Tracey and I have patiently been trying to get Bern to understand tracking as a performance event. His nose works great but he was started out on tracks with tons of articles. He thought it was a visual walk from article to article game. It has taken literally months (years) to teach him to put his nose into this sport. To minimize his visual input Tracey does her best to hide his glove at the end under some leaves or behind a huge clump of grass - anything so it isn't out in the open.
The last several weeks Tracey and I have been busy on the weekends so Bern has tracked at lunch once during the week. Our patience is paying off. He finally looks like a tracking dog! His overshoots his corners and struggles to get back far enough to find the turn but we are improving on this issue as well. I think it is time to try for a certification track before our LCCOC tracking trial in mid-March.
