I looked forward to this day with slight trepidation as the forecast did not look promising, and I feared a repeat of last year’s ‘wipe out’.  However, I need not have done as the weather was beautifully sunny, albeit cold as is to be expected in December, but also quite windy, although nothing like last year’s storm!

We are extremely lucky to have such wonderful local farmers like John & Monica Harper who are allowing us to use their land for these tests, and they have done so now for many years, and they are always happy to welcome us back. We cannot thank them enough. 

We had another large entry of 11 participants and had to pull in a second judge to stop people having to stand around all day waiting for their turn in the freezing cold. Therefore I am very grateful to our 2 judges: Anne Thorpe, Levels 1 and 3, and Rita Banfather, Level 2 for giving up their time and being so encouraging to our teams, as well as being efficient and  making sure we finished all the tests by 1pm, so we could retire to our Club Hut to warm up with some hot soup. A very big THANK YOU to you both.

Also, a big thank you of course to our wonderful tracklayers who put all the tracks down on time and with great accuracy, and without wasting any land. They were Colin Bricknell, Pip Nason in the Level 2 and Andy Baker, Len Newman in the Level 3, with Len also laying the one Level 1 track. We could not have run this day without you.

Sadly, not all teams completed their tracks, but quite a few of them managed to do at least half of their tracks, but the windy conditions were too difficult for some of the beginner dogs. Hard luck story of the day were Kate Wilton and Finn who were attempting the Level 3 track for the very first time. Finn tracked beautifully and Kate handled him really well, until they came a cropper just 2 legs before the end. The track was 18 legs long, so they did a brilliant job and no doubt will pass at their next attempt, weather conditions permitting!!

These are the results:

Level 2:

Stepanka Bradford & Kaia (Rottweiler)

Bev Hassan & Tilly (Crossbreed)

Nicky Crowther & Ellie (Lab)

Level 3:

Sharon Lord & Echo (Golden Retriever)

Congratulations to the above and better luck next time to those who did not yet pass. You all have great tracking dogs, so keep practising and keep gaining experience in lots of different weather conditions. Success will surely follow!

Finally, big thank you to Ann Ferens organising all the catering and John & Shirley Simpson setting up the Club Hut for our return to the field and welcoming us with the hot soup and lots of beverages!

Thank you to all the participants for being so cheerful and kind to your dogs, and for supporting each other and making this day such a nice social event.

Keep on Tracking folks!!

Carla

This day was a huge contrast to our last tracking test day in December when storm Durragh raged across the land.  The weather was beautiful, very cold but sunny and dry and just a breeze making conditions ideal for tracking. Only 5 teams took part, and they were invited as they had entered and were badly affected by the December storm. Sadly, not all dogs got around their tracks for various reasons and not clear to us, which is when we would all like to have a conversation with our dogs to find out why they found it difficult when it looked so easy!  We shall never know, of course, and we can only try and learn from it.

None of these failures had anything to do with the judge or the tracklayers as they all did a great job.  Heather Donnelly did the judging and set straightforward patterns (see below) and Pip Nason laid the 3 Level Two tracks and Andy Baker the 2 Level Three ones. Big thank you to you all for all your efforts and for being such good company.

We finished the morning back in our Club Hut which had been neatly set up by Shirley the day before (thank you, Shirley!) and we soon got warm again with a hot cup of soup and some tea and cakes organised by Ann Ferens. Super job as always.

So, our 2 qualifiers were:

Level Two: Kate Wilton & Finn (ESS)

Level Three: Sharon Lord & Echo (Golden Retriever)

For those of you who did not pass today, know that you were in a majority!

If anyone can find some large grass fields we can try and maybe hold another Summer Tracking Test Day.

In the meantime, whatever result you had today, don’t give up and Keep on Tracking!

Carla

Well, what a day we had! I did get close to cancelling it as the weather forecasters had advised us all to stay at home this weekend! However, storm Darragh had been raging since Friday afternoon, so I was hoping that the worst of it would be over by the Sunday morning. And it did look like it when we started off at 9am, as the rain seemed to have stopped and the wind had dropped a little, but not for long as it all picked up again during the morning and some of us got very wet and cold, especially the poor tracklayers and judges.

So first of all a huge THANK YOU to Sam Watkins and Paul Adams for honouring their judging appointments and not chickening out because of the weather! You both did a super job, setting straight forward tests and Sam was the lucky one as all her teams passed their Level One and Foundation tests, but poor Paul only had one successful team in the Level Two. His fields were located slightly higher up, and therefore they may have been more exposed to the gales. We shall never know why dogs struggle to get around their tracks.

All Tracking was done on fairly high rape crop, except for the Level Two tracks, which were all run on a ‘sparse’ wheat field.

We could not have run this day without our dedicated tracklayers: Colin & Lynn Bricknell who laid all the Level One and Foundation tracks, Pip Nason who laid all the Level Two tracks and Len Newman the Level Three tracks. The conditions were terrible and they all got drenched and freezing cold. We cannot thank you enough and we hope you enjoyed being part of the day once you got back to the base for a hot soup and a few cakes!

Big thank you to Shirley Simpson for turning the base into cosy café and to Ann Ferens for doing all the shopping and organising the judges’ lunches.

At the end of the day we ended up with 8 successes:

Foundation Level:
Mary Valentine & Isla (Golden Retriever)
Hazell Burton & Tor (Border Collie)

Level One:
Angela Howe & Raven (GSD)
Stepanka Bradford & Kaia (Rottweiler)
Sue Coles & Phoebe (Bracco Italiano)
Nicky Crowther & Ellie (Labrador)
Steph Gordon & Lacey (Labrador)

Level Two:
Ann Ferens & Betsie (Sprocker)

Congratulations to all the above and to those who didn’t quite make it today, we know that all your dogs are very good tracking dogs, but they were just thrown by the very difficult conditions.

Here is hoping that our next Test Day will be a nice sunny one for a change!

In the meantime: Keep on Tracking, folks!

Carla

It was the first time that we put on Summer tracking tests as we usually organise these in December, as conditions are usually better and land more available. However, after attending regular tracking training courses we had 4 teams ready to have a go at the Level One, Novice tests and one of them had found a beautiful, nearly 40 acre grass field, which easily would fit 4 tracks. So it was a last minute decision to put on these tests, and Jane Webb very kindly agreed to judge them for us. The weather was ideal, sunny with a nice breeze, although the ground was quite dry, but the grass nice and lush.

Jane set a nice straight forward pattern and Nicky Downes and Steph Gordon laid the tracks for us. Big thank you to you all for giving up your time to help our beginners take their first step up the Tracking Ladder. Also big Thank you to Angela for arranging the field for us and setting up the training sessions. We had 3 out of 4 teams pass their test and they were:

Sue Coles & Phoebe (Bracco Italiano)

Bev Hassan & Tilly (Crossbreed)

Angela Howe & Raven (GSD)

Many congratulations to you all and we hope you feel now more confident entering your next tracking tests.

In the meantime: Keep on Tracking!

What a day we had and only partly to do with the weather, which was freezing cold and wet!

Anne Thorpe who had offered to judge the Levels 2 and 3 for us unfortunately was not well and John Simpson offered to judge in her place. Sadly none of the four Level 2 participants got round their tracks, and only one of the two Level 3 entries was successful, as the weather conditions and very sparse ground made it extremely hard for the less experienced dogs. 

Then Sam Watkins, who was due to judge the Foundation and Level 1 participants, was involved in a car crash and her car was completely written off by somebody who slid into her on black ice coming off a flyover, less than 1/2 mile from the venue! Luckily Sam was ok, although badly shaken and bruised. So Shirley Simpson took over and judged the 4 Foundation entries (2 qualified) and I judged the one Level 1 entry, who thankfully also qualified.

So a huge thank you to John & Shirley for coming to the rescue and stepping in at the last minute to judge these tests.  Fortunately Anne & Sam had been able to suppy the track patterns and all the articles, making the judging very straight forward. Also big thank you to Steph Gordon, Nicky Downes and Andy Baker who all did a super job tracklaying, and it was such a shame that poor Nicky did not see anybody get around her tracks, which must be a first on any of our tracking days, but sadly the conditions appeared to be too hard for the beginner dogs on the day.

When the judging was over we all trooped back to the Club 'Hut' in our field, and enjoyed some lovely hot soup and cakes organised by Ann, who had also prepared a delicious quiche and salad for our judges. So another big thank you must go to Ann.

At the end of the day we ended up with the following 4 successes:

Foundation:
Bev Hassan & Tilly (Min Labradoodle)
Nicky Downes & Ellie (Labrador)

Level 1:
Ann Ferens & Betsie (Sprocker)

Level 3:
Ann Ferens & Rosie (W. Cocker)

Congratulations to the above and especially Ann for making it a double! Commisserations to those who did not qualify today, and we know that all your dogs have the potential to be good tracking dogs and that success is just around the corner.

Last and certainly not least, we would like to wish both Anne Thorpe and especially Sam Watkins a speedy recovery and hope that you will be able to judge for us in the not too distant future.

In the meantime, Keep on Tracking, folks!

Carla

Another very successful test day today in the freezing cold at Pimlico Farm.

Out of 11 entries 8 teams passed their tests. Judges Susanne Jaffa (Levels 2 and 3) and Jane Webb (Foundation and Level 1) did a super job setting nice straight forward tests.

So a big THANK YOU to them, and of course our wonderful tracklayers: Steph Gordon, Nicky Downes and Clive Griffiths for putting all the tracks down accurately and on time, so that we managed to finish in good time for lunch and a warm up at our 'Club house' with a big mug of soup and lots of tea and cakes!

Big thank you also to Ann Ferens for organising all the food and John & Shirley setting up the container and having it all nice and cosy for our arrival. Once we got in there it was difficult to leave!

All in all a very successful day, and we are hoping to have another Assessment day in the not too distant future.

Carla