Sagebrush Little Britches

Aged To Perfection

by Alicia M. Keegan

Britches at age 12 years.

On April 21, 1996, three months past her twelfth birthday, my Sheltie, Britches, passed her Tracking Excellent Test to become Sagebrush Little Britches, UD, TDX. And I got poison oak. The ASSA Handbooks report no more than three or four Shelties per year earning TDXs, with some years having none. I am so proud of Britches for joining this elite group.

Britches is by Ch. Dorlane's Touch Of Class, CD, ex Sarabande Meghan O'Sagebrush, UD. A fun dog to train, she earned her CD at 16 months of age, with unremarkable scores, but always enjoying herself. "Isn't it a shame your dog comes so slow?" one judge commented to me with a grin after Britches came flying in on the recall and bounced off my legs. In Open I really learned that Britches was more interested in good times than in good scores. "Earth to doggie, Earth to doggie, come in doggie" laughed another judge, after Britches went through the whole heeling pattern watching the crowd and not bothering to sit even once. It was perhaps fortunate that she didn't qualify that day. On another occasion she went over the high jump an extra set of times: once when I said "take it" and the second time when I said "heel". It's not surprising that Britches didn't get into the Utility ring until well past her eighth birthday. And having gotten into the ring, she was in no rush to get out. Eighteen shows later, she had her Utility title, with scores that ranged from 191 1/2 (good for first place) down to 178. She finished her UD one day past her ninth birthday.

The diagram of Britches' TD track.

Our answer: a new career!

Then I was faced with the question of what to do with a wonderful fun-loving dog who was obviously not a UDX candidate but who didn't want to retire. Our answer: a new career! That summer we started tracking classes. At 11 years of age, she got certified on her second try (she missed the article on her first try). I then entered her in the three tracking tests left in the spring of 1995. She got into only one of the tests, and passed with flying colors.

I might have retired her then–after all, she was 11 years old–but she did a far better job at tracking than she ever did in Obedience. Besides, she was having such a good time. So with the encouragement of Tracking judge Barbara Adcock ("This dog is definitely TDX material"), we continued tracking. Training was made considerably harder by my work schedule, which kept me from attending any TDX classes. But we pushed forward anyway. I started attending Barbara's TD classes with my beginning dogs, and plied her with endless TDX questions.

Working the really blind tracks!

Then the following winter, Britches started to be bothered by arthritis. It didn't quench her enthusiasm, but I realized time was running short. She was tracking pretty well, so I entered her in every TDX test I could. We made the draw for two of them. The first test was a disaster. The weather was hot and dry, and although I was pretty sure from her behavior where the track went, she never committed to the correct direction. She finally caught the scent of an article some 75 yards away on the third leg of the track, and got whistled off when she tried to shortcut over to it

In between tests, I tracked several times with our good friend Debbie Best ("Keep a tight line, Alicia"), owner of two TDX Goldens. On a couple of occasions, when our schedules didn't mesh, Debbie laid unmarked tracks for us before she went to work in the morning. She'd then call me and tell me where the start was. Three hours later, Britches and I would pick up a map of the track in a sealed envelope at Debbie's house, and go out and run the track. We floundered around a bit, but I never had to open the envelopes, and it gave me wonderful practice in reading the dog on a truly blind track.

Britches at age 15

Our answer: a new career!

Our second test track was the Oakland Dog Training Club TDX Test, the last test of the season. Britches drew the last track, leaving me several hours to work up a good case of nerves. We had a little extra waiting to do while the dog ahead of us worked around some bird watchers, complete with binoculars, right in the middle of his track. He finally passed, then it was our turn. Britches started well, and went steadily along with her nose right in the track. Turns? No problem. Obstacles? Woods, boulder fields, poison oak–she went right through that last one, not realizing that I considered it an obstacle. Cross tracks? No problem–I wasn't even aware when she crossed them, although the judges later said she indicated the first set of them. Articles? One eyeglasses case, one teddy bear, size extra small. About the time we got to the teddy bear, Britches realized that this was an extremely hot-dog deficient track. But she kept on working. Then we came to the obstacle from hell.

The track went down into a steep-sided dry gully. Britches went down into it, worked downstream about 10 yards, then lost the track at a two-foot drop-off and came up to check out the other side of the gully. After searching the area without success, she finally went back into the gully and found the track at the bottom.

She followed the track some 80 yards down the middle of the gully, negotiating several more two- to three-foot drop-offs. She got stuck in some roots at one of the drop-offs, and I had to lift her down. She worked confidently as the track came up out of the gully, crossed an open grassy area and then a dirt road. I'd lost count of the turns, but I knew we had to be near the end. Then some thirty feet past the dirt road, she lost the track.

Britches celebrates her successful TDX track with the judges and the other successful teams.

And I got poison oak.

Twenty minutes later, she still hadn't found it. I was almost ready to get down and start sniffing myself. There had obviously been people in the area, maybe more bird watchers, for I could see the grass trampled in several directions. When I glanced back, the judges were sitting cross-legged on the other side of the dirt road. Well, at least we gave them a break. Britches finally came back to me and announced that she couldn't find it. "I don't know where it goes," I said, "you'll have to find it yourself." I offered her some water and the start article to smell. She started working again. I went with her as she searched a wider radius around the area. Finally she caught an air scent, swung hard around a tree trunk to her left, snagged her line on a branch, and dropped her nose into the last leg. I unsnagged the line fast. Sixty yards down the leg, working a few feet down-wind, she caught the scent of the last article. A few more seconds and she sat with a satisfied grin on her face, as I picked up the most beautiful glove I'd ever seen. The track had taken her 58 minutes. I got down on the ground, and hugged her nearly to death, and told her she was the most wonderful dog in the whole world. And that's how I got poison oak.