Clue's TDX

Clue passed the TDX test held by Gloucester County Kennel Club.   There were six tracks, and Clue and I drew #1.  Here's how the track went:

Clue started very strongly and made a right turn into the woods and then a left turn by a very loud frog pond (he went over to visit and stare at the pond prior to turning). I can't remember exactly the rest of the track without looking at the map, which I don't have in front of me now (I do remember that the track was 835 yards long). I also know that he tracked very quickly and confidently through the dry grass and entered and exited three different wooded areas. When he found the articles, he wanted to keep them instead of giving them to me - he kept turning his head away from me so I couldn't get the article from him. I let him hold each article for a little bit and then held his collar so I could get the article from him and give him a drink. The track was very dry, so I gave him a drink at the start and at every article find. The start article was a sock, the second was a leather tool case, the third was a pot holder and the last was, of course, a glove.

After finding the second article and starting to track again, Clue started to backwards sneeze so I called him back to me to help him out, he then immediately made a left turn (I was hoping that it was not the cross-track --- and thankful that it was not since I didn't get whistled by the judges).

After finding the third article, he made a left turn towards the woods. The turn seemed like an acute turn to me - but he was probably a bit past the turn and just worked his way back to it. This part of the track was less certain to Clue and I was beginning to doubt a bit - but fortunately I followed him. He entered the woods and then exited the woods and was still tracking a bit more tentatively than he had done earlier in the track. The judge told me that he was downwind of the track at that point and worked his way back to it - and there was the final glove. It took a while for the judges to cheer since Clue grabbed the glove and played keep away - so it took me a bit of doing to get it so I could hold it up for the judges to see. Then I gave it back to Clue and let him prance around with it and show it to all who wanted to see it.

Use your back button to sniff out a new story