[susan tuck]

It happened again. I track at various municipal parks around town. I get up at dawn so I am at there around day break (sometimes not until 6:30 though). After I lay my tracks I sit around and let them age, but keep an eye out. This morning I am watching when some lady appears near the 2nd leg of my track. Her lab mix is off leash (of course). I am yelling so she can hear me & I say "Please stop your dog - he's eating my bait!". I figure she can't hear me because she doesn't stop the dog, so I repeat myself, but a little louder. She looks up and says "I hear you, what do you think I am a mind reader - shut the "f" up". Then she turns around & goes the other way. I track my dog - he did real good considering the bait was gone & all the cross tracks. After I was done, I took my dog for a walk & ran into the same gal. I told her I wasn't yelling because of any anger, just wanted her to stop. I told her I didn't want any misunderstandings or hard feelings, & hoped she felt the same. She said "What if my dog was alergic to your bait? If my dog got sick I would sue you". It feels like I am running into people like this at least once a week. I found a farmer near me who has some nice fields. I e-mailed him to try to get permission to track in his fields when they aren't planted, but I haven't got a response & it's been over a month of me trying. I know some of you guys are also in the Los Angeles area. Do you have any ideas on where else I can track?

 

[Kadi Thingvall]

She said "What if my dog was alergic to your bait? If my dog got sick I would sue you". It feels like I am running into people like this at least once a week. I found a farmer near me who has some nice fields. I e-mailed him to try to get permission to track in his fields when they aren't planted, but I haven't got a response & it's been over a month of me trying. I know some of you guys are also in the Los Angeles area. Do you have any ideas on where else I can track?

I don't have any ideas on where to track. But I would have told her "if your dog has allergies that are that severe, then I strongly suggest you teach it NOT to eat stuff off the ground. Or better yet, keep it on a leash, as required by law, so you can prevent it from eating things off the ground."

People like that tick me off.

 

[Kristen Cabe]

Make up some signs that say "Warning: Fire Ant Infestation Past This Point" and put one on the 4 'sides' of an invisible square around your track. :lol:

That lady would have ticked me off, too.

Pellet gun, maybe? :twisted:

 

[Greg Leavitt]

I usually can find some great tracking grounds up this way Like near the victorville Palmdale area. I have a great spot that is 5 acres that was graded about 3 months ago. You are more than welcome to come up here and track anytime, although I know its a little trek from where your at. Greg

 

[Amber Scott Dyer]

Pellet gun, maybe? :twisted:

Yeah.. pellet gun the owner...

 

[susan tuck]

Greg: That would be great, and it's a kind and generous offer! I'm only about 20min south of Palmdale so I guess maybe only a little over an hour to Palmdale/Victorville? If you can give me an address or cross streets to those grated fields so I can mapquest directions, I'd like to give it a try tomorrow morning. If I was a religious person I'd say you answered my prayers!

You guys, I was really ticked off & gave her a few choice words (she probably thinks I'm a sailor). If I would have had a BB gun I might have dinged the bitch!!!!!

 

[ann schnerre]

if you have an airport nearby, check w/them; i know one guy that tracks a lot near omaha's airport, but one of the smaller ones w/o constant jet traffic would be GREAT!! (if i didn't have 8 A plus miles of country i know of a small one that would be perfect).
anyway, grass runways/fields at the smaller ones, and the big ones tend to have a lot of grass fields around them. just a thought...

 

[susan tuck]

Ann it's a great idea, I know many people do use fields around airports. In fact, LAX use to have some good tracking around it.

 

[David Frost]

Susan, don't laugh, but cemetaries are also great places to track. Not a lot of traffic, a lot of flat, short, grass. There are even some built in track markers if you need them. Just remember to take care of any land mines.

DFrost

 

[Connie Sutherland]

Susan, don't laugh, but cemetaries are also great places to track. Not a lot of traffic, a lot of flat, short, grass. There are even some built in track markers if you need them. Just remember to take care of any land mines.

DFrost

I'm not laughing.

Great idea.

 

[Jeff Oehlsen]

*** edited ***


One again, no bashing of others' sports.

 

[steve gossmeyer]

good luck with findin a good place to train for tracking. i got lucky and have areas train because of the police dept dogs i work. so i have some really good areas that noone else can go on. i would suggest a field behind a bussiness or farmland if you got a farmer friend

 

[Connie Sutherland]

good luck with findin a good place to train for tracking. i got lucky and have areas train because of the police dept dogs i work. so i have some really good areas that noone else can go on. i would suggest a field behind a bussiness or farmland if you got a farmer friend

Our club rents both a field and a barn-type building on the edge VERY cheaply from a local farmer.

All training can take place there, including tracking.

He has moved us once as he put different fields under cultivation, but even when we had no barn to use, we had one of those cheapo storage buildings from Costco to store stuff. And our lights are moveable.

It's perfect.

 

[steve gossmeyer]

Our club rents both a field and a barn-type building on the edge VERY cheaply from a local farmer.

All training can take place there, including tracking.

He has moved us once as he put different fields under cultivation, but even when we had no barn to use, we had one of those cheapo storage buildings from Costco to store stuff. And our lights are moveable.

It's perfect.

thats what im talkin about!!!

 

[Connie Sutherland]

And it took us zero time to find it .... the first farmer we asked said "sure."

They all have fallow fields. A little income from a field lying fallow is better than none!

 

[steve gossmeyer]

true true!!!

 

[David Frost]

We use a couple different state parks. Of course we have the advantage of being able to go places the general public are not permitted. Since we do very little urban tracking, it works well for us.

DFrost

 

[Dan Reiter]

Qoute:I track my dog - he did real good considering the bait was gone & all the cross tracks

I would look at it as opportunity for your dog to show you just where he is at in drive and focus for the track. Sounds like he did just fine (should give you more confidence in your own dog). I personaly like to run dog in distractions like you described. I commonly work in parks just for that reason if dog selection is good and has good track drive (has good drive to the find "article") this is very easy. Most people dont give the dog credit when comes to tracking and present challenges. If you do challenge him with these when you trial in Schutzhund this will be a cake walk for the dog. Your own confidence will be high resulting in a reliable predictable tracking dog.

Dan Reiter

 

[susan tuck]

I agree Dan, my dog is a real nice tracking dog. I just don't want these distractions as often as they occur!!!

 

[Kristen Cabe]

I actually wondered today on my way home today about tracking in the cemetery I have to drive by every day, but I didn't know if it would be appropriate. Guess I'll have to give it a try (if I don't get run off). The grass around here really sucks though - full of clover and oniongrass and dandilions and crap, so it's hard to find somewhere to use. Even the athletic fields are bad this year.