Ed Presnall: April 2008 Archives

On a bright spring morning near Rochester, NY they gathered in a dew dampened meadow. Fist one, then another, as the sun rose so did the number of participants. They came to learn and they came to have fun doing it.

Michele Gillette and Ed Presnall started off the morning by discussing tracking, why they do it and how to make if fun for you and your dog. Working slowly and giving each dog and handler personal attention, the teams learned about start routines, article indication and restarts. The foundation of the Component Training system.

By the end of the second day, all of the handlers and dogs were working through 300+ yard long, multiple turn tracks with solid article indications.

As one attendee stated: "I wanted to let you know how much I THOROUGHLY enjoyed the weekend. What a wonderful experience for my first ever tracking seminar. I had a great time watching the different breeds, handlers, tracking skills and just the total beauty of tracking. I was so addicted before the seminar and it only fed my addiction. I cannot get a "fix" big enough right now. Thank you so much for all your patience, time and wonderful advice. This is my first attempt at making a tracking dog and I could not have asked for a better start to my tracking experience."

The sun burned the southern pines but had little efect on the ardent trackers who came together for a week of intensive training at the "southern" Camp Pawmark.

Headquartered on the rolling, pine covered grounds of Sandhill Community College in Pinehurst, NC this group worked day and night on expanding their knowledge of urban tracking though hours of hands-on individual training.


We had a blast at camp and look forward to the next one! Can't believe we started on grass, then a brick walkway, up 3-4 stairs, around some planters still on brick, down more stairs, grass, then along a long cement wall, then into trees and out on grass.  Ten articles and found 'em all!!!   

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WOW! Don't know what else to say. Even a novice dog can excel on urban tracking with your Component Training methods!

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Component training is the KEY to being successful in VST and YOU make it easy to work through the problems and became a part of the tracking team. I'll be back again!

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I would never have imagined that I would have learned so much in 5 days.  It was the perfect mix of classroom instruction, hands-on experience, observation of our peers, and then observation of Gretchen and Michele – Camp Pawmark graduates soon to achieve the elusive CT!!

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I’ve been to a fair number of seminars but nothing compares to the experience we got at Camp Pawmark.  From sunrise to midnight, you were planning, plotting, and coaching dogs, handlers, and bruised egos.  I can’t thank you enough for the time, sweat, lost sleep, and years of experience that made this Camp so rewarding.  The  tracks were fantastic.  How incredible to be able to track on that campus at it’s peak.  What a great site for learning variable surfaces – I couldn’t get enough.  I absolutely loved the track Saturday night across the patio, down the stairs, and through the parking lot.  It is a memory I will never forget!