Pocketpack Owen's Page

© 2009 Lois Ballard

PERSONALIZED LICENSE PLATES
--Owen's Triple Championship

Personalized license plates are everywhere. They say things about the car's driver that they want you to know. Some people use an abbreviation for their name, nickname, favorite hobby, and dog people will usually have a plate that has something to do with their breed, or kennel name. Someday, I wanted personalized license plates too.

People that are seriously involved in dogs often set goals for themselves or their dogs. Some have goals for their breeding program, a win at the National, Group placement, or Best in Show. Maybe they long for a title in Obedience, Agility, or a DCA Versatility Certificate. When I became involved in Dachshunds and learned about some of the events they can compete in, I had a lofty goal… to have one of my dogs earn a DC (Dual Championship - Conformation and Field Championships) and a TDX (Tracking Dog Excellent) title. I decided that if and when that goal was achieved, I would get a personalized license plate: DC TDX.

AKC tracking events are a type of canine search and rescue. The beginning level tracking test is the TD (Tracking Dog) test which is plotted by two judges on one day and then is walked, the next day, by a human tracklayer ½-2 hours before the dog begins the test. The goal is for the dog to follow the track from the start article left by the tracklayer, through a field a distance of 440-500 yards with 3-5 turns to the end article. About 1/2 of the dogs that enter a TD test complete these requirements and earn a TD title. A TDX (Tracking Dog Excellent) test is 3-5 hours old, 800-1,000 yards in a field, with 5-7 turns. Two people create cross-tracks, while the track itself utilizes obstacles such as woods, fences, ditches or road crossings. Along with the start and end articles, 2 additional personal articles are left along the track for the dog to find. Only 17 to 20% of the dogs entering this test are successful in earning the title.

Tracking with my dogs is the most enjoyable thing I do with them. There is a relationship that develops that is beyond any that you have in other dog sports. In tracking, you can't force your dog to do it, you can't train them to obey you like in obedience. The dog has to want to track, because the dog is the leader in this dance, with you following, you reading his/her body language to know when to help, and how to redirect their attention from some other interesting scent or distraction back to the track. A good tracking team of dog and handler will become "one". The handler feels as if they and their dog are in a zone, barely hearing what is going on around them, only noticing things that affect the track as the rest of the world melts away.

One of my dogs, Kitty, earned her Field Championship and also the TDX title, but was not show quality, so she wasn't going to achieve my goal. I had high hopes that Toad would. She had earned her Field and Conformation Championships easily, as well as her TD title. Now if she could just earn the TDX! She was a good tracker and I knew she could do it, but time after time, she had one problem or another and we would hear that awful whistle from the judges that lets you know you have failed and will earn no title that day. I also had started working with Toad's son Owen… he had also earned his DC and TD titles easily and was doing well in TDX practice, but I felt Toad was more prepared and would pass before he did. I guessed wrong - they were both entered at the same test and Owen passed the TDX while Toad failed, taking the cross-tracks for the first time ever. I was very pleased with Owen, he had achieved my goal, and the next day, I ordered my personalized license plates - DC TDX!

Time for a new lofty goal, what would it be? Owen passed the TDX test when he was only two years old. He loved tracking and I very much enjoyed tracking with him. The only tracking option left to us was Variable Surface Tracking, of which I knew very little at the time. A VST (Variable Surface Tracking) track is 3-5 hours old, 600-800 yards, with up to 8 turns and is typically held at industrial parks or college campuses with vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Approximately half of the track will be devoid of vegetation such as sidewalks, parking lots, through open buildings, up or down stairs and around buildings. Along with the start and end articles, 2 additional personal articles made of metal or plastic are left along the track for the dog to find. Only 5% of the dogs entering this test are successful in earning the title. A dog that completes all three titles is awarded the prefix title of CT (Champion Tracker). At the time, I was pretty skeptical that a dog could do this, it seemed almost impossible, but thought if any of my dogs could, it would be Owen. All right, that would be it. My next lofty goal would be to have a Champion Tracker, which would also be a Triple Champion. A TC (Triple Champion) is a DC plus OTCH (Obedience Trial Champion), MACH (Master Agility Champion), or CT. I decided I would keep my DC TDX license plate until Owen earned a CT and TC.

I heard about a Beginning VST Workshop that was going to be held at the University of Wisconsin River Falls campus which was only three hours away. I took Owen and Toad with me, but planned on working mostly Owen in the Workshop because Toad had not yet passed the TDX test and I didn't think she would do very well at VST. During the two day workshop, I was amazed at how well the dogs, mine included, followed the tracks through areas that people were walking through, across parking lots full of cars, and around buildings with swirling winds. Dogs really have amazing scenting capabilities. I was no longer skeptical… and thought that maybe… someday… with LOTS of practice… Owen might be able to pass this very difficult test.

So, I started practicing, doing short tracks around my small town, at the parks, around the mall, the high school, at motels when I would be traveling to dog shows, anywhere that I could find the types of surfaces and conditions that are included in a VST test, and occasionally at industrial parks or campuses although there were none near me. I worked with Owen almost entirely, until Toad finally passed her TDX test at the 2001 DCA National in Portland, and I started working with her also. I entered both Owen and Toad in the 2002 DCA National VST test. I called a few friends after that test to tell them the news… my dog had passed, but it was the *wrong* dog! Toad had passed instead of Owen! I was very proud that Toad had passed the test to become the first Champion Tracker and Triple Champion in the breed. She had had very little practice, but did seem to take to it like a duck to water. But it was Owen that I had worked with, Owen that was prepared, Owen that I expected to achieve my goal. Oh well, we'll just keep trying.

After the 2003 DCA National, Hazel, who had been with Carlos Puig for the previous two years to be specialed, came home to stay and I began tracking with her again, as well as Owen. I worked with Hazel toward both TDX and VST at the same time. I entered both Owen and Hazel in the 2006 DCA National VST test in Georgia and again called friends after the test to say that my dog had passed, and again it was the wrong dog… Hazel passed and Owen didn't! A year later at the 2007 DCA National tracking test in California, Hazel passed the TDX test to become a Champion Tracker and Triple Champion like her mother, Toad. Poor Owen, he was my best tracking dog, did such a great job when we practiced, but in tests, we'd hear that darned whistle again and again.

I was beginning to think that Owen was never going to pass this test although I knew he was good enough and we were prepared. I lost Owen's mom, Toad, the end of January this year just two days after my father died. I was feeling pretty low this spring, missing Toad more than I could possibly describe, knowing that I'd never again be able to track with her, or let her chase rabbits, which was her favorite thing to do. I knew that I had to keep trying for the VST with Owen, he was 12 ½ years old and not getting any younger. I was very disappointed to learn that DCA was not going to have a VST test at this year's National, so I looked through the AKC website's list of VST tests this spring and found one of interest. It was a test held by the Croix Valley Tracking Club, the same club where Owen passed his TDX. It was to be held on Memorial Day at the University of Wisconsin River Falls campus, the same site where I first learned about VST at that beginning Workshop. It seemed like fate… I should enter that test. People involved in tracking know that the first hurdle is simply getting IN a test, and we did.

I drove to the test on Sunday afternoon, just Owen and me in the van, all the drive thinking how badly I wanted him to pass, thinking about Toad and how much I missed her, thinking how bad I would feel if Owen grew too old to track and was never able to pass this test. Test day morning, the draw for tracks came and Owen's would be track number 5. I watched the other dogs before us as the first two dogs passed and the third and fourth did not. Then it was our turn.

We were directed to the start of our track and as I walked Owen to the start flag and put on his harness, I talked to him, told him that I hoped we would be perfect this time, that we would make it all the way to the end, that I knew we could do this, and we had to do it this time. Then we were off. The beginning of the track was on grass parallel to a busy road and crossed over a few sidewalks to the first turn. After making the first turn, we were still in grass, crossing over more sidewalks and past trees. Oops, where'd that darn squirrel come from that just ran across the track ahead of us? Darn, Owen saw it, barked and wanted to go after it. I said "leave it!" and he agreed to get back to tracking again in his usual confident slow trot. We soon came upon the first article, plastic, which he stopped next to, I picked it up, told him he was a very good boy and to "find another one". Off we went past buildings and crossing sidewalks till we came over a small hill and out into a huge circular driveway in front of a building. This is where it gets tough. Just imagine trying to smell where a person walked on concrete 4 hours earlier. Owen's tracking style told me that there was a turn here, and I stopped and let out more of the 40' tracking line while he checked all the possibilities before deciding that the track turned right. I followed as he worked through the circle and onto a sidewalk between a driveway and a building. Moving along, he found the next article, metal, along this sidewalk. What a good boy, two down, one to go! Continuing on, we crossed over sections of grass and sidewalks toward a concrete stairs on our right with grass to one side of the stairs. Owen had no doubt that the track went up those stairs, so I confidently followed him. The stairs went up to a concrete half circle in front of a building with a large open concrete area to the left that had seating areas and a grassy hill above that. We continued around the circle and then headed straight towards a grass strip in front of a large long concrete wall. At the wall, Owen decided left was the correct direction and off we went, going uphill in grass toward a parking lot on the other side of a sidewalk. Once at the sidewalk, he checked a little ways into the parking lot but told me the track wasn't there, came back to the sidewalk and pulled hard to the right. Off we went down that sidewalk next to the front of another building with bushes and mulch landscaping along the front. At the end of the building, the sidewalk went into a parking lot where there were garbage containers to the right. Owen kept sniffing a particular spot on the sidewalk just before the parking lot and then also over toward the garbage containers, then back to the same spot on the sidewalk again. There was definitely something of interest at that spot. As I was wondering if someone had dropped food there, the judges walked up behind me and told me that final article was missing, as it was in that exact spot. It is acceptable if the dog indicates where a missing article was supposed to be. The judges said we passed!

As I carried Owen in my arms back to my van, I was crying, so very happy that Owen had passed the test, that he was now a Champion Tracker and Triple Champion like his mom, Toad and half sister, Hazel. I think Toad was watching that test from above and I hope we made her proud. The test was on Memorial Day, and I will forever think of that pass in "memory" of Toad.

Time for a new personalized license plate… what should it be this time?