Jan 26 2025 TDX Tracking Test

At Mather Regional Park, Sacramento CA.
Secretary, Chief Tracklayer Karey Krauter.

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YAY another TRACS TDX test in the books!  This year the date was Jan 26, and the location was our home turf of Mather Regional Park, on the final weekend of a near-record dry January.  The heavy rains of December brought up a good base layer of green, but definitely not a tall thriving cover.  Good enough cover to need the waterproof boots first thing in the morning when the dew and frost was present, but that quickly dried out by mid-morning.  Our morning was crisp with a chill wind and partial cloud cover – perfect dog weather!  Saturday plotting day went efficiently, the judges staying well ahead of the 1-hour-per-track plotting schedule, fortunately our tracklayers were all showing up ahead of schedule too. 

Huge thank you to a couple of our fave judges Roy Fair from Oregon and Pia Paulsen from SoCal (scary stories from Pia about the LA wildfires apparently surrounding her Malibu home but not touching her neighborhood).  Equally huge thank you to our tracklayers Cathy Beam (love how she lives so close – but that means she’s the one we pick on to arrive and lay at the crack- of dawn!), Jim Aitken (poster child example of an ace tracklayer who has never trained a tracking dog, THANK YOU for coming!), Renee St Denis (using this to inspire her to get going on her tracking training!), and Lizanne Kaiser (who had the 2-hour drive THANK YOU!).  Our primary cross tracklayers were Meg Azevedo (sacrificing herself even as she is recovering from the latest accident she has had with her young-at-heart bull-in-a-china-shop harrier!) and Alice Webber (fresh off earning her first TDX, nicely returning the good deed!).  Our secondary cross tracklayers were Rosalie Ball (soon, soon we’ll see her get started in the sport!), and Jean Schafer (love you for paying it forward!).  Plotting day was expertly executed by all involved, you make my job easy!

Oh wait I also have to send major gratitude to Sandy Zajkowski, also a non-tracking person, who has come to realize that we really really like it when she brings her RV to test HQ!  She’s our portable restrooms, shelter and warmth from the chill outside, and a stove on which to heat the hot soup we had for lunch both days!  This is SO not roughing it like most tracking tests, I think I may be permanently spoiled now!

Test day Sunday started with a beautiful crescent moonrise and then sunrise over the fields, not a breath of wind until the chill rose up later in the morning.  We offered 3 TDX tracks plus an alternate track. The test received 6 entries, two of which withdrew before test day due to recently passing elsewhere (Alice!), so everyone got a track.  Bottom line: we had one pass, which is a “yay” in my book!

Track #1 went to a 6yo Golden Retriever dog.  I watched an excellent confident start and first two turns past the first cross track.  Then we were sad to watch him take the second crosstrack.  Dang those things!

Track #2 went to a 4yo Bernese Mountain Dog bitch.  This dog also had an excellent confident start and first turn.  Unfortunately, this dog took the first crosstrack and couldn’t get back to the main track.

Track #3 went to a 3yo Flat-coated Retriever bitch, who also happened to be in season (hence being assigned the 3rd and last regulation track).  This dog took off from the start a such a pace – crossed the crosstracks early and without a second glance, hit and indicated the first article like a pro.  We all said “holy moly!” Then the restart from the article – her true flat-coatedness came through, and gave us all heart attacks as she devolved into zoomies around and around the handler.  I can’t imagine the handler felt calm, but he LOOKED the picture of calm waiting for the storm to pass.  All of a sudden she hooked into the track again and was off at a run.  Nailed the next turn, nary a pause in the tall dry reeds, overshot (what we knew was) the second-to-last corner but recovered, landed at speed on the second article.  We all said “holy moly!” And then the zoomies happened again.  We are holding our breaths: they’ve got so much of the track under their belts now.  After another moment, she hooked into the track again and took off, across the road, penciled in the final corner, arrived at final article after a total of 15 minutes (10 of which were zoomies). Happy whistle, PASS!  Congrats to Paul Brink and Flyway Farms Raven’s Merry Prankster, TDX!

The alternate track went to an 11yo Smooth Collie bitch.  She was such a dear, so careful, good steady start, lost quite a bit of momentum as she approached the first turn.  There was a gravel path shortly after the turn, and she kept trying to figure out the turn, and the handler patiently waited her out.  Patience paid off, and they were rewarded with the first article after the turn.  Good on this dog for having such good conditioning (and the handler’s patience), she wasn’t giving up and soldiered on down the next LONG leg past the first crosstrack and around next corner.  She was finally unable to figure out a combination of the second crosstrack, and a nearby asphalt road paralleling the main track. 

Sadly I’d say the score for the day was Passes/1, Crosstracks/3.  There were some excellent handling and recovery moments, and moments of patience, that I am taking home with me to learn from, THANK YOU to everyone involved!  Can’t wait to see you all next time!