HERE'S SOME INFORMATION ABOUT TRACKING FROM THE WEST HIGHLAND TERRIER CLUB OF AMERICA
More on Tracking and Westies
TRACKING:
Tracking
is what our dogs often do when they are out for a walk. They detect the
scents of various animals and people as they walk, and often they try
to follow the ones that interest them. In tracking events, you train
your dog to follow a scent you choose for them. Tracking is definitely a
sport at which Westies can excel, because they were bred to hunt using
their noses to help them find their quarry.
The AKC
offers titles for the successful completion of tracks of increasing
length and difficulty. There are now three titles in AKC tracking: TD
(Tracking Dog), TDX (Tracking Dog Excellent), and most recently, VST
(Variable Surface Tracking). If a dog gets all three titles, the
initials CT (Champion Tracker) may be used before the dog's name. As of
December 1996, there were 43 Westies with TD titles and 4 Westies with
TDX titles.
A track in
an AKC test consists of a path through the outdoors chosen and marked
with flags by two judges and a tracklayer the day before the test, then
walked the day of the test by the tracklayer. As the tracklayer walks,
he/she leaves behind one or more personal articles from the handler (a
glove, wallet or other item). The track is then aged a prescribed amount
of time, and the dog and handler are brought to the start, and must
follow the track to the end and find all of the articles left by the
tracklayer.
Tracking
is one sport where positive reinforcement is not just recommended, but
required to train the dog. Because a dog's sense of smell is thousands
of times better than ours, we really have no idea how a dog tracks, and
if the dog decides not to track, we cannot "show" the dog how. The dogs
are the experts, so we can only help them learn to enjoy it, trust them,
and follow behind and marvel at their skill. Perhaps because of this,
tracking is, for many people, the most engaging and fascinating of all
of the dog sports.
Tracking
is an excellent sport for people who enjoy the outdoors and who are in
reasonably good physical condition. Tracking events are held in all but
the most severe weather, so warm and waterproof clothes are a
requirement. If you enjoy tracking and want to continue past your TD,
however, you will find that advanced tracking work requires both you and
your dog to be fit, since you may need to climb fences, ford shallow
streams, and move through woods, high grass and dense cover in all types
of weather, both in training and in competition.
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