Tuesday, April 12, 2011

TDX !



The journey to Whisper's TDX is finally over-she earned it at the San Joaquin Dog Training Club trial April 10. The grounds were beautiful-the Comanche Hills Hunting Preserve in Ione Ca.



To earn a TDX title a dog has to follow a 3-5 hour old track for 800-1000 yards. Along the way they have to identify all the articles dropped by the track layer(3 plus the start article), ignore cross tracks which are fresher easier scent to follow and overcome significant obstacles(road crossings, steep hills, downed trees, water crossings etc). Trouble in any one of these areas will cause the dog to fail. Although I have earned several TDXs on my greyhounds it is never an easy title and typically takes my greyhounds about 30 minutes of intense concentration to complete the track.




This was our third attempt at a TDX trial. The previous two trials we made it to the second to the last leg before failing. The tracking pictures were from a previous trial as I had no one to take pictures at this trial.



The day was beautiful although we drew fourth track and by the time it had aged sufficently it was starting to warm up. She started strongly and never looked back, 13 minutes and 858 yards later we found the glove and she earned her TDX.



After all the dogs had run their tracks a pot luck was held the club and awards given out to the dogs that successfully completed their track. TDX trials typically have a pass rate of around 15% athough the trial that day 3/6 dogs earned their TDX.



Ch Aragon Lunar Eclipse VCD2 RE MX MXJ TDX NF JC (and Echo)

10 comments:

jet said...

that is awesome!! I am going to try Barbie at tracking, but I am going to take my natural tracker through the titles first! (the tracking people reckon Bender is a shoe in to get his TD in his first season) :)

houndstooth said...

Oh, congratulations on getting the title! The third time's a charm! Way to go!

Greyhounds CAN Sit said...

That's wonderful! It sounds like a lot of hard work. Greyhounds are SO versatile:)

What do all those initials stand for after Whisper's name? I know a couple but not sure of most of them.

Lindsay said...

Congratulations!! That is such an accomplishment!

Hiking Hounds said...

Congratulations to you and Whisper! The buffet looks great. All of your posts about tracking have really made me want to try it.

Aragon greyhounds said...

Hi Greyhounds Can Sit
Love your name-I can't tell you how many people have asked me if Greyhounds can Sit!

Whisper's title are:

Ch=Breed Champion

VCD2= CDX(Open obedience)
TD(tracking)
OA(Open agility standard
OAJ(Open agility jumpers)

RE= Rally Excellent

MX=Master agility standard
MXJ=Master agility jumpers

TDX=Tracking dog Excellent

NF=Novice agility FAST

JC=Junior courser

Muttsandaklutz said...

Wow -- huge congrats! I don't know much about tracking, but that sounds like an incredibly difficult title to achieve. Way to go!

Greyhounds CAN Sit said...

Thanks for the explanation of the initials. I don't know a lot about agility titles but I don't think we have most of those in New Zealand! It's a great accomplishment to have all of those titles in so many different fields:)

Michelle said...

Wicked awesome!! Congrats!!!!

Anonymous said...

A belated congrats from ALL of us!!!! Way to go, Helen and the Whisp!! :) Donna, Becca, Shawn and Brego