Saturday, September 25, 2010

Quentin, now Radar, and his training

Radar (Quentin von Moosbach-Zuzelek) and his owner Craig Dougherty of Northern Whitetails have been doing well. In his first report Craig wrote "Talk about personality! This guy has it all. He is a real charmer and incredibly observant. He sure acts a lot more like my Lab puppies than the beagles I used to keep. He took to the crate like a champ and sleeps peacefully through the night. Housebreaking is coming along nicely and he answers to his name nicely."

The recent e-mail says: "Wanted to let you know that Neil and I are now "official" and legal having passed the NY Certification Test. Radar seems to be coming along nicely. Working him about 2x per week on different concepts. Did nicely on a 24 hr. trail last week in the rain. Worked him around the perimeter of a heavily used plot with lots of fresh sign the other morning. He showed plenty of interest in the fresh trails but with a little help stayed "true" to the 12 hr blood trail we were working. I am learning every day. Now wearing ring of clothes pin flagging around my neck when putting out a trail after learning how easy it is to loose track of a trail that you were sure you would remember a half day earlier. Have replaced my plastic puppy clothesline with a nice orange training line which moves through the woods better and picked up a wide tracking collar I had made from our local Amish harness maker (he happens to practice QDM as well).

Radar seems quite 'calm" when trailing. Nothing "frantic" like I have seen with some other dogs when they are working some kind of scent trail. You can generally tell when he is back on track after drifting off line but he doesn't make a real big deal over being back "on line" he just moves on without a lot of drift."

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