Dec 15, 2024 VST-TDU Tracking Test

VST at Cosumnes River College, Sacramento CA, and TDU at Elk Grove Park, Elk Grove CA.
Chief Tracklayer Karey Krauter
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The 2024 Dec 15 TRACS VST-TDU is in the books!  We mostly lucked out weather wise – A first-time-in-history san francisco tornado warning that went with 1.5” of rain in 3 hours time: that was our Saturday plotting day.  Our judges and tracklayers were heroically dedicated to getting the plots done, and thank the lord we had two of the fastest judges in the country doing the math!  Tracklayer Debi noted that the wind&rain was coming down in such sheets that she needed a “walk in” marker for her rewalks, because she couldn’t see her start flag 20 feet onto the lawn from the parking lot.  Love our judge Ray who cut short his Friday Tahoe skiing intentions because he knew the coming storm would close the pass and he didn’t want to get stuck on the wrong side of the pass before Saturday.  SUPER glad everyone navigated the scary stormy Saturday roads safely. But then: Sunday!  Clear skies, rapidly evaporating flood ponds, cold and calm, beautiful full moonset at dawn, we could not have asked for more perfect dog tracking weather! 

That said, now you know what saints our people are.  Judges Ray Demarais from New Hampshire and our own Meg Azevedo, unfazed and (like I said above): possessed of superhuman speedy math and accuracy and fairness.  Driver Sandy Zajkowski whose warm RV between each track plot was a literal lifesaver.  Tracklayers Cindy Hult and Sharon Prassa and Debi Best for the VST at Cosumnes River College and Cathy Beam for the TDU at Elk Grove Park.  Our test volunteerism is thinning out as we are all getting older and creakier, so this core crew of volunteers (AND the volunteers I cut loose because we had withdrawals: Rosalie and Erin) are the only reason TRACS is able to have these tests that our tracking community counts on.  Now, all this storm talk shouldn’t talk new people out of volunteering: dress right (shopping opportunity!), know that you’ll only be out in it for 30 minutes, revel in the beauty and mastery of the outdoors, smile that you are paying it forward for all the volunteer support YOUR dog passions require, and you’ll be right at home.  Tracking season is just starting and we have mentors who want mentees: think about it!

Bottom line: 1 TDU pass (yay!), and no VST passes (aww…).

Our first track ran at 7:45AM, the TDU at Elk Grove Park (where I caught that amazing moonset), which had 2 entrants for 3 tracks offered.  The tracklayer was happy to report that the flood pond in the middle of the second leg was disappearing fast.  The exhibitor and dog had a lovely confident start zooming past the first leg’s directional flag. The dog cut the first corner (there may have been some squirrel distraction) and paralleled the second leg for a bit until the article on the second leg brought the dog back, whew.  Coming back onto the track at an angle like that necessitated some puzzle solving, figuring out the way down the rest of the leg.  One of my fave things to watch is off-track recovery: the wheels turning in the dog’s head (while the handler’s head is exploding) is a beautiful thing to see.  Through the concrete and picnic-tabled (g’ah! tangled leash!) pavilion at speed because concrete was clearly this dog’s Thing.  Some breath-holding at the final corner because now they are SO CLOSE, then nailed the final article: it is a PASS!  Congratulations to Naia Stier from Yorba Linda and her 2.5yo border collie CT Hob Nob Britannica VCD2 CDX BN RN AX OAJ OF TKA *TDU*.  Double congrats on the roll this team is on, having picked up their VST and CT just two weeks prior to this test, at the HollywoodDTC tracking test.

We did have a second TDU exhibitor who withdrew (and made himself available to help tracklay!) because they passed at the SacDTC TDU test the week prior!  Belated congrats to Paul Brink and 9yo Flat-coat GCHB CH Flyway Farms Sweet Saison Silhouette RI TDX DCAT SWA SBA DJ CGC TKN *TDU*!

Now the TDU portion of the day is done, TDU tracks not needing to age much (30 min), so we all packed up and headed 10min up the highway to the VST test site at Cosumnes River College.  Our VST had 4 entrants for 3 tracks offered plus a possible alternate.  These colleges are constantly building new buildings and tearing up perfectly good lawns, and replacing lawns with drought-friendly mulch – our judges wanted to plot three good (not crowded, not weird) tracks and were worried that the reduced lawn squarefootage made the plotting of a 4th VST track problematic.  Bless our 4th/alternate entrant’s heart for being a sport about withdrawing and taking the pressure off the judges to figure out an alternate track.  Although in hindsight, these excellent judges now say they could have done it: noted, for next time!  More better, our 4th entrant made himself available to be our event photographer: THANK YOU, Colton Meyer!  We’ll have pictures available shortly!

First VST track ran at 10:15am (after 3hrs of aging), another super confident start (this time without a directional flag’s help), zooming down the super long first leg.  This makes you think too much – when on earth is that turn, it has GOT to be soon???!  Interesting seeing the dog change behavior when they hit tree cover and a mulch surface adjacent to the track – Meg suggested the mulch sucked the dog off track.  The dog continued to parallel the track for a ways, ultimately passing and missing that first turn, and the judges had to blow the whistle.  But it truly was a lovely start by this very spry 13yo border collie from Oregon.

The second VST team also showed a lovely confident start, immediately entering a tree canopy area.  The track continued out of the tree canopy and then out into the parking lot (another very long first leg!), and it was fascinating to again see the behavior change as the dog left the tree canopy.  Canopy-to-no-canopy is just as much a difficult transition as the traditional veg-nonveg transition challenge!  The dog very confidently took an incorrect turn shy of the parking lot and skirted the tree canopy edge, and the judges were sad to have to blow the whistle when they couldn’t get back.  Some excellent skills and drive shown by this 9yo german shepherd dog from northern California. 

The third VST team showed poster-child patience as the dog worked the problem of figuring out which direction the track started (the VST start flag only tells you the start direction within a 180deg arc).  Once she detected the track, she was off like a shot to the first turn, negotiated the turn and the second leg nicely, but upon hitting the second turn the dog opted to turn the opposite direction of the track and wasn’t able to work her way back to the turn to find the track again.  Nevertheless, congrats on a good effort by this 10yo smooth collie from southern California.

Congrats to all for test-saving volunteerism and for excellent moments of tracking, THANK YOU SO MUCH for supporting these tests and this sport!  I’d love to see you all again at the TRACS TDX on Jan 26 and the TRACS TD on Feb 16!

Respectfully submitted 12/16/2024,
Karey Krauter, secretary