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Last week of November, we spent at the Mantriling Camp organized by our beloved coach, Marta Wrzeszcz, at Dog Hub surrounded by forests, fields, and meadows. It was our first long trip with daily training sessions, and I was worried whether Mako and Denji (Tamiko had to stay home due to pregnancy 🥲) would cope with such a marathon 😂 Denji was not particularly experienced in tracking before the camp, so he was the biggest question mark of this camp. Among the working pointers, border collies, and experienced adoptees, our original duo looked modest and aroused interest, as it's not often one gets to see a working Akita in action..
Denji has always been task-oriented; once he understood the pattern, he easily took on every challenge, and it was no different this time 😎 Throughout the week, Denji diligently and eagerly searched for those funny people who got themselves lost in the forest, gradually building motivation and reaching his first mature and full tracks ☺️ He easily adapted to the camp room and slept long after each outing to the forest 😂
Mako often varies in her work, tracking like a pointer one day and completely forgetting what she is looking for in the forest the next 😅 So at the camp, we focused on her engagement and motivation, and of course, traditionally by the third day, Mako forgot what she was doing at the camp, and we had to strain our brains to come up with ways to boost her motivation... And here, Robert came to the rescue, a hunter who came with his working German Pointer, Fado.
During the camp, we discussed our tracks, observations, and ideas daily to solve problems we noticed in our work or the dogs' work. Robert and Marta came up with the idea of using techniques employed with hunting dogs, luckily Robert had the right equipment with him. After Mako's crisis, an idea emerged to boost her motivation by pulling on a track scented with deer skin; Mako has no problem with misleading scents and beautifully ignores game on the track, so it was worth a try. And so we did, Robert laid a deer-enriched track for Mako, and it was a revelation! Mako did not lift her nose from the ground even for a second once she realized what she was looking for, she followed the scent! Robert further boosted her motivation by playing and tugging at the end of the track, it was wonderful to watch the full hunting chain performed by this mischievous dog 🥹
The camp was a great experience; together with Mako and Denji, we learned many things and met brilliant dog lovers with similar passions as ours, and we will definitely return next year, who knows, maybe even with the same crew ♥️
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