Today we got up early and packed the car. We were going to visit my parents' at their summer- house for Easter-dinner, and half-way we had planned a stop to meet Lotte and her two dogs. Eia the American Akita and Oliver the German Shepard. Mikael has agreed to prepare some tracks for the dogs to check out for the first time.

So Lotte might go for the aptitude test for tracking with Eia and Oliver. Yes, it is an aptitude which means it is to see whether the dog has got a feeling for this or not. So why test and train? Well, there could be several reasons. One is that at least the human should be used to what is happening, so that he/she isn't nervous since that will disturb the inexperienced dog. Also it is good the dog is used to that strangers are walking close to them when tracking (judges). And last but not least - to have an idea of what is expected and allowed (usually Manuel is not allowed to stick his nose to the ground and just "go") of them. The first time we tried tracking with Manuel it did not work at all....after a year, when we started up tracking for Kumi's sake, it turned out Manuel was interested. I did not take any pictures this time - we wanted them to have a fair chance of succeeding and understanding what was expected of them.

I arrived early with M&M and Mikael went to make the track, so I started the disposable barbecue - it takes time before it has got the correct amount of heat (not creating all black, burnt meat). Suddenly I noticed a race was on-going back and forth on the road.