Variable Surface Track: Poodle having a go

 Very nice!! Good pup! :)  Good indications, why did you pick sit, versus some of the other options?

 Is your goal a VST or are you doing SAR stuff? 

 I was just out tracking with my boy and 2 of his pups yesterday.  Logan is working at TDX (Tracking Dog Excellent) level, the goal is a CT (Champion Tracker) title.  The pups have only recently been started, but are wonderful.  Weimaraners are another excellent tracking dog  :)

I picked the retrieve for artricle indication, I started with two different  behaviors, and recently he married the two, which is always exciting!  Yesterday he was 100% reliable on his retrieves and he left alone other stuff (sadly, trash) that was found on the track... I was a proud Dog Mama! :)

Very cool, thank you for sharing the video!

Sera_J

 Very nice!! Good pup! :)  Good indications, why did you pick sit, versus some of the other options?

I did that becuase she is happy to sit at the articles. I prefer that my dogs don't retrieve as the scent that they get from handing the article my overload them. My younger dog drops.

Weis are a great tracking dog, they are awesome. Very jealous...

Sera_J

Is your goal a VST or are you doing SAR stuff? 

Here VST is SAR! The dog has to be Tch first (Luci is) which is a bit different may be harder to your TDX. 

Then they get judged for three tracks for TSD

 and a further three for TSDX . That is our goal. 

Trash is always a problem, The video was taken at a show center for dogs here. People chuck cigarette butts and rubbish everywhere.

In a couple of tracks, i will take her down to the local burger bar, track into the shop and leave and article and back out again. The trash porblem around them is acute.

poodleOwned

I did that becuase she is happy to sit at the articles. I prefer that my dogs don't retrieve as the scent that they get from handing the article my overload them. My younger dog drops.

Weis are a great tracking dog, they are awesome. Very jealous...

Good point. Though I do the retrieve as it seemed the most instinctive of the behaviors for a weim, I can't imagine him downing or sitting at an article.... he's just so.... yeah. LOL Probably not going to happen! I always love to see a nice working dog down at the article, lovely piece of training... and too rich for my blood! lol :)

There are some wonderful weims in Oz, in fact one of Logan's babies maybe going there later this year! :o)

I'm trying to understand how it works for your titles, could you dumb down your explaination a bit for me??  I'll explain AKC's.

Before you can enter a trial your dog must be Certified, a Judge will lay a preliminary track to verify your dog can track (since Tracking tests can only accommodate such a limited amount of dogs they do this to make sure they aren't wasting a spot.)  Once you are ready you start at:

TD level (Tracking Dog) from this your dog must (essentially) be 20-30 ft from you on the end of the line and follow the track which is (I believe) 300 yards with 3, 90* turns.  You must have both the starting and the finishing article in possession to return to the Judge. Course is aged from 30-120 min.  If you go off course you are DQ'd, but you may remain on the course as long as your dog is actively tracking.  If you pass you get your TD title.  From there you go to:

TDX (Tracking Dog Excellent)  there are 4 articles and one "obstacle" (a road or a drastic change of terrain, for example, would constitue an obstacle) there must be so many turns, I believe it's upwards of 400 yards and one cross track.  Aged 2-4hrs.  You must hand over all 4 articles to the Judge to qualify.  Same rules apply (go off course or "direct" the dog and you get DQ'd.)  Last is:

VST (Variable Surface Tracking) - and this is very difficult.  Usually they use college campuses, you must be, I believe 6 ft behind your dog... and  it's extremely difficult. I don't know all the rules... but, after TDX I'm going to begin working on it.

Your dog must have a TD to get a TDX, but they don't need either to get a VST.  However to get a Champion Tracker (CT) title you'll need both the TDX and VST.  So, if your dog has a TDX and you receive the VST you would no longer have a TDX (nor add a VST) to the back of the dogs name, it would move to the front as a CT.

I wanna hear how it works there! :)

 Hi

You have to do the tracks in order

Our starts up to track 7 are a single flag with a scent article at the base. Really nice judges will tell you where the tracklayer left form but never count on it.

Here we go. First you have to do a TQT which is about 400M up to 4 corners and 2 articles. The emphais on our tracks is finding the tracklayers but you have to find a certain number of articles. The age is 1/2 hour. If you fail twice in a row , you need to go into a a bllot to get into the next trial.

Then you get to do Track 2 which is 800M (about 750 yards) 1/2 hour 2 articles more than 2 corners usually in a rural setting must find the known  tracklayer and one article

Track 3 gives you TD . Some smart dogs (like luci) do Track 2 and Track 3 in one day.... Track 3 is the same as track 2 but with an unknown tracklayer.

Track 4 is 3 articles 2 of which must be indicated 1000M at least 4 corners aged 1 hour plus 

Track 5 is the same as Track 4 with a xover by a person

Track 6 has an acute corner as well  an dis 1200M  This gives you TDX

Track seven has two acutes at least four other corners aged at least 1 1/2 hours 2 xovers. The start is between two flags 30M apart.

This gives you Tch

The tsd tracks progress similarly.

My now deceased Lab did a Tch track when he was 13 1/2 in 10 minutes. He could really fly.!!!

Thanks for posting the videos of your poodle tracking. Very interesting to watch. I've been involved in AKC tracking for over 15 years, and judging tests for almost 10 years, and I've only encountered one tracking poodle. He was outstanding, and I'd love to see more. Here's a little more about the AKC tracking titling requirements:

For TD, as Sera said, a dog must first be certified by an AKC judge as eligible to enter a TD test by successfully completing a track that meets the same requirements as an official TD track. The only difference is that the certification track can be arranged to be done at the judge's and handler's convenience rather than being run at an official AKC event. The TD track may be between a half hour and two hours old, in theory. In practice I've rarely seen a TD track that was more than about 75 minutes old. The track may have between three and five corners, and at least two of those must be right angle turns. Almost all TD tracks have four turns, and usually at least three of those are right angle turns. The track is between 440 and 500 yds (400 to 450 m) long. There is a start article, and the dog must indicate the article at the end. The track must be laid by someone who has not laid a track for the dog for the preceding 30 days, and I would say that realistically, the tracklayer is a total stranger to the dog about 90 % of the time. Certification plus one pass at a formal test earns the title.

For TDX, there is an article at the start and end, and two articles along the track. The dog must indicate the two intermediate articles and the final article, and the handler must present them to the judge at the end of the track. The track is between 800 and 1000 yds (730-900 m) long, and is between 3 and 5 hrs old. In my experience, the tracks are typically 3 to 4 hrs old, but it's not unheard of for the full 5 hrs of aging to have elapsed. There must be at least 2 obstacles, and there may be more. The track is deliberately crossed by a pair of cross trackers at two separate places about an hour and a half after the original track is laid. Technically, the TDX track must have between 5 and 8 corners, most of which should be right angle turns. In reality, the track may also contain any number of "wiggles" to accommodate the terrain.The title is earned after the dog passes the test once. The pass rate is about 15 %.

VST is about 600 to 800 yds long, and is aged 3 to 5 hours. There is a start article, two intermediate articles and a final article (one of which must be plastic, and one must be metal). The track must include at least one vegetated surface, and at least two non-vegetated surfaces, and from 1/3 to 2/3 of the track must be on non-vegetated surfaces. Like TDX and TD, the track layer is someone who hasn't laid a track for the dog in the preceding 30 days. There must be between 4 and 8 turns, and at least one turn must be on an unvegetated surface that doesn't any vegetation within 30 yards of the turn. Other turns can be on sidewalks lined with grass, or on vegetated surfaces, or anywhere, really. The tracks should pass near and around buildings, may use stairways and ramps, can go under covered areas like parking garages and car ports, whatever. There is no limit on "contamination" of the track by pedestrians. The title is earned after the dog passes the test once. The pass rate is about 5 %.

A dog must earn a TD before he can be entered in either a TDX or a VST, but the TDX and VST can be taken in either order. Almost always, dogs earn a TDX before they earn a VST but there is no requirement to do it this way. Passing both TDX and VST earns the dog the title of CT (Champion Tracker).

I really enjoyed reading the requirements of the Australian titles that you posted earlier. It seems that the Australians place much more emphasis on the dog being able to discriminate the actual track from other contaminating tracks right from the very beginning, and more passes are required to earn the title. The AKC tracks are aged longer than the comparable level Australian tracks. I think it's interesting that the Australians make a distinction between tracks laid by a stranger and someone known to the dog. I've never yet seen a dog who seemed to care the least bit whether he was tracking a stranger or someone that he knows. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I've never seen it in the dogs I've worked with.

 Hi

Thanks for the reply. I like reading about your trials too. I have to agree with you about known and unknown tracklayers. Most dogs could not care less. 

My own experience is that ageing for my dogs beyond 1 1/2 hours seems to make very little difference, except in our sun i would be a little worried about the hard surface track.

Prior to Luci i had a very fast Labrador. He was actually harder to read and harder to train than Luci. I don't like to admit it , but Luci is very easy to train for tracking, works very well and is a joy to handle. No strained backs! My younger dog Sam is potentially better. he really has it.

several of us Poodle people are tracking this winter. Most are from similar lines to Luci. They are such lively affectionate but very fiesty dogs. We don't let the bitches get too close to each other!

What i appreciate about Luci is her reliability. She never gets it wrong. She is also very confident and leaves me in no doubt.

As well as tracking, she is trialling at UD and we hope to crack one or two Agility trials later this year. After this track, she did a very good UD round. I keep on pushing for the doggy equivalent of horse eventing, and i reckon poodles would be right up there. I don't know about the states, but if you talked about eventing at say even the x level (CDX TDX ADX) you wouldn't have a whole lot of takers.

I would love to see a Lab or Poodle doing  a VST track.... Hinting...

 THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS!!

 I've tried to decipher the rules from reading other things -- and obviously I was mistaken -- good thing I always overtrain!! :)  Very interesting.  The pass rates (((((gulp))))) that's a little horrifying!  Very interesting figures and awesome information.

 As a Judge any tips to pass on? Things you wish people knew prior to entering or during tracks, or a few of the things that most frequently cause a DQ?

Loved the videos and reading about Aussie Tracking info, I see a lot of weims who have Tracking Championships there (which they consider a Dual there, but not here, sadly.) and always wondered how it was achieved. 

 Hi

I think that there are possibly a large number of trackers on the ground here particually in our state. Our pass rates are quite high BUT most people belong to small tracking groups where they get a ton of advice and help. It is also huge fun . I would be telling lies if i said that our tracking group is full of very serious humourless people :)

Here are the things in OZ that get DQ (we say NQs here). Putting the dog off at the start by doing rough house obedince crap at the start. I have seen so many dogs get it wrong at the start becuase of the owner.

Training your dog to follow your body language and in a trial the dog follows you rather than the track. 

Some say "trust your dog" I say train your dog so that you can trust him or her. I am very fond of teaching my dogs to drive out of corners as they all have been hunters at one stage or the other.

Lack of proofing. Dogs that can't handle rough wind or rain conditions.Today is a good day to do a track in the rain!

Poor motivation. 

Lack of Physical fitness.

Handler can't read dog and gets in way or can't move to help dog.