The Nose has it  . . .     The Tracking Page.

The past Tracking season has been one of the most successful in the 12 years that WA’s TrackWest Dog Club has been affiliated with CAWA.

Membership is around 60 members, with some handlers tracking with 2 dogs.

 Tracking is one of the rather unique things that we can train our dogs to do. When you go tracking with your dog you rely on someone to set you a track and pretend to be ‘a missing person’. This reliance on other people creates the opportunity for you to so the same for a fellow tracker and so the scene is set where people in the club are constantly helping one another to achieve their goals. There is genuine joy when a member passes a tracking test, and genuine disappointment is felt when things don’t always go according to plan. Constructive advice is freely offered to sort out the problem and offers of help come from everywhere. Until you have been a part of this way of thinking it is perhaps difficult for some to appreciate just how close friends we all become.

There is no sense of competition, and although competition is not a bad thing it is still a remarkable fact that with tracking the bond between dog and handler is the all important focus. There is the challenge of a man or woman working with their dog with complete trust and understanding between the two, the necessary communication via the tracking lead, the reading of the dog’s body language the ultimate joy in a successful find.

Trackers are an extraordinary group of people. Trackers become passionate about the sport, become overnight ‘greenies’ who are super protective of ‘their’ forest, they are people who sit and stare at the bush and enthusiastically state that it is the most beautiful sight imaginable. Trackers brave all kinds of weather conditions, who are almost in tears at the prospect of the season coming to an end as they try to contemplate life without tracking during the hot summer months. People who don’t see one another for about 5 months and then renew their friendships without missing a beat while their dogs get in frenzy as soon as they see the tracking gear being packed.

 Many of our members have gained titles during the year and they look forward to the challenges that lie ahead next season. The CAWA Tracking Committee have put forward a submission for 2 more titles to be included when the new rules come into effect in January 2009. If our submission is accepted it will mean that our Tracking Champions will be able to continue tracking. At present once a dog has gained this title it is ineligible to compete any more and this is something we are doing our utmost to rectify.

 At a club level we have introduced search work, urban tracking and night tracking and this has been very exciting for our members. Following a recent workshop we conducted a series of night tracks in Gnangara Pine Plantation and it was a fantastic experience for handlers and dogs alike.

 When you are planning the activities that you would like to do with your dog next year consider giving tracking a go. It is a sport that is time consuming. We train from mid March to early October in the pine plantation at Gnangara each Saturday from 8.00 am to around 12.00pm.

Lesley Watson

CAWA Tracking Committee