Razz Tracking Dog title
Razz earned her TD title today.
AKC's Tracking Dog title is the first level of tracking. Tracks are between 440 and 500 yards in length. The track layer drops an article at the starting flag, walks a path that was plotted by the judges the day before, and drops an article at the end of the track. The track is aged between 30 minutes and 2 hours before the dog and handler try to follow the track. TD tracks are in open fields and must have both right and left turns.
Teams must "certify" before being allowed to enter. That is, they have to have a judge put in a regulation track and prove to the judge that they can past the test. The certifying judge provides 4 certificates to enter tests. The certificates are good for one year. (Because of the verification process, the pass rate is around 50 percent. There were two out of 5 that past at this test.)
Razz certified at the end of January last year. But, we couldn't get into a test. In our area, most tests have twice as many entries as they have actual tracks - it takes a lot of land and most tests have between 3 and 6 tracks. When there are more entries than tracks, a random draw is done to see who gets into the test. With Breeze, we were lucky to get into every test we entered. Poor Razz just couldn't get into a test. We got into a test that was to be held last Sunday, but the snow stormed caused it to be postponed. Actually, there are strict rules about AKC postponements and kudos to the Charlotte Club for being able to replace a judge and get things in order to have the test today.
Well that's more information than I intended to post. Way to go Razz!
(Left to right across the back: The two judges and the track layer.)
Tom
AKC's Tracking Dog title is the first level of tracking. Tracks are between 440 and 500 yards in length. The track layer drops an article at the starting flag, walks a path that was plotted by the judges the day before, and drops an article at the end of the track. The track is aged between 30 minutes and 2 hours before the dog and handler try to follow the track. TD tracks are in open fields and must have both right and left turns.
Teams must "certify" before being allowed to enter. That is, they have to have a judge put in a regulation track and prove to the judge that they can past the test. The certifying judge provides 4 certificates to enter tests. The certificates are good for one year. (Because of the verification process, the pass rate is around 50 percent. There were two out of 5 that past at this test.)
Razz certified at the end of January last year. But, we couldn't get into a test. In our area, most tests have twice as many entries as they have actual tracks - it takes a lot of land and most tests have between 3 and 6 tracks. When there are more entries than tracks, a random draw is done to see who gets into the test. With Breeze, we were lucky to get into every test we entered. Poor Razz just couldn't get into a test. We got into a test that was to be held last Sunday, but the snow stormed caused it to be postponed. Actually, there are strict rules about AKC postponements and kudos to the Charlotte Club for being able to replace a judge and get things in order to have the test today.
Well that's more information than I intended to post. Way to go Razz!
(Left to right across the back: The two judges and the track layer.)
Tom
