Welcome to RDOC Tracking Class

Kelly and Fogell posted an awesome video I suggest you all watch. Hint: there a bunny. Reality check— we track in areas with wildlife. Monday there was a beautiful coyote in our field. We have several pair of foxes. A bear. And of course the usual suspects: bunnies, raccoons, possums, squirrels, deer, etc. How are you going to handle wildlife running across your track? What’s your plan?

Heather and Wren passed their certification test today in fine form! 🤞they get into our test!

I haven’t done a random thoughts for this year, and this seems like a good time… I judged this weekend.  8 dogs (4T, 4X).  One passed (T).  One—one dog—made us smile, starting like it came there to do the job, tracking smoothly and cleanly, nice tight turns.  It made an error, and didn’t pass. NOTE:  that was the dog we enjoyed watching.  That was the dog who arrived ready to do the job. We LOVE watching good dogs work, and we are sad when they make an error. We got to watch

I'll admit it's been confusing....so Group A is at Holly Ridge with Mary Ann. That's Melissa, Emaline, Michele, Heidi, Beth B Group B is at Cool Water with Judi. That's Arlene, Betty, Ralph, Heather, Flora, Joan Please let us know if you will NOT be attending.

No changes, just "supporting" so you end up at the right place: Group A (Melissa, Emaline, Michele, Heidi & Beth Baldwin) meet at Holly Ridge with Mary Ann & Susan K. Group B (Arlene, Ralph, Betty, Heather, Flora & Joan) meet at Cool Water with Judi & Ellen O. If you cannot attend, please text your instructor. Also, Leigh sent out a great email about tracking test hospitality today, including info on the Saturday dinner celebration (after we plot) on Feb 28. If you did not g

I understand trash has been reported on the fields at Holly Ridge and the Edwards' property. Plastic baggies. Deli baggies. Knotted, full poop bags. If it blew in from the road, pick it up. If you pack in baggies, please secure the plastic at your car. I don't need to lecture you on landowners, trust or how dang sad it will be if our relationships fail. Please pay attention. Mary Ann

We are working on our lesson plans for Saturday. A few folks have notified us that they will be absent. So.... we are going to combine Saturday Group A with Saturday Group B and we will all meet at Cool Water, 13033 Old Ridge Rd, Beaverdam VA 23015. Group A will be Beth G and Kelley W with Leigh P Dowd assisting (Betty S & Maureen W will be absent) Group B will be Ann L, Myriam D, Lauritz C, Ralph H and Chris R with Andrea Stefanac assisting Assistants arrive 730 Students a

Cedarock tracking workshops, Burlington NC, March 21–22 and March 28–29 Okay, dates are set, Cedarock tracking weekends are on the calendar in Burlington, NC. I’m splitting this into two weekends because it seemed like I had people working towards their TD / TDX (experienced tracking teams), and then (the part that makes my heart sing) people message me that they really want to start tracking or that they'd only done a little tracking. I wanted to be able to support both gro

TUESDAY STUDENTS DOG LEVEL DAY Date Day Group Location Instructor TUESDAY INSTRUCTOR AND ASSISTANT INFORMATION: SIMULCIK, MELISSA QUINN NOVICE TUE 11-Nov Tue A HOLLY RIDGE MAM JSE - instructor is Judi Edwards, 804-357-6464 cell WINTER, EMALINE OTIS TDX TUE GROUP A B COOL WATER JSE MAM - instructor is Mary Ann Massie, 804-467-5947 cell GILLETTE, MICHELE SAMSON TDX TUE Group A assistant is Susan Kolster, 703-606-8091 cell CAMPBELL, HEIDI NIMROD TD TUE 25-Nov Tue A COOL WATER JS

The makeup date for the Feb 10 "terrible field conditions due to ice cancellation" is MARCH 17. March 3, March 10, March 17 - so much fun being together in March!! Judi & Mary Ann

I’ve posted some phrases that have influenced me over the decades. Denny Emerson is simply an amazing horseman (Tamarack Hill Farm on FB). Ken Ramirez is truely a hero of mine (who else has saved over 300 wild elephants by changing their migration pattern, AND trained butterflies?????). I can tell you Ken stories….and I guarantee you will be in awe ( I just awed Kara over the phone). Please read them and think. None of these talk about the final behavior….because the final

Field conditions have not improved. The fall risk remains HIGH. So, no class Tuesday the 10th. A make up date has not been determined. Judi and I will work on that this coming week. Stay warm, stay safe. Mary Ann

”Success is often found by practicing the fundamentals everyone knows they should be doing, but find too boring or basic to practice rountinely.” James Clear “I do today what other’s won’t, so that I can do tomorrow what others can’t” Denny Emerson (gold medal Equestrian) “Good training is the fundamentals done really well.” Ken Ramirez “You get what you repeat”. James Clear Feel free to send others….there is a theme here.

What does your snow training look like? Mine has useless fun things (Fletch is learning to retrieve his stuffies by name); and some intros to obedience stuff (we are playing with taking an object and holding it); random downs; and some various obedience like foundation exercises. OH LOOK!!! Two of those things transfer to tracking—the random downs and the retrieve random objects. And, of course, we’ve played find the hidden object too. What are you doing to make your trac

When we created the eight week schedule for the tracking classes, we included one snow date for Tues folks and one snow date for Sat folks. Mother Nature laughed at us!! The Tuesday folks have completed 4 classes. (We canceled Tues Dec 9 and Tues Jan 27) Class #5 is already on your calendar for Tues Feb 3. Class #6 is already on your calendar for Tues Feb 17. Class #7 will be ADDED to your calendar as Tues March 3. Class #8 is already on your calendar as a snow date, Tues

Class will start at your designated location (no changes in location) at 0730. Class will end at 11:30 OR when the first snowflake falls, whichever comes first.

You liked the last one….so try this! https://youtu.be/hosBTlvPNRc?si=12plgWVpU4p-bVhD Nice start!  So my first thought is, “3hr, 20min, ok.  He’s a little wobbly on the first leg—not bad, but not what I consider our normal. At 52 seconds he stops for a food drop, and doesn’t immediately refind the track.  Huh.  At 1:05 he weakly casts off, again, not the behavior I am used too.  And again, I think, “huh.”  1.25…he takes the leg, but doesn’t hang onto it when I give line.  He

If you believe the weather folks, this drought will continue until mid April. So it’s possible the rains will come just as you are entering tests. What does that mean for your training? Of course I assume you are going out and tracking in the rain—the opportunities for that are much less this winter (so far). What track will you put in? How old will you make it? Specifically, how will you lay it? Please answer below, including your rationale for picking the track that y

I’m going to follow up on my post from yesterday. Tracking is different. In agility, in obedience or rally, we give cues or commands, the dog follows. We lead the dance. In herding, while the dog has significant authority and independence, we are still cuing, commanding, the behavior. In tracking, the dog leads, we follow. We, through slow and careful training, teach the dog what to follow….but the end goal is always that they lead, we listen, and we follow when they co

Group A and Group B will combine and meet at Cool Water. Again, both Tuesday group A and B will be together tomorrow, Jan 13 at Cool Water. Melissa (novice) Heidi, Beth B, Heather, Joan and Flora (TD) Emaline, Michele, Betty and Ralph (TDX) Susan Kolster (TD) and Ellen Oertel (TDX) assistants (Arlene will be absent) I will be texting with the TDX folks to get a plan and timeline together. TD and novice people please arrive at 7:45. Ellen and Susan please arrive at 7:30 if p