Thank you to our members for their help in putting on a our annual AKC tracking test.  We appreciate everyone whose dedication to the sport contributed to our success.   Linda Ward handled all the paperwork (event application, premium list, entry confirmations, catalog, event reports)  hired judges and arranged lodging, worked with the Bureau of Land Management to secure use of our tracking site, and was chief tracklayer.   Ric White was our driver for the judges both days, and Sharon Hunley was on site at the crack of dawn on Sunday to drive tracklayers.  Eileen White designed and ordered our trophy steins for the successful trackers.   Ali Seeber had her tracklaying debut  on Saturday and Sunday as primary cross-tracker, Rain McCauley was recruited as secondary cross tracker for Sunday, and Teri Lietchy bravely accepted my desperate plea to fill in at the last minute as a TD tracklayer despite having zero tracking experience (maybe not knowing what she was volunteering for helped).  Suzanne Schwab coordinated tracking practice throughout from Nov through April, laid certification tracks, recruited and scheduled workers, led the judges on a tour of the tracking site the day before track plotting,  provided judge's lunches, and assembled and delivered tracking flags .  In addition to all our member workers, IECC is very grateful to non-club members who also volunteered their time to support the tracking community.  Mike Hamilton had all of about three days back home from military duty before he jumped in to lay TDX tracks for us, Lori Crumpler made two 150 mile round trips from Newport WA, and Debbi Hannah made the 250 mile round trip trek for Richland WA to be tracklayers.  Gene Daspit continued his decades long dedication to the Spokane area trackers acting as overall field marshal, driver, equipment hauler, and paperwork coordinator.  And we are ever grateful to our two judges, Kyla Smay and Cheryl Bavister for two very long days of work on top of long travel days.

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We were rewarded for our efforts with the great fun of watching four of our five TD teams successfully complete quarter mile long tracks to earn their Tracking Dog title, and one of our two TDX teams complete  a half mile long, 3 1/2 hr old track over rock outcrops, through brush, and over multiple logs to earn their Tracking Dog Excellent title. 

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And CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR IECC MEMBER TEAMS Sherry and Hap McCauley on their brand new Tracking Dog Title and Suzanne Schwab and Torrey who earned their Tracking Dog Excellent title the following weekend at the Spokane Dog Training Club Test. 

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Enjoy a few photos from our tracking test here

Take a look at some of our Tracking Collies past and present here.