Jason, Ike, Kastle and I made the long, 18 hour drive to Texas to stay for a week. It was a crash course of readying Ikie for his SchH I routine. In the midst of the daily (sometimes twice daily) training for him, Kastle got to work in an entirely new environment as well.
He has only ever tracked on grass. Nice, thick, groomed grass - baseball or soccer field grass to be exact. This week he got to track in dirt. Nasty, thick, mucky, sticky dirt - or mud, depending on the day. The video shows dirt tracking. He tracks different here than at home, and I was a little surprised. I got used to seeing him track very slowly and methodically, checking each footprint. On dirt, he was a little too quick and a kind of frantic. The first track we did, he was like that almost the whole time, only settling a little the last part of the last leg. This track was much longer and gave him the opportunity to settle down and get into his usual rhythm.
Rinus, Kastle's breeder was the judge for this trial. He was very interested in what Kastle was like, specifically in protection as he has a littermate training in his club now. Kastle's grips need a little work - something I was aware of that Randall was also working on with him. They aren't bad though and Randall believes I will be able to go as far as I am capable of (as a novice handler) and desire to go with him. That's important to me so I am glad to hear that. Rinus said that Kastle did as well as anyone can expect out of a pup this age. He also said that he can take a lot more work and pressure than what is being done on him. It was really interesting to watch him work my boy. It was also neat to see him turn Kastle on and off with his body language alone (not in the video) and lovely for me to see my pup be able to switch like that. I'm really thrilled with him!
Texas was a wonderful experience and I had so much fun and learned so much!
No comments:
Post a Comment