To: tracking@trumpkin.gcn.ou.edu
Subject: Re-. New VST
You'll all have to put up with my bragging a little–or a
lot. I'm still floating in the stratosphere over Molly's VST pass. It wasn't
clean, it wasn't pretty, it wasn't fun, it certainly wasn't the best tracking
she's ever done, but she hung in there for me, and managed to get through it.
Molly arrived at this test as the second alternate, and although it was
pretty certain that the first alternate would get to run, I didn't know until
almost draw time that Molly had a chance. She drew the third track. It took
her 2 hours and 3 minutes according to the judges' charts. The track was 3
hours and 48 minutes old when she started, and as judge Carole Blanz later
commented, it was nearly 6 hours old when we finished.
Molly after her successful VST track
with Judge Carole Blanz, Alicia Keegan, Judge Barbara Adcock, AKC Rep
Betty Winthers |
Molly's start was clean and true, she worked a few yards
off the first leg, choosing to work the edge where the grass met a paved
drive. This put her in a good position to make the first turn, left onto the
asphalt, although she spent a little time exploring possible alternatives.
The second leg paralleled the back side of the gymnasium. Fifty yards down
that leg, she started searching for an article, and found the plastic lid of
a CD case without problem. She restarted very well, although I had to stop
her when a car came driving by. Then she continued on until she reached the
next turn–her "moment of truth" turn. After a little exploring a
few yards ahead, she made the right turn on the asphalt without difficulty
and continued down that leg until she reached the grass at the edge of the
soccer field.
That's when the trouble began. (One thing I've learned in
six years of tracking Shelties is that what the judges think will be
difficult has NOTHING to do with what the dog finds difficult.) She
completely lost the scent at the edge of the grass, circled endlessly on the
grass, circled back to where the first article had been, and re-executed the
non-vegetated turn at least twice. (One person in the gallery asked,
"Does she get extra credit if she does it more than once?") She was
getting visibly discouraged when she finally caught the scent, put her head
down and headed off across the grass to the left. It was a long leg, and she
was paralleling the track downwind. When she broke off and started circling,
I though perhaps there was another article, but she was simply trying to get
back on the actual track. Which she did, and continued a little further,
until she came to a dirt road in what looked like an old construction area.
Molly spent an unbelievably long time exploring the old pallets and other
junk, that had obviously collected scent, then she went up onto an old berm
beyond the junk, and spent some time exploring a ditch that ran lengthwise
along the top of the berm. At one point, while up on the berm, she caught the
scent of the track down below to the left, but when she got down to the
gravel drive at the bottom, she couldn't find it. Once again, she started
getting discouraged, but when I asked her to track she started circling
again. After an eternity or so, she worked a little farther down the dirt
road, then came back along a chain link fence on the far side of the road,
and followed the fence up along the short gravel drive below the berm. She
had searched this before and found nothing. But this time, following the edge
of the fence, she went just far enough, caught the scent on the asphalt
parking area at the end of the gravel, and took off again.
Down she went through an asphalt alley, with the fence on
the left and a building on the right, and me watching paranoidly for
articles. When we came to the end of the alley, a broad sidewalk went across
our path of travel, with a large lawn beyond. She indicated loss of track,
and managed to make the left hand turn with a lot of circling, but no
particular problem. Thirty yards down the leg, circling the whole time, she
started pawing at a flattened tin can in the grass–her second article.
Molly and
Alicia
at the end of Molly's successful VST track. |
I had trouble getting her to start again at that point.
She was very tired, and clearly thought she had been tracking long enough (if
the truth be known, so did I). But she started searching again, and continued
straight ahead until she entered a courtyard formed by a cluster of
buildings. There we encountered a couple of young boys practicing skateboard
jumping maneuvers off to our right. She showed interest in that direction,
but was reluctant to go near the rather loud skateboards. So she went forward
a little more and started working around them. To my relief, the judges
pointed out to the kids that skateboarding was not permitted on the campus,
and the boys left the area. Molly continued to work the whole time, but,
unknown to me she was now off the track. So she had to search the whole
courtyard complex. There were about six ways to get out, and all of them
(except the way we came in) were roofed breezeways. By this time, both of us
were exhausted. She was searching at a slow walk. "Please, Molly, just a
little bit longer," I kept begging. She searched every inch of the
courtyard and every exit several times. She stopped to visit three workmen
who were taking a break, and asked what she was doing. I explained and then
we went back to work. The men about five minutes later took their pickup
truck, and left through one of the breezeways. Molly searched the area where
the pickup had been, and then went out in that direction to search an small
sidewalk-edged grassy area sandwiched between two buildings. There we ran
into judge Barbara Alcock. It is rarely a good sign when the judges have to
split up to keep the dog in view. But after checking out Barbara, whom she
knows, Molly worked her way back along the edge of the building to return to
the big courtyard. I noted with some amusement that by this time the gallery
had crowded up almost on top of the judges. I am told that our tracklayer was
a complete wreck.
At long last, when her little nose was completely worn out
and I thought she would never make it, she went back to one breezeway that
she had investigated before. This time, she caught the scent, and started
pulling. When she came out of the breezeway, she made a hard left and
searched a long narrow strip of grass. Nothing there. But she clearly had the
scent at this time. Then she turned around and searched in the opposite
direction, into a dead end, where the building entrance was recessed. Nothing
there. Then she went straight out down a sidewalk adjacent to a parking lot.
When I looked forward, I could see across the parking lot all the tracking
people who hadn't followed her track lined up in front of the cars. When I
looked behind me, the breezeway was nearly blocked by all the people who had
followed her track for 2 hours. All I could think was, "I hope this is
the end, because if the track turns onto the asphalt at this point, we're
dead." Suddenly Molly swung hard right around one of the bushes that
edged the building. I had to stop her and untangle her line which was wrapped
around the bush. But she knew what she was doing. She backtracked a few
yards, and there on the sidewalk, where we had both overlooked it the first
time, was the most beautiful square of leather in the whole world. I knew we
had made it even before she started pawing at it.
I was crying. Molly was extremely pleased with herself. I
found myself hugging people I'd never met before. This was the first VST test
that either of us had run, and she is the first Sheltie ever to earn the VST.
I knew when we went into this track that she wasn't tracking as well as she
was last spring, but I thought we had as good a chance as anyone. She
fulfilled my every expectation, and more. I have never asked a dog to work
this hard for such a long unbroken stretch of time, and I hope I never have
to again. Being the truly unsinkable Molly Brown, she was willing, even
though tired and discouraged, to give me everything she could. Fortunately,
it was enough. I would have been just as proud of her even if she hadn't
passed.
Alicia Keegan
and the tracking Sagebrush Shelties:
Molly, UD, HS, AX, OAJ, HTD-IIs, HRD-IIIs, TD, VST
Raven, TDX, PT, OA, HRD-IIs
Kerry, HCT
and in our memory, Sagebrush Little Britches, UD, TDX
The successful VST track of
CT Sagebrush Molly Brown, VCD2 UD HS AX OAJ, HTD-IIs, HRD-IIIs |
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