"Alba" did it!

Wildboar1973

Well-Known Member
Hi All!
As a few of you may have read before, yesterday I was off North (Niedersachsen) for my Schwarzwälder Schweisshund "Alba"s Vorprüfung.
I was pretty sure, we / she would fail on the track, the last performances she showed on the laid tracks were just very frustrating.:oops:

It was even more frustrating, because I knew it was my mainly my fault::doh:
I laid a track with my scent shoes, about 1.600 meters, 100 ml blood on it, 600 meters without any drop, let it stay for 34 hours, bonedry spruce forest ground, very warm, no wind, no moisture....
We both had a hard time getting it solved and I could tell, Alba lost her fun doing so.
This all happened about 5 weeks ago...

Till then I laid one track a week, started with shorter tracks, with her so loved red deer claws, shorter in time, easier ground, whatever.... Still not back to her former performance.
Than last week 3 tracks, laid by friends, very realistic for the test.
To be honest, it was about to fail or at least be "not good"...

My earlier thoughts, she would have biggest problems on the test because of her very, very agile behaviour got destroyed, we trained hard on the leash and on the commandos, that was going to be ok....

Ok. So last track on Wednesday, not what I really liked to see, but anyway, we would be off for the test.

I left home at 5:30, drove up for 2 hours, felt really sick all the time, very, very nervous....
Arriving there and a cuppa later didnt make it any better.

To cut down her agility, I took my bicycle with me and off we went for an almost 2 hours ride, mainly uphill:confused:...
I am not sure, if we got the expected results, but I was puffing and couffing like hell, bloody wet and awful tired...
I was pretty happy to see no evidence of fresh boar tracks or activity, just a few roes around, should help on the track!

Then the judges and I met, two really nice mates, willing to do a fair test for one of our so loved dogs!
I told them about my concernes and fears, they tried their best to calm me down... While Alba slept in the car...
Some more spectators arrived, we were told to be the only team to be tested in this area, so spot on, great...:eek:

Then another short drive (not by bike, thank God, my back and arse hurts already), and off the car:
Totally different situation, flat ground, wide valley, deep and humid forest stands, and.... boar tracks and digged up ground from them all over the place.... Why??....

Ok, we started the testings, first walking on the leash, later some Ablegen-(similar to Down..) commandos, some shooting around her, she was perfect, getting the highest points easily, well done so far!

Then some helpers arrived and secured, the dead animal was laid out at the end of the now 26 hours old track... 1.000 meters, 100 ml blood, 400 meters without a drop, 2 wound coaches, 2 right angles...

We inspected the shot impact area and discovered the signs: Red deer, some flesh, blood, hair, but (the so loved) red deer!

Alba started very slowly, worked steady on the track, pointed ou every drop, every claw print on the ground, easily we moved about 400 meters....
Then crashing in the woods, a larger group of fallow deer took of, bedded down right on the track...
Alba went crazy, wants to follow them,, it smells like a zoo in here...
We sat sown and try to relax for 5 minutes or so, Alba is shaking like a leaf...
It takes us another 15 minutes to find our way through this mess, but we manage it somehow and Alba pointed out a wound coach.
Then its getting hard again, we are in this line without any blood, so nothing for me, just 100% trusting my dog, please no thoughts about her work the last few weeks...
Then we enter a different tree stand, mixed beech and oak and its getting worse: Alba gets confused, digged up ground, very fresh, nose up, pointing towards a small doug fir plantation, with definetively boars in it...
We circle around, Alba points out I dont know what, I tell the judges, get the feedback there was a wound coach before getting digged around last night....
We left this battlefield, through some younger trees, then nose up again... Damned, a planted food plot (field) in the forest, totally digged up by boars, plus heavily travelled corridors from fallow.
The judges tell me we are closed to the finish, so maybe she got the dead animal in her nose...?
I let her go, but after another wider circle we get called back from the judges.... No problem, one call back is ok...
We start again on my last marked spot on the track, get on a small bank, I can see the dead body 10 meters in front of us.
Alba makes another circle around and is right on it.... We got it!
 
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Congratulations Michael! I'm sure the VP is very nerv wrecking! Were the judges from your new breed verein?
 
WmH Michael and Alba,well done on a hard track.
Ready for natural tracks now:thumb:
Just not in the east:scared:those big canines scare me for the dogs:scared:
 
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Well done Alba, and congratulations to you. I enjoyed reading that. Its allways good when your hard work pays off.

Ezzy
 
Thanks guys....
I calmed down with a few Krombachers last night.
Today my nerves recover, I feel really relaxed.
Now we are prepared for the driven hunt season, which comes very soon...!

Yes, the judges were from our Verein, one is also having a Hannoverian and (I think) also a judge in the VH...
 
Well done Mick great write up also well done young Scotland can i ask how you got a cross breed to do the VP i thought it was only them with the linage and blue blood that were allowed.?
 
Grattis on passing the test. Always worrying when they play up before a test. But there is something so satisfying when it all comes right on the day.
 
Well done Mick great write up also well done young Scotland can i ask how you got a cross breed to do the VP i thought it was only them with the linage and blue blood that were allowed.?
Each Verein(club/society)has its own tests.
As the Schwarzwaelders a new breed-the society can make up their own VP/rules to suit.
Interesting Michael you have VH judges within your Verein.
Is the VP legally recognised Michael so you can cross boundaries?

Anyway-still a hard track,well done
 
Nice one mate, I said she wouldn't let you down on the day. She was just enjoying her other sport of "take the **** out of Michael" for a few weeks before. :lol::lol:
As we talked about over lots of beer "very bright or very stupid?????????" maybe its bright:scared:

Have fun next week.

Wayne
 
Thanks again!
Yes, the VP is legally confirmed.
​Now we will be back, joining the regional bloodhound group, so no boundaries at all, just pure tracking!
 
Congratulations Michael and alba:thumb: I know how you felt leading up to your test, I was shatting myself before I did mine with Noa , she too had the devil in her during the training tracks leading up to the test but she didn't let me down on the day!
 
Well done Michael. A group of deer bedded down on the track!!!!!!!! I bet at that point you began to panic!

Am I right in reading that one of the wound couches laid on the track was actually dug up over night? Was that by boar or deer work? And that's he still indicated that couch?
 
Thanks again! Yes, the VP is legally confirmed. ​Now we will be back, joining the regional bloodhound group, so no boundaries at all, just pure tracking!
Perfect....so the more tracks now the better.Which you will get as well.
Important is the VP-legally:thumb:
See how she turns out along the way before HP?
Very well done Schweisshundfuehrer Michael:thumb:
 
Yes Jamross, it was dug up by boar, a lot of smell, tracks and sightings around there...

Hey George, we will see, how she performces on how many natural tracks this fall...
If the numbers are good and the success rate is fine, maybe the HP this winter? Or even next season....
 
Well done both. A good partnership already and will only get stronger now. I bet your looling forward to the tracks and challenges to come.
 
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