October | 2008 | Elyan Cardigans 2008 October

October, 2008

How We Fixed the Saturday Conflict

October 26, 2008 by MyEye

Wow! 45,000 Obama supporters went to UNM last night to hear our next President speak. John McCain was in Albuquerque yesterday morning and 2,000 went to hear him. I am so relieved that the really nice people at the Albuquerque Academy permitted our VST (tracking) seminar to be at their facility on Saturday because it would have been impossible to park and then to work the dogs at UNM — with the faithful coming in. People parked miles from the campus and walked. When Johnson Field filled, people stood across the streets and into the neighborhoods to hear him.

Actually it gave us (tracking people) the opportunity to work at two splendid VST venues. Our seminar leader opined that we should submit both locations to AKC for approval for future tests. Great weekend — in so many ways.

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Tracking Seminar — I can barely walk

October 26, 2008 by MyEye

It was a splendid 75 degree day spent in the center of the old UNM campus. It culminated with the fourteen working attendees trying Moment of Truth (MOT) turns. They are on concrete with nothing for the handlers to key on — it’s all up to the dogs. I now know so much more about how dogs scent, how the wind and curbs and stairs effect scent, why a tracking dog must have a strong article indication . . . amazing.

And after we finished the seminar at 4:30, I went home and grabbed Chase. We went to track with my friend Burt. Little Chase did a grass to landscape rock track with the single turn on the rock — and the little guy did it pretty well. My goal is to have him certified this winter so he can be entered in the El Paso TD test in January (maybe in ours, but since I always work the test, it would be hard to enter the two dogs there).

Our seminar instructor was Ed Presnall lured here from Wisconsin. Our main campus is large, with lots of buildings so Kip and I played “Sacajewa and dog” to guide him to the duck pond and surrounding grass, gravel, wooden bridge . . . We have lots of wide monument steps — he made good use of them. What that means is that Kip will sleep until Tuesday and I’m taking lots of Aleve. Sorry, I took no photos because I was thinking the entire time!

Category Kip, Tracking, UNM, Weather | Tags: | Comments Off
Tracking Seminar

October 25, 2008 by MyEye

Bunky and Kip — Let’s Go Tracking!

Today was day one of the VST seminar. Bunky (a Pem with letters surrounding his name), is more than ten years old, already has his TDX and came close to earning his VST in Denver last weekend. Kip has his certification and is waiting to get into a TD test. The seminar has been enlightening in many ways. We’re working short tracks loaded with articles like junction box covers and wall switch plates.

The big surprise of the seminar (for us) was that the sprinklers came on over our first article track and Kip and I were soaked to the skin. (That’s why he isn’t wearing his harness in this photo — it’s hanging on the side of the Element drying) Since it (almost) never rains here, Kip kept asking if I was sure I wanted him to track through the falling water — of course I did, though many were fainter of heart. We spent the next five hours drying in the sun. Fortunately, it was in the low 70′s with brilliant sunshine.

Today we were at the Albuquerque Academy’s gorgeous campus. Tomorrow we’ll be at UNM’s main campus and will face some exciting new challenges. There will be far more building work, stairs, and sidewalks. I’ll try to remember to take photos.

Category Kip, Other dogs, Tracking, UNM, Weather | Tags: | Comments Off
Wordle – This Week

October 25, 2008 by MyEye

This is my blog for the past week. www.wordle.net will scramble what you said and create a word cloud. Fun?

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Hanging on for Dear Life

October 25, 2008 by MyEye

I have a sense of kinship with those little plants scratching it out in the rocks — and making it. This is another shot from the Valley of Fires in south central New Mexico.

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