Tracking When you see this icon , click on it for a photo. VGP in Austria 26th and 27th September 1997 In Austria the VGP always starts on Friday. On Saturday, the dogs for the Feld und Wasserprüfung, the Austrian version of the HZP, are also tested. On Friday morning, all VGP-dogs start with the retrieve of a fox which weighs at least seven pound or 3.5kg. The handler has to lay down the fox behind a fence. Together with three other handlers from Holland (Mr. Anton Gorgl speaking the welcome to Landhurst and the judges), I entered my American import Weimaraner bitch, Grayshar Windsong on the Rise (Windy, born September 27, 1994) for the Austrian VGP. At the retrieve of the fox over the fence , Windy dropped the fox before giving it to me. The fox was already a bit old, too long unfrozen and therefore had a disgusting smell! She was penalized one point. After this test the 14 dogs were split up in several groups, each of them with three judges. I had to do the tracking of the fox. The tracking gave no difficulty at all except Windy again dropped the fox before I could pick it up. When the judge, who made the track of the fox and waited near the fox to look at the way the dog would or would not pick up the fox, upon returning he told the other judges Windy approached the fox as if a rocket came towards him! Windy and the icky fox On the tracking of hare and the lost retrieve of the hare, Windy scored full points. The judge who watched the track of the hare said Windy looked like the fastest dog of the day! Then she had to do the bloodtrack. We practiced tracking of a roedeer (Schweißarbeit) only a few times and I knew Windy might have trouble with this subject. Comparing Windy to my old Weimaraner bitch Joy, who is now more than 13 years old, both are representative of two different types of Weimaraners. You might say Windy is the field type: head held very high, always using her nose, independent, fast, able to take the field. Where Joy is (or at least was in her days) more the type for work in the forest. She is slower, very thorough, head held low near the ground, surely able to point, but much more useful for the lost retrieves and tracking. We had a problem with the type of blood used in Austria. It came from a Red deer, in German Rotwild, Hochwild with a very light scent. The Austrian club used the blood of a single deer for all 14 tracks. You can imagine there was only a small amount of blood used for each track. I trained Windy with blood of a roedeer (Rehwild) as it is the only deer we are allowed to shoot in Holland. Blood of a roedeer gives a much sweeter and stronger scent. The first part of the track Windy was not doing any tracking, but rather ‘field work' in the forest. She went from left to right, head held high and enjoyed everything she could smell, as there was a lot of game. When you are doing the bloodtrack you must look for blood yourself and if you find it notify the judges. If you lose the track, the judges can bring you back to the place where you last saw blood on the ground. After about 70 meters, the judges asked me to stop and they put us back on the track. Windy was following something all right, but it wasn't the bloodtrack. And when she was on the track, she went very fast. I was not able to see any blood! About 100 meters further, the judged called me back for the second time. We were lost again and I really didn't have the impression that Windy was busy with the bloodtrack. At the VGP in Austria, the judges may only call you back two times. A third time will mean that you will get an insufficient (ungenugend, a zero) for the bloodtracking. You must have at least one point for this subject to continue the VGP and therefore, the situation was very tricky indeed. The judges did not have much confidence in Windy and me. The head-judge, Richterobmann, gave me two choices: either they would bring me to the deer and the VGP would be over for us with a zero for this subject or Windy and I had to find the deer ourselves without any help or directions from the judges. If we would find the deer, we would have one point for this subject. This automatically means the highest result of the VGP is third prize, but we would still have the possibility of succeeding. The choice was easy, of course, and I remembered what I had to do was search in circles with Windy. Circles which get wider and wider. I did this and at one point Windy wanted to go to my right. I proceeded walking the circle, turned around and walked back. At the same time, Windy now wanted to go to the left. There must have been something she could smell. We went on and it was as if ‘ the coin fell in Windy's head' and she now knew what was expected of her. In a straight line she followed the track and reached the deer. She went so fast the judges and I could hardly keep up with her. I can't tell you how pleased I was. I sat down with Win and gave her a good hug. The head-judge, Mr. Joseph Spannagl and the treasurer of the Austrian Weimaraner Club, said if Windy had done the first part of the track the same way she had done the last part, she would have had a much higher result.In this case, because we were called back two times, the result could not be more than a point. But by jove, I was so pleased with this result! I was even more pleased to hear two other Dutchmen performed the best results on the blood track the judges had seen in years! Windy next to a deer The next subject was following on the lead. This is where you have to walk in the forest taking two turns to the right along a tree and two turns to the left. Because I did some obedience with Windy, she did well and received 4 points. Very funny was the following unleashed and the staying. On this first day they would not allow me to shoot. One of the judges walked with me as Windy and I had to do this test. We walked along (4 points for walking at heel) and then, I gave too softly the command ‘down' to Windy as the judge and I continued walking along. Soon we heard some shouting and turned around. We saw the other judges pointing toward Windy. She never laid down but was still following us as we were talking and didn't notice her! We got a zero on ‘remaining in place' and it was my fault, not Windy's. I should have given her a much more firm command. Anyway, this cost us points, but it did not keep us from earning the VGP! Searching in the woods was the next subject.. With a single command she went off and I didn't see her again until the judge told me to call her back. She hesitated as she searched the wood but didn't find any game to bring back to me. When I told her it was all right, she came back. The subject ‘buschieren' went all right, too. She searched and went from left to right following my directions with my arms. I didn't need to use the whistle. On the two shots, she reacted by standing still, looking for the game that must have been shot and earned full points again.

Windy on point.

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