Tracking Certification

Well... we almost did it!

Bailey and I "tried" for our certification last night (in the AKC you have to run a full length TD track laid by a judge and be "certified" before you are allowed to enter a test). We made it to the last leg!!!!! I was a good handler up until then. I'm very happy with how she ran despite the elements. The last leg I didn't notice her indicating the track (it went off at a 45 degree angle). The judge said she tried to indicate (a tug on her lead) and since I held my ground, she went birdy (sniffing around, but not tracking), she tried again, and again I stood there (not believing her...) and then went birdying again and I got called (for checking my dog). Judge was SO darn nice, and we set it up to try again for next week on Wednesday.

I know we can do it, and last night was the biggest lesson I've had about trusting my dog! We worked that last corner for about five minutes and then to not trust my dog... arg! She was goooood though!

Anyway, that means I pushed her elbow lump removal surgery out another week since we won't be ready for the hunt test anyways. We are tentatively running one day of the obedience trial then, so we'll see how it goes!

If she works like she did last night, I think we'll be just fine, very, very soon.

Tracking is fun!