The AKC TDX title: My journey

Selene’s diary: I started tracking when I was little. I did not like it. I was 8 weeks old and it was hot. I was not even interested in Vienna sausages. I thought I was going to die in the heat. Mom said to me that I am living in Texas although I was conceived in Germany. She said 80 degrees is not hot. As I grew older, it was better as we got into the fall. I got my TD (tracking dog title - novice) when I was 9 months old on my first attempt.

That was a year and a half ago. During that time, Mom worked hard with me and we go to different places to track anytime we do not go to a show. Spencer and I love to track. Mom was tracking with Spencer a lot but when Spencer got his Champion Tracker, Mom started spending a lot of time with me. It was just me and Mom and I loved it. When Mom has more time, we would all go and it was just like the old times. Sophie loves going with us and we would go to McDonald’s after that.

But when Mom does not have enough time, it would just be Mom and me. Mom always tell me not to tell Spencer that we went to McDonald’s but I think he can smell me. He is usually very upset.

My TDX picture with the judges and tracklayer

The day of the test came, I knew we were going somewhere because Mom told me to go into the garage. Spencer was upset that he did not get to go. It was a nice sunny day, not too cold and very little wind. Mom told me that I better pay attention and not bark at the judges. This is my first attempt at the TDX.

I got out of the car and there were tons of people, I got to bark. I was afraid that they were going to attack Mom! Then Mom led me to the flag and I said to myself, I know what I am doing! So I turn around and bark at the judges and spectators some more before I started. The track was very uneventful until I got to almost the end and found a half eaten snake. Mom kept telling me where is it? But I got to find out what this snake is, I have never smell this before. Mom said you need to go “find it”. Do you want to go to McDonald’s? Now there, she caught my attention. So there, I went to show her the glove and everybody clapped. So now, we need to get to McDonald’s but we still have to pose for a picture? I began to worry about my McDonald’s.

So Mom said don’t worry, we will get to McDonald’s. And then we had to stop and pose for more pictures. I was very impatient at that point. More pictures?

My TDX picture with Mom

So we finally got to go to McDonald’s and Mom got me a quarter pounder. She said there is more meat in it and told me to eat slowly. I was very happy.