2nd great track for Liina!

Originally I had planned a track today for Freddie in the hopes that we could finish a Championship with him quickly as he is such an experienced tracker. Well, Freddie had been away from the forest a bit too long and his first overnight tracks were good, but not great. Lots of new wildlife here in Skåne and he decided he wanted to do a little spurlaut at one point instead of tracking. So we decided that since Liina was such a star on Wednesday, I decided switch her out and take her to track today instead.

So yesterday it was about 6C all day with heavy fog in the morning that lifted and gave us sunshine in the afternoon. I was excited as this would be perfect tracking weather for the next day and hoped it would stay. Well, I woke up this morning to a grey sky, the thermometer reading 3C, and raindrops on the windows- not so ideal, but ok, I could deal with it. As we drove through Skåne to make it to the tracking test at 11:00, the temperature dropped to 0.5C and the rain turned into fat snowflakes. Great. Ugh.

Well, the track was the most difficult the Liina had been on, lots of icy stream crossings and mud puddles, lots of crossing and tracking next to heavily used animal trails,  lots of fresh animal droppings and obvious places where animals had just been, even a few crossings over low stone walls. The day before the judge said that when she showed up to lay the track, there was a large Red deer  (Kronhjort) standing and watching her for a good minute or two before turning tail and running over the stone wall. Liina was not as quick on this track as her last one (35 min), but with snow starting to accumulate, cold, and wind, I still think she was SO good. There was only 1 spot where she freaked out a bit and that was at the first stream crossing. There were a lot of fresh tracks (boar and deer) in the area and Liina was a little apprehensive to cross over the 1.5-2 m "puddle" and was looking for the easiest way across. She is quite a clever girl, though a bit frustrating for the handler that just wants to cross. ;)

Anyhow, after that little hiccup, Liina did awesome and really showed that she could track. near the end there was one last blip where an animal had clearly run recently and Liina took off wanting to run after it, whining a bit when I told her no. Once I asked her to find it and show me the track, she went back to work and finished it with flying colors.

By the time we had walked back to the house from the tracking area, we were all wet, cold, and the snow had started to accumulate.

A view from the warm house after the track

The judge said that she really liked the working style of Liina and that she thought she did a really good job, especially considering the conditions. I also have to say that I thought it was a rather long track and the little girl did an excellent job and she was awarded a 1st prize. Now the Championship is close... only 1 more first prize needed and then Liina has her first title. She really is a natural and has quite the nose on her. I really appreciate this little gem that Markku and Salla entrusted with me.

Here's to hoping for more more amazing track... and better weather!