vikingdobermans.com Blog

Tracking and being threatened!

May 18, 2008  Tracking with Charlie Brown and two friends

First, I’ll describe the track and how my man did…  The day was nice, with a slight breeze.  It was overcast and cool by May standards.  Charlie has about 75 or so tracks under his belt and he is indicating articles on the track, learning to use his head and nose with serpentine curves to challenge him and food is strategically placed on the track, either a few paces before and after turns or on the top, on the flat part of the serpentine curve and where the terrain warrants a bit of help.   Sometimes food is placed on the track for a step or two just to keep his interest up as he goes down the track.  He usually has a few pieces three or four paces from the article to help keep his nose down and to keep him from forging to the article if he sees or smells it.  He is usually hungry (by his standards, at any rate) and he gets his breakfast on the track, so he is heavily rewarded at the articles and at his final jackpot.

Charlie started well, found the first serpentine curve and followed it around to the second curve and then downed nicely on the article.  Whoo hoo I thought.  I rewarded him and before I could restart him, I heard yelling coming from the road area and two men were fast approaching yelling what are you guys doing.  My two friends, who were following me and Charlie and helping with comments and observations on his behavior told me to stay where I was with Charlie, they would talk to the two guys and let them know what was up…  Charlie remained on a down at the article and the interaction between the men and my friends was ugly, with yelling and profanities from one guy, while my friends tried to reason with him.  He was not to be reasoned with and was actually threatening in his demeanor and in what he said.  Finally, he backed off (all this because he felt the Youth Camp were we were tracking was his to use and no-one else could use it, or so he said). 

We did restart Charlie, poor dog, and finish his track, which given the circumstances, he did quite well.  He was definately distracted by the long wait and also by the yelling, but despite that, he continued on, found all the serpentine curves and the corner and he downed on each article.  When he missed the final serpentine, he circled back without prompting and found it and continued.  We could tell his demeanor had changed from when we first started the track, but good dog, he did it!  So, in some respects a good lesson for us all.  Charlie learned to start, stop, be bothered, then re-engage.  We learned that it is not safe to track alone.  Thank goodness there were three of us, or this exchange might have gone beyond just threatening us with his physical presence, his off-the-wall demeanor and abusive and loud language.

Don’t train alone or carry some form of protection…  Lesson learned!

Croc Savior

Dobermans have been bred to do many things…  companion, protector, watchdog,…  Charlie added croc savior to the list just this month. 

Charlie was born in this neighborhood.  His aunts and uncles, nephews and cousins are numerous.  Everyone knows him and has watched him grow up over the last three years.  Two of his little cousins, Clare and Lucy have served as teachers (teaching him the manners necessary to be with young children) and they have been his cheerleader, watching him learn to track, to heel, to come when called and they have been in many photo shoots with Charlie including a couple of calendar shots!

Charlie, Clare, Lucy and Zellie-Belle