the outdoor activities we've missed for months. For anyone reading this blog that is not from Northern Ontario, you might be lucky enough to NOT know about blackflies. Teeny, tiny, little voracious insects that come out in May and must think they are related to vampires. They get in your hair, eyes, ears, inside your clothes and all the nether regions of your dogs. Depending on the weather, they may last from two to four weeks, and vary greatly from year to year in low to high numbers. You never know when to go out or stay inside. They can be almost non-existent one minute and ravage you five minutes later.
Gardening is really difficult, as are any dog activites. Each time the dogs come back inside, I have to run my fngers all over them and out the little 'buggers' fly. They then go into the windows and I squish them with a kleenex. This leaves blood all over the windows. We were told by an "expert" that they wouldn't be bad this year as it's been so dry....so far, the expert is wrong!

Giant Insect or Strange Dude?

Can you imagine?!! I was driving home from North Bay, on the highway, and waaay up ahead saw what looked like a kite with someone hanging on to it gliding over the highway coming off Lake Nipissing. It veered towards Callander, and I decided to follow, thinking there was a serious problem here! It was low, flying over town and hydro wires and then turned out over the lake again. It "folded" and looked like it was coming down, but re-opened and turned back as I was pulling to the side of the road. I got out with my camera, and snapped this as he was about to cross right over me. You could hear a buzzing sound, and I guess he controls the direction by his arms. No idea how he lands. Too weird. Must be the long weekend.......

May 18th - Tracking with Blast

We're in a hot spell this week, way hotter than Southern Ontario, and we have black flies mixed in. Nice combination....not. However, early morning had damp grass so it was a good time to get out. This track is beyond a TD type track, has some TDX work mixed in. As well, I wanted to work on better focus on the track from Blast, as well as not racing off the start, so I did a few serpentines with turkey on them. Serpentines are great to throw in for a dog lifting its head or moving too fast....sure gets the nose down and working.
In this photo, he is in his last serpentine on the first leg, had shot past a food drop, and turned back to get it. Ideally, don't want this either, but a couple were buried in high or thick clumps of grass. Not a problem.

He's now moving at a nice pace on the straight track, with a deep nose, towards a cover change.

There was no hesitation or searching at the edge and he went right through on the track. Most dogs find these areas fun, but some find the transition difficult until they learn to work them out.

He has just come out of the bushy area, and is into shorter grass here. Shortly ahead, there's a lot of 'mossy' area which has a different scent. And then his first corner.

He has just reached his first article, a sock, and is investigating.

He sat on his own, I went up and put some turkey on top and he immediately lay down with the sock between his legs.

Normally, he just stands at his article, or picks it up. Either is fine for CKC, but I'd like a down, if it doesn't cause a problem. He easily starts again, with me just saying "Find" after being told what a good dog he is!

We've made three more corners, worked through an area of beaver grass in mushy ground, and crossed a 4-wheeler track. He's just turned his last corner and is picking up speed towards his final article, an old work glove. You can barely see a blue arrow pointing to his tongue here - not a panting tongue, but "tasting" the scent.

And here he is 'down' on his article. Again, I went up and fed him some turkey, dropped a little on the glove and praised him.

We spent some time playing with the glove and also a double ball rope toy I had hidden in my pants - this time the tongue was panting! I achieved my goals for this track, and we both had a good time!

Tanks' Discovery This Morning!

Early mornings are so interesting at this time of year; the birds begin to sing before 5 a.m.
We were out early to lay a Blast track and surprised two does just around the bend in the driveway while on the way to lay the track. Had camera in pocket, by the time I got it out, they ran. We were sooooo close...
Later on, taking Trust, Tank, and Jess down to head out into the fields, at the same place, Tank veered off the driveway, and startled at "something" in the grass. We looked and saw, not one, but two, very large/long garter snakes sunning themselves. One was very fat, we wondered if they were "a pair" and maybe babies were in order!!! Tank and Trust came to inspect, they just stand politely about 3' back and watch. We didn't want to scare the snakes off, so I just snapped a couple of quick pictures and we left them alone.
I don't understand why so many people cannot rationalize how harmless snakes are. The only poisonous snake in Ontario is the rattler, and normally only found in one area. Even they just want to be left alone. Snakes catch rodents. I understand the "surprise factor" as it often happens to me. Snakes are deaf, which is why this often happens. They want nothing more than to be left alone. I hate hearing people talk about killing them, or letting their dogs get them. It's just ignorance, as they do a lot of good. We are quickly losing much of our reptilian wildlife and should be protecting it, not destroying it.

For the 'brave souls' that want to see more detail, double click on the pictures. The head of the top one is at the very edge on the left; the bottom near the top left. Part of his? body is curled under the piece of log.