Born-to-track Teckels Calendar 2019

I hope that you are going to enjoy the calendar as much as I did while I was working on it. I have done calendars with wirehaired dachshunds in 2013-16. Last year I ran out of time, and I know that I left some people disappointed. I am trying to redeem myself this winter. The calendar is available through cafepress: click here. It is "printed on demand" - you order it from them, they print it and ship it to you directly while I get a small commission.   

I have been asked to identify dogs in the pictures so here we go.

We didn't have any puppies in 2018 so for puppy pictures I had to go back to 2017. The cover shows two pups out of Tommy and Tuesday, our A-litter. From the left: Andi von Moosbach-Zuzelek lives now with Jerry Gregston in Oklahoma. Artie von Moosbach-Zuzelek, called Enzo, is a tracking partner of Blair Smyth in Virginia. These pups were born on April 9, 2017.

January picture, which is one of my all-time favorites, shows Bernie (FC Darin von Moosbach-Zuzelek), Kunox (FC Kunox von der Dohlmühle) and Mielikki (FC Mielikki Raptor). This picture was taken in February 2014, and when I look at it, it stirs my soul. These were happy times, especially for these three dogs. Since then Bernie has passed (I miss him dearly), and Kunox and Mielikki are in their new homes (I miss them too). Being a breeder leaves you with a heavy heart on so many occasions. You have to make hard decisions - your heart screams "enjoy the dogs you have and don't add any new ones to the pack", but then you have to consider your future breeding plans. Often dogs who are retired from breeding (like Mielikki after 2 C-sections) are better off in a new home, where they are a part of a much smaller pack. Anyway, Mielikki enjoys very much her new life in Maine, and Kunox tracks for Rom Rausch in northern NY. Both decisions to rehome these dogs were heart breaking for me but very good for the dogs.

February picture shows Willow (FC Willow von Moosbach-Zuzelek), a lovely daughter of Kunox and Tuesday. Willow was born on March 9, 2015, and we hope to breed her in 2019. She combines the best features of her two parents.

March picture shows again Artie (Enzo) and Andi.

April picture goes back several years. It is a very young Mossy Brooke (Viola von Moosbach-Zuzelek), a super tracking dog owned by Judy Catrett from Georgia. By now Mossy Brooke has recovered over 100 deer, and we are very proud of her. She is a daughter of Tommy and Tuesday, a full sister to Andi and Artie. For more on Mossy Brooke see the November picture.

May picture is of Z-puppies, which were born on March 26, 2017. This litter was co-bred with Cheri Faust, who is an owner of the dam FC Uta von Moosbach-Zuzelek. Puppies were whelped and raised in Wisconsin, and then they came here for four weeks. Cheri kept two pups for herself, Zeus and Zenyatta, who became Field Champions quickly. Zale (Aldo), Zorro, Zack (Cooper) and Zander von Moosbach-Zuzelek are trackers of wounded game in Maine, Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia, respectively. BTW, Aldo (Zale von Moosbach-Zuzelek) owned by Lindsay Ware from Maine participated in 103 tracks and recovered 34 animals (6 bears and 28 deer)!

June picture shows Odin von der Dohlmühle, who was born on August 9, 2017, and was bred by Annelie Grauer from Germany. Odin is handsome, talented dog with a super nice head and soulful eyes. He always has his nose to the ground, and loves to track and hunt.

This is a picture of FC Keena von Moosbach-Zuzelek, who turned 13 years old on April 7, 2018. Keena used to be a tracking partner of our friend Dan until he moved to Texas this summer. She is doing OK in her old age, but her arthritis and heart problems have started to interfere a little bit with her quality of life. She is still full of piss and vinegar though!

August picture shows FC Joeri vom Nonnenschlag, who is going to turn 11 this coming February. Joeri loves to swim and retrieve from our pond. Joeri and John are inseparable. He is a dog of many talents, with a lot of soul and heart.

FC Tom vom Linteler-Forst is still our top tracking dog. He is going to turn 11 this coming March, but he is still very much a puppy - can be very playful and and just plain silly. This year Tommy was tracking for our friends. Actually anybody who sees him tracking says what an amazing dog he is. He turned out to be a great producer as well.

Odette von der Dohlmühle, a sister of Odin, born August 9, 2017, is a small mischievous 16-lb female full of fire. This summer she showed how much she loves to swim and retrieve from the pond. She loves to track, go to the ground and chase rabbits while opening on them. A truly versatile teckel.

This picture was taken by Judy Catrett and shows Mossy Brooke (Viola von Moosbach-Zuzelek) with a young hunter Jake. In Judy's own words:

Jolanta, you ACED it when you chose Viola to be our puppy. If everything you have done in life has been this accurate, I would consider you to be most astute at your endeavors. I wanted a pup who could/would communicate with me. This little girl has graduated from Communication 200. When we track Mossy Brooke communicates to me that the deer is within 10-30 yards in front of us alive. This has proven to be one of her most helpful traits in our tracking. Gives us a quick moment to look for the deer and hopefully get a killing shot off. Mossy Brooke’s vocabulary continues to grow. She loves to lay next to me on my pillow after tracking and we talk about the tracks we have done that day. She whimpers, wags tail as I talk and then uses her front paw to remind me to keep talking if I stop. She eventually falls to sleep and before long, her little feet are running and she is quietly barking as I am sure she is dreaming about her days work. She dearly loves to track. Thanks again Jolanta and John for my little soul mate.

December picture was taken last winter and shows our inquisitive Xena von Moosbach-Zuzelek, who was born on July 26, 2015. Xena is a daughter of Dachs von Tierspur (Billy's son) and FC Mielikki Raptor. She is a high energy hunting dog who never quits. We hope to breed her in 2019.

New version of John Jeanneney's book Tracking Dogs for Finding Wounded Deer

The first edition of Tracking Dogs for Finding Wounded Deer was released in 2004, and was followed by the 2nd edition in 2006. The book had been selling well but in the last few years it became clear that we needed to update it. A new version was printed in October 2016. 

This "new" 2nd edition has additional 7 chapters, new pictures and appendices, and an index. The information has been updated throughout the book. While the 2006 book had 360 pages, the new version has 424. Its cover is green. The book can be purchased on our website (CLICK HERE) for $39.95 plus $4.00 for shipment within the United States.

Just today we received feedback from Marianne Jacobs who lives in Luxembourg, and has a lot of experience in hunting and blood tracking. When John read it, I could see some tears of happiness in his eyes. Thank you Marianne!

    

I wanted to give my feedback on the book “Tracking dogs for finding wounded deer”!

First of all: I am amazed and this book should be on every trackers book shelf! 

It is very clearly structured and written in a great English. The chapters and words are well chosen, and the sentences are easy to understand (important for me as a non-native speaker). I never had to read a sentence twice to get the meaning of it! Reading the book was a real pleasure for me.

Concerning the content: It covers all that I could imagine: blood-tracking in general, breeds, puppy-choosing, training for all age stages, equipment, different game, tracks, problems, tests and so on! And what I loved the most about the book were the small summaries at the end of every chapter!

The information given in this book is priceless! I would recommend this book to every tracker; to the ones who gets started and also to the experienced ones. There is plenty of information for everyone, no matter if they where they track in the world.

I have read many (especially German and French) books about blood-tracking, but this is clearly my favorite now. I truly have the impression that the author wants me to learn (a lot) from his book. I always missed this feeling with the European books: they gave some information, but the content was more about the authors’ dogs and his personal successes and tracks. And they often only praised certain breeds, and ignored others completely. I couldn’t get that much information from these books, especially practical information about training and trouble-shooting were often missing. But not in this book!! While reading, I could feel how the author put his soul and all his knowledge into it. 

I will absolutely recommend this book to our puppy buyers, fellow trackers and hunters, they can learn a lot from it. I learned so much and I already know that I will often look something up in this book, because this is definitely NOT a book that you only read once and then put away.

Thanks a lot for writing this wonderful and educational book!

Marianne Jacobs, 

Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg    

Wired To Hunt podcast with John Jeanneney on how to track and recover wounded deer

Few days ago Wired To Hunt posted a podcast with John Jeanneney on the topic of deer tracking and recovery. The podcast can be accessed HERE. The whole podcast is about 90 minutes, and the first 30 minutes or so are on other topics. John's part starts around the 60-minute mark and lasts an hour. We hope you enjoy it.

This is the first year when John is not tracking. He turned 81 in April! He still stays very much engaged, dispatching hunters' calls to local handlers and advising hunters on the phone and over email.

Few days after the podcast had been aired we received this email from a hunter:

I was fortunate enough to have been able to listen to Wired to Hunt Podcast #124 with John’s infinite wisdom filling the hour.  I wanted to express my thanks for opening my eyes to the “let it lay overnight” theory.  I let a buck I hit in the shoulder lay overnight when I knew he was close by last year.  To keep a long story short, I ultimately saw him dragging his front leg (shattered at the shoulder) by a camera then out of my life that next morning.  I believe I would have continued pushing him had I learned this information earlier, and definitely would have done nothing but increase my odds of harvesting the animal. I know he died in a very thick, impassible portion of my property.  I never recovered the animal, and think about it very often.  With this new found knowledge I gained from a short listen to John, I firmly believe I will in the future have a much better chance of finding a deer in various situations, as well as be much more inclined to contact someone with a tracking dog to assist me in the harvesting of the animal.

I know that was a lot of rambling, but I wanted to say THANKS!

Beginnings of the United Blood Trackers

Compiled by Jolanta Jeanneney

The need for a national organization of blood trackers became evident in March 2005 when Henry Holt ran into problems regarding using tracking dogs on public land in Illinois. In his email circulated within borntotrack group (for owners of dogs bred by John and Jolanta Jeanneney), hosted by smartgroups, he wrote:

“Last season here in Illinois there was an emergency administrative rule issued prohibiting tracking on public land. Just before the season opened, Larry Gohlke, Cheri Faust, Al Diehl and I all attended a meeting in Springfield with Tim Hickman, the DNR head of public lands, Jack Price the DNR attorney in charge of wildlife and administrative rules, and Mike Kennedy a Captain in Law Enforcement (and also a Drahthaar trainer). It looked as though everything was on track until I saw a new rule published on the DNR website.

1) Tracking on public land has to be conducted outside of legal shooting hours which are 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunrise.

2) Dogs must be certified as deer tracking dogs by a national dog tracking organization.”

At the time there was no national organization able to provide this kind of certification. After many emails and lively discussion, several members of borntotrack yahoo group decided to go ahead and form the organization. Ken Parker, an owner of Bavarian Mountain Hounds, was invited as well.

An organizational meeting was held July 21-22, 2005 at the home of John and Jolanta Jeanneney in Berne, NY.

Top row from left: John Jeanneney, Henry Holt, Larry Golhke; bottom row: Andy Bensing, Cheri Faust and Ken Parker. Jolanta Jeanneney was behind camera.

Present were John Jeanneney, Jolanta Jeanneney, Henry Holt, Ken Parker, Andy Bensing, Cheri Faust, Larry Gohlke, Tim Nichols (Friday).

We discussed:  Bylaws, Deer Search, Inc., Testing, Judges, Benefits of Membership, Membership Application and Dues.

The following were selected to serve on the Board of Directors:

Larry Gohlke (2006) – appointed Director of Testing

John Jeanneney (2006) – appointed Director of Education

Cheri Faust (2007) – elected as Secretary

Henry Holt (2007) – appointed as Director of Membership and elected as Vice President

Susanne Hamilton (2007)

Ken Parker (2008) – elected as Treasurer

Andy Bensing (2008) – elected as President

Jolanta Jeanneney (2008) – appointed as Director of Publicity

Initial UBT-approved judges were:

•             Larry Gohlke

•             John Jeanneney

•             Jolanta Jeanneney

•             Henry Holt

•             Andy Bensing

A Board of Directors meeting was held September 23, 2005 at the Black Horse in Denver, PA, and on September 25, 2005 at D-Bar-W Equestrian Center in Reinholds, PA. Present were: Andy Bensing (President/Director-2008), Cheri Faust (Secretary/Director-2007), John Jeanneney (Director of Education-2006), Jolanta Jeanneney (Director of Publicity-2008) and Larry Gohlke (Director of Testing-2006)

The Secretary received a letter from Henry Holt, who resigned as an Officer and Director.  Dave Johnson was elected for the Board of Directors to serve as Director of Publicity.  John Jeanneney was selected to fill the vacancy of Vice President.  Jolanta Jeanneney was appointed as Director of Membership.

In 2005 Bylaws were drafted, finalized and incorporation was filed with the State of Illinois.  A website (www.unitedbloodtrackers.org) was established.  The Board of Directors has exchanged over 1,600 messages via the email group list, in addition to private emails, telephone communications and discussions at other events for organizational purposes. Even though the organization was started mainly by handlers of tracking dachshunds, it has never discriminated against other breeds. From the beginning handlers of all kind of tracking dogs have been accepted, regardless whether their tracking dogs were purebred or not.

The next meeting of the Board of Directors was held on June 12, 2006 at Neal and Debbie Meyer’s, Quincy, Illinois, the site of Trackfest 2006. Even though this event was not officially affiliated with the United Blood Trackers, it was organized by the core of the UBT and everybody present was encouraged to join the organization. The report from this events is at http://www.born-to-track.com/trackfest.html.  Neal Meyer’s dachshund Chloe was the first dog certified by the UBT. This was a press release describing it:

First Dog Certified To Track Wounded Deer On State Lands

Chloe, a wirehaired dachshund owned by outfitter Neal Meyer, was the first dog tested and approved to track wounded deer on state-owned lands in Illinois. The bill passed in 2004 legalized the use of leashed tracking dogs. The associated regulations require that any dog tracking on Illinois state lands must pass a test demonstrating basic ability and training.

Chloe’s blood tracking test was administered by United Blood Trackers (www.unitedbloodtrackers.org), a national organization, on June 11, 2006. The dog was required to track a blood line with two sharp turns for a quarter of a mile to part of a deer that was placed at the end of the line. The small amount of blood used for the simulated trail, combined with the heavy ground cover, would have made the line very difficult or impossible for a hunter to track by eye.

Dachshund Chloe has little in common with the beloved wiener dogs of cartoonists. She is bred from German hunting stock, has longer legs and a harsh, wirey double coat. Chloe weighs only 20 pounds, but in her own mind she is a “big dog”, big enough to track those huge Illinois bucks, even if they are still alive.