Keeping Track
I track with my dogs.
In tracking, a tracklayer goes out into a field or woods or community college campus and lays a track (walks a known path) a certain length (400, 600, 1,000 yards). The track has turns, it goes through different kinds of cover (grass, woods, ditches, pavement). The tracklayer leaves articles along the track (glove, belt, shoe, wallet, plastic lid). Sometimes other people walk across the track--sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. The only markers on the track are one or two flags at the beginning. After a half hour or an hour or three hours (depending on the kind of track), you and your dog go to the starting point, follow the track and find all the articles. It's all about the scent on the ground and the nature of the obstacles and the wind and the temperature and the dog and the handler.
A friend of mine asked me why once. "What's the purpose?" he said. "What's the purpose of basketball?" I asked him. Tracking is about being outside, about watching your dog do something you couldn't do even with mechanical enhancement, about trust, love, partnership, and communicating with alien beings.
The American Kennel Club sponsors tracking tests all around the country.
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