Dana
came along to Obedience as a baby puppy and after her
first class we both went home totally exhausted. Not
from class but Dana tried to jump on every dog and jumped
around like a Jack in the Box the entire time.
But we persisted, and then when she
was about 7 months old I was having a chat to John Hodges
and he suggested having a go at Tracking. I thought
this was a good idea but 6:30 am on a Sunday morning
rain, hail or shine was not sure. So we turned up and
yes it was beautiful Ballarat weather. It was freezing.
It didn’t take long and the first
dogs went out on their tracks. I followed along as part
of the gallery to see how the dogs worked.
Watching the dogs indicating articles left behind by
a track layer, turning at 90 degree angles where the
track layer had turned and finally leading us to the
track layer, who was hidden out of sight, completely
blew me away from that time on. I was completely hooked.
After Tracking and Obedience I went
home with lots of ideas and things to practice for the
next week. After we had been to tracking a few times
Dana and I started to catch on and with the help of
the Tracking Group it was amazing to see her work; she
loved it.
At about this time my husband Geoff
and my children became involved. The kids learned to
lay tracks and Geoff started to handle Dana.
Dana has worked fantastically this
year. She went on to gain her Preliminary Tracking Test,
Tracking Dog, Tracking Dog Excellent and the big one
Tracking Champion.
We would like to thank all of the Tracking
Group; it’s wonderful to have other people lay
tracks for you and their help has been invaluable.
Happy Tracking
The Martin Family.
oooOOOooo
