Pack of Four : The AKC Champion Tracker title : My journey

Sophie's diary : I was 9 1/2 months old when mom picked me up from my foster mom. My tracking training started the following morning. I really like it and I got to go to McDonald's for breakfast afterwards. I got to practice 2 to 3 times a week, and I was getting pretty good at it very quickly. Mom took me to judge Deb and I passed my certification a couple months later. I passed my first tracking test a week after my first birthday on my first attempt. I was very proud and so was mom.

Me tracking at the TD test

Mom continued to train me and we practiced at least once a week no matter what the weather condition was. I was also going to obedience classes and agility classes at the same time. I was scared of obedience judges so mom said I would not be in the obedience ring anytime soon. So mom said I needed to concentrate on tracking at that time.

Mom started to enter me in TDX and VST tests about a year later. She said I needed to get the experience. I got to go to Houston and Tulsa and we stayed in a hotel overnight and I got KFC for dinner. I failed quite a few tests but I seem to get more experienced and my horizon was broadened. I was able to sniff in different conditions. I was 3 years old when my older brother Shadow got sick. Mom could not afford to enter tracking tests because she had to pay for Shadow's medical bills. We also stopped tracking at the test site because mom could no longer afford the gas to go. So I tracked close to home, at the school, a park, and a business park close by. I was happy because I still got to go to McDonald's.

My TD picture, I looked confident, I was just a puppy.

Shadow passed away a year or so later in the summer of 2012. He was almost 15. Mom started to enter me in tracking test that fall, and I passed the VST in Houston that November. Mom was very happy and so was I. I got lots of food and mom told me I was a very good girl. I also got my rally novice title the following month. I really do not like obedience very much but I do it for all the chicken nuggets.

Mom then changed my training to field only. She said I needed to concentrate and not sniff for rabbits and coyotes. It was hard. I love finding rabbit's nests and I love to dive my nose in the ground. I also love drains, just like my older sister Sidney. Got to check out the drains. Mom said I got to stop that.

My VST picture at the University of Houston.

In the mean time, mom entered me in agility trials and I started to concentrate and was doing well. I was either going to tracking tests or agility trials. I failed quite a few TDX tests by the spring of 2014. Mom said I needed to get my act together. I had already got my novice titles in agility and was in open level. Mom said we were going to take a break from tracking tests and I needed to get my CD.

By then, my baby brother Spencer was over a year old and we started going to obedience trials. He was better than me, and I was glad I had company.

Mom said my CD tour started in Fort Worth, then Abilene, Longview, Belton, Dallas, Glen Rose, Azle and finally ended in Mesquite. That was my Texas tour. I finally got my CD spring of 2015.

Me at a TDX test.

Don't get me wrong, my tracking training never stopped. I was tracking once a week in addition to going to obedience and agility trials. By then, I had already got my excellent level agility titles. Spencer also got his TD by then so mom said I would be in a tracking boot camp.

After Easter, we started going out to the test site on Thursday nights in addition to our regular Saturday training. Mom would come home from work and we have dinner and be out in the fields. Mom would lay me a short track and I was to concentrate finding the start direction, that was interesting since I got the same ice cream as Spencer but he has to do a full track. Mine is usually only one or two turns. If I did not concentrate, mom would remind me my ice cream is on the line.

Mom entered me in a first tracking test in over a year and a half. Mom had a talk with me the night before. She said I need to get my nose together, if not I would be going back to obedience class. I heard that right. That Sunday morning, I was confident and the weather was good that day. It was cold enough and wet enough for my nose, just some wind. I found all the articles and passed the test. Mom was happy and relieved. I am now a Champion Tracker. My foster mom Kathleen was also proud of me.