Dolly knocked it out of the park this morning!
I went into this track with full intentions of correcting her if need be. This was a 200 yard track, so nothing crazy, but it was her first time in the brush since April.
She didn’t need any help!
She’s back! After having a few weeks off around her heat cycle and the rather hot/humid weather we’ve been having, we laid a ‘give-me’ track at about 88 yards. She was on the ball! I’m so excited to start bringing her back🧡 #bloodtracking #gamerecovery #beagle #minibeagle
I keep thinking I’m going to create shorter reels of our tracks, but I just get so excited to see her work that I hate to chop it all up!
This was about a 15 min track, so I did shorten it, but I wanted to be sure to share this section with everyone. It is extremely important to me to be transparent, as I want you to feel confident in our abilities if you find yourself needing a tracker.
Sometimes the moon and stars align and she is on from start to finish with no hiccups. We always work in fields where cattle, deer, ATVs, and all sorts of other distractions are a constant factor. These questions are going to come up in practical situations for her, ESPECIALLY in our area. Almost any lease out here is going to be a cow pasture.
Today was the PERFECT situation for her. I laid this track about 6+ hours before we ran it. I laid it with a chunk of re-hydrated hide and less than an ounce of blood. The cows bedded down right on the track. It took her a bit to put all the puzzle pieces together, but she worked through it!
AND, this was her first time on real blood and she hit it in almost every spot! I was very excited that she really stopped and hit on it. That will be very helpful in the field.
Dolly was laser focused today out in the field (except she was pretty sure Nana’s chickens were going to get her😂)! We had a couple of bad days last week just to realize that my hide had gone bad. She has a ton of drive to do her job so I was extremely discouraged when all of a sudden she was all over the place, seemed very distracted, and just wasn’t locked on the scent. Well, that’s because it was no good… We gave her a week off too, to make sure she wasn’t feeling over worked, bored, or burned out. We will probably be cutting her down to one day a week training on laid tracks. I want to keep her fresh and ensure she is having as much fun working as we are. I think deer season will be a totally new level of drive for her once there is real game at the end of the track!
We’ve been giving Dolly a bit of a break the last few days, but we made time to go hiking through the Old Zoo Nature Trails in Cisco, Tx before a couple days of bad weather🧡
She was a tiny mountain goat 🐐😂
The cat couldn’t have cared less😂 #beagle #bay
Quarter mile track.
Today was Dolly’s first quarter mile track, and also her first water crossings.
Unfortunately our big water crossing got cut off (camera malfunction), but it’s not the end of the world. I discovered she won’t swim😂 She tracked right up to the edge of the lake and was adamant about going across, but not willing to swim. I picked her up, dropped her on the other side, and she picked it up and took off.
We had one hiccup, and what caused it I really don’t know, but we restarted where she last had it and then it was no big deal🧡
This was Dolly’s first track yesterday morning.
It was only about 100 yards. The brush got so thick that we couldn’t go in much deeper.
The cool part about this one is that I tried to go off to the right with the bumper, but couldn’t get through. So, I backed out and went back to the left. She follows that path exactly!
It’s been raining here since yesterday evening. I’m hoping that tomorrow morning will give us some good water to cross for the first time! #Dolly #bloodtracker #deerrecover #gamerecovery #beagle #minibeagle #bluetickbeagle #lostbuckbeagles
This morning I decided to try Dolly on an old track.
I laid this track (as seen in my previous reel) 72 hours before. I carried the bumper in by hand and just dropped it behind the tree.
I had the thought that she might just be tracking me as I had walked back in, but I quickly realized that wasn’t the case. I misjudged my distance and left the bumper behind the wrong tree🤦🏻♀️ Dolly tracked the old trail right back to the correct tree, where the bumper had been last Sunday.
I realized my mistake and praised her anyway. She kept on and didn’t stop to look at me (her “IDK” signal) so I let her work. She quickly found the bumper anyways!
I am tickled to death, to say the least!
I am working to get in with some exotic ranches in our area and get her on some real recoveries in the near future. #deerrecovery #deerrecoverydogs #beagle #lostbuckbeagles #bloodtracker #trackingdog
Dolly LOVES Briscoe’s Barkin’ Bites 🧡
I think it’s about time we ditched the lead and invest in a good collar! I am so proud of this little mess🧡
This was about a 220 yard track that she knocked out in just over 3 minutes (with our brush catastrophe😳).
It’s about time we figured out how to get her on some real game. She’s not near as excited about the bumper at the end as she used to be. And, everywhere she got off from the actual bumper trail is where I tried to go out a different way than I went in with it, so I know she’s picking up on me too. It’s good that she corrects, because obviously a hunter will have been all over the trail searching before they finally call us in, but I’d like to get in with some high fence places and get her on some real game!
I think it’s about time we ditched the lead and invest in a good collar! I am so proud of this little mess🧡
This was about a 220 yard track that she knocked out in just over 3 minutes (with our brush catastrophe😳).
It’s about time we figured out how to get her on some real game. She’s not near as excited about the bumper at the end as she used to be. And, everywhere she got off from the actual bumper trail is where I tried to go out a different way than I went in with it, so I know she’s picking up on me too. It’s good that she corrects, because obviously a hunter will have been all over the trail searching before they finally call us in, but I’d like to get in with some high fence places and get her on some real game!
Today was Dolly’s first time to the river bottom where our blind and feeder are set up. Jason and Reese took the lure down and laid a track while Dolly and I waited in the pickup. My camera situation failed, but she did a good job. I screwed her up and we had to restart once, but then she was on it and located the bait FAST! It was definitely an eye opening experience for both of us trying to maneuver through the thicket, keep my bearings, and try to read her body language. We have a lot to learn, but it has been a blast. I can’t wait to get back out in this practical situation soon! #deertrackingdogs #deerrecoverydog #deerrecovery #beagle #bloodtracker #lostbuckbeagles
Dolly’s first drag that I picked up and skipped along the ground, rather than dragging the bumper the entire track. She never missed a beat!
I did use the liver along with the bumper so the scent was plenty powerful. I never want to set her up for failure. It’s inevitable throughout the course of her work, but if I can avoid it and protect her confidence then she will remain hungry and motivated. I want her to grow and learn, but when I throw a new component at her (skipping the drag) I don’t want to compound difficult elements. Not yet. Removing another aid will come in time. #dogtraining #bloodtracker #deerrecovery #beagle #minibeagle #biggamerecovery
We took Dolly out to my parent’s place (where she had never been) and left her in the pickup while we laid this track. I wanted to lay the odds in her favor, as I’m still way more concerned with building her confidence than I am testing her ability. I clipped the liver and the hide-covered-bumper together for this drag. We brought her out and started her down wind. She obviously blew right through this test, so we upped the ante a bit. Dad drug the same lure set up up wind, and Dolly and I were both blind to it. He said she got a little off on something else, but I took her back in the direction I knew she last had it and she got right back on and went to it. The third and last drag he drug it again for us and went about 50 yards. The liver fell off mid drag, so he brought it back to the truck. She got a little off the immediate drag, but worked her way through it! I am tickled to death with the little beagle butt!🧡 #deertrackingdog #deer #bloodtracker #lostbuckbeagles #beagle #dolly #trackerintraining
We didn’t have a chance to work outside yesterday, so we did a little heel work inside. It’s still rough, but an incredible improvement from where we started! #heelwork #bloodtracker #deerrecovery #lostbuckbeagles
A snippet of today’s session. Dolly is really beginning to figure out her job. It took her a couple seconds to get with it today, but it was our longest sight-unseen drag yet! And, we switched back to the bumper from the liver, so it was a bit less dramatic of a track too! #deerrecovery #trackingdog #beagle #lostbuckbeagles
I can’t wait to share the rest of Dolly’s photoshoot with Matt Morris Photography ❤️ She was such a good girl! 10/10 recommend Matt! The experience was incredible and her portraits are out of this world #lostbuckbeagles #deerrecovery #trackingdog #petphotography#petportraits #dogphotography
After the first drag (shown on my last reel), I pulled her back out of sight and let Reese drag the liver a bit further. She went right back to where she last had and then stayed right with it until the end. This is all less than a week into introducing her to tracking. I’m trying to balance baby steps, with not letting her get bored. It’s a fine line, but we’re walking it baby! #beagle #trackingdog #deerrecovery #lostbuckbeagles
We threw a couple of direction changes at her today and she did SO good! #trackingdog #deerrecovery #lostbuckbeagles
