I am always humbled and honored to be the "dope on a rope" following my dogs on a tracking test. Hokey and I entered 13 TDX tests this fall. We got drawn in two and got in run in two others as an alternate. Oh, so close on a couple - including about a month ago in Virginia when two gun shots blew our almost perfect track.
I thought long and hard about not entering this last test in Virginia. After all, #13, the weather likely to be bad (on my end in upstate NY if not in Virginia) and admittedly, I was a bit discouraged. When we got in, I still waffled a bit. I would have to take my old car (yellow mini van with over 200,000 miles on it), had a bad cold, my good boots had a hole, etc. But off we went driving 400 miles down Route 81.
Sunday am was cold (temps in the mid 30s) and wet. It started off misty/drizzly for the TDs, but then started to actually rain when we went. Oatlands Plantation is a cool site with sweeping grass areas and plenty of three day event jumps (for horses) scattered about. The grass was manicured lawn though - literally cut closer than my lawn at home ever is! There were woods, a stream, some brushy areas.
Our draw items to determine our tracks were cute angel ornaments. We drew Track 2. Track one went off well but the BC got drawn down the cross tracks.
It was our turn. The wind and rain picked up but Hokey started right down the first leg. Then we turned left up a long, rolling hill. At the top, he indicated a turn to the right. The track actually went a touch further but he was hesitant to go between the low branches of an evergreen and a solid telephone pole log jump.
We almost blew it right then. Hokey spotted a white article (a piece of trash as it turns out) and did classic VST dog article search mode. Luckily when he realized it was not one of our articles, he worked his way back and came across one of our real articles! Yay - just two articles & hundreds of yards to go!
We went straight a bit and then turned right to go back down the hill. Hokey had now crossed over both sets of cross tracks with barely a nod. We went through a brushy/swampy/pricker area, then some more field and down a banking, over a creek into the woods. The creek was 6 to 8 feet wide in places and about a foot deep at its deepest.
On the far side of the creek, Hokey turned left onto a path through the woods. It was dirt and cinder, with a few old leaves around. The second article was partway down this leg. Good boy Hokey!!
We finally left the woods and came out into a nice field. Hokey immediately turned left to go back down to the creek. At the end of the line, he hesitated a touch. I honestly could not believe we would actually go over the creek again so I held steady. Poor Hokey then checked every possible permutation of the field edge and finally insisted we head down to the creek. Thankfully I did trust him - the words of Ed echoing around my head, "90% of the time, the first way the dog checks is the correct way".
I might add, this is a dog who hates water! On a 90 degree day at an agility trial he will not even go in the kiddie wading pools.
Hokey went right through the creek again and then onto a sheet of ice (which was over land, not water). We got the line caught on another jump right there but then he went straight to snuffle at a blob of mud. He snuffled, turned, smiled at me and sat! That is his stellar article indication and I ran up to see that the "blob" was a brown, wet, muddy glove, stuck in the mud!!
I screamed, he bounced around, the judges screamed, my track layer screamed and Hokey had (despite me almost blowing it!) earned his TDX which also gave him his CT or Champion Tracker title!
The title is a huge high of course, but best of all, is that Hokey is still alive and well, still loves doing things, training, traveling and competing. 14 months ago I was in terrible despair with a dog with a very guarded prognosis from an aggressive lymphoma. And from our despair came hope as he handled the chemo so well and now an amazing success!
The judges (Susan Ammerman and Judith Edwards) hustled off to the next track while my track layer (Sharon Kilrane) and I walked back up towards the start area where our cars were. I dried Hokey thoroughly and gave him a bunch of chicken.
Sadly, no other TDX dogs passed.
We had along drive home - made longer by stops for caffeine for me and double cheeseburgers for Hokey.
I am still in awe at my dog's ability. And our motto is "Canine Cancer Survivors Can Do"!!!
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