Tracking Training

[centitout]

hi everyone,

i want to move into tracking rather than showing and have a 7 mth old bloodhound.how do you start them off ie games ,basics.i am also 6 hrs from sydney,so joining a club is out of the question.any advice is appreciated.

[MickG]

Go to Amazon.com and put in the search words dog tracking, dog rescue and alike and go from there I am reading 4 books at the moment from there and they are all cheaper then buying them in AUS.

[Rom]

Even though I'd attended a few trials and either stewarded or was the track layer on a number of occasions to learn about tracking, I wasn't really sure how to start of training my pup when I got her.

Still not sure if I did the best thing....but it seemed to work for her. When she was a baby I used to let her watch me get her breakfast ready, then I'd walk outside with it and lock her in the shed while I took her breakfast for a walk (I've got 2.5 acres). Then I'd let her out of the shed and encourage her to follow my track to find her breakfast. Initially I kept the tracks fairly short...around 15 metres. As she got the idea, and put her nose to the ground, I started to gradually make her tracks longer and more complex (i.e. putting in corners instead of straight lines.)

Once the tracks were about 50meters long, I started adding scent articles. I'm not sure I'd do the scent articles the same way again because it really didn't teach her a clear way of identifying the articles. But here's what I did anyway: I put an article on the track maybe every 10 metres with a treat on it. To start off she was actually 'looking' for the articles instead of putting her nose to the ground to find them, but as I continued to lengthen the track, I started to reduce the number of articles and her nose went back to the ground again. Thing was though...once she understood the game, she wasn't that interested in the articles with treats since her breakfast was at the end. So she modified the game a little and she'd race past the articles with her nose on the ground, find her breakfast, then back track to the articles to get the treats.

I left her off lead during all of the above training at home and only really started putting her on harness when we started training at unfamiliar unfenced grounds. She passed her tracking test and TD1, but it was apparent that we needed to put more work into article identification to progress. I then started playing an article game with her where I'd throw a bunch of articles on the ground and taught her to pick them up using treats and clicker. Once she got the hang of picking up the articles, she really loved this game! I decided to teach her to pick up the article because it was something she could do on the move during tracking, but also, someone had suggested that I teach her to drop at the article, and she really lost all interest in tracking once I tried to get her to drop. I figured that she'd be happier on this one if she could do something to clearly indicate the article, yet still be able to keep moving.

In reality, my dog taught me about tracking...all I had to do was provide strong enough motivation for her to want to get to the end of the track.

When I started training with other people...different scents, once again we started on shorter tracks, but I'd give a can of sardines to the track layer to give her once she found them.

I did throw in a little footstep tracking training (i.e. putting treats in each footstep as you lay the track) but once again, while it helped to give her the idea she wasn't really that interested in the treats if breakfast was at the end. I also found that the slower she worked a track, the more likely she was to lose interest in it, but if she could keep up a nice pace she was happier working the track and was less likely to lose it.

I suggest that you try to attend some trials...you'll get loads of different ideas about what to try esp if you voluteer to steward or track lay :rolleyes: .

[Kavik]

I have done a very little bit of tracking - would love to do more!

We went to the tracking club once - where they had us double lay a track and put a toy at the end then take the dog. My dog is not motivated enough by a toy for this to work.

So at home I did a bit of footstep tracking with food in the footsteps - Diesel loved this! He got so excited when he realised we were going tracking :rolleyes: I don't have access to enough space without competing scents to do tracking properly though.

Here is an interesting article I found as well:

http://www.schutzhundvillage.com/nose1.html

[dogdayz]

Easy, send it to me :D with my two now champions, Im missing the cold early mornings.

Ive PM'ed you

Edited July 4, 2007 by dogdayz

[Rom]

I don't have access to enough space without competing scents to do tracking properly though.

I never really had the option of scent sterile grounds...I'm not sure how important it is. While my own block is 2.5 acres and dog fenced, its in a rural area and we get visiting wildlife. The first time I took my girl outside of my block, I went to the vacant block next door which was a little more over grown than mine and she flushed a hare during the course of the track. She followed it for about 6 paces before she self corrected and moved back to the track.

For variety I took her into town to some of the public parks for practice, and these parks were full of competing scents..kids walking to and from school, people walking their dogs, sports days, picnics and in some places wildlife (ducks, wallabies and hares).

The other thing is, nobody can guarantee a scent sterile ground at a trial. Many of the grounds that are used for trials up this way are working cattle farms and there is no way of protecting the track from unplanned cross tracks. Also, the higher tracking tests actually have planned cross tracks laid that your dog has to ignore....so I figure that training with the possibility of unplanned cross tracks strengthens your dogs performance.

So I guess that marking the beginning of the track that you want your dog to follow with a scented article, and have them working towards a reward for following the track that you've laid and no reward for leaving the track may be the answer?

[dogdayz]

Same here we train in public parks, fox, dogs and people crossing tracks is normal...We never have to teach the dogs as they progress to ignore crossovers because they've done it from day one. And distance wise, in training the dogs dont work tracks as long as those they trial on. Generally i think tracking with a small group for support and incentive to get out of bed, is the the best way to go, and of course to take out multiple dogs often limits available space.

[MonElite]

I ahve just started it with my girl and it seems its her mission in life so I might continue, although those early mornings scare me...

I do a bit of heavy foot stomping and food in my steps for now and a bit more food at the end of the track.

The girl thinks its the best thing she can do in her life and I need to learn a bit more about tracking as she is well ahead of me. I have trouble slowing her down on the track.

Must read/watch/learn more about the sport.

I was never interested in it, but now seeing how much my dog enjoysit I will learn more about it.

[centitout]

I have done a very little bit of tracking - would love to do more!

We went to the tracking club once - where they had us double lay a track and put a toy at the end then take the dog. My dog is not motivated enough by a toy for this to work.

So at home I did a bit of footstep tracking with food in the footsteps - Diesel loved this! He got so excited when he realised we were going tracking :D I don't have access to enough space without competing scents to do tracking properly though.

Here is an interesting article I found as well:

http://www.schutzhundvillage.com/nose1.html

thanks kavik,it is a great read!!! i've done the show thing and to be honest,while i love showing a rare breed off-it doesnt have anything challenging about it.i will be in bloodhounds for ever,so i want to see them doing what they do,and i need to lose some weight!!!!!

[RealityBites]

The way they taught me at the SCH club was to trample down a square in the grass with your feet, probably about a metre by a metre, and just lay treats in that square. Give your dog the command you are going to use , i.e "find" ad allow it to sniff around that square finding the treats, if his nose goes outside the square, just gently pull him back to the square and repeat find. Once the dog has figured this out, it was amazing watching how their nose would go straight along the edge of a square but never outside it. Then once they have figured that out, make the square at the start of your track and stomp out some footprints in a straight line for about 10 to 15 metres, laying a treat at the toepoint. Then you start the dog at the square and tell him to "find' and encourage him along the track. They do pick it up quickly, and that's about as far as I have gotten with mine at the moment, I am assuming you would eventually lengthen the track and only lay food sporadically, and eventually only at the end etc etc and swap articles for food

[centitout]

Easy, send it to me with my two now champions, Im missing the cold early mornings.

Ive PM'ed you

thanks dogdayz-i have the general idea i think!! and am going to start tomorrow.i have the 7 th old and a 2 yr old but i think he will get to distracted by other things.i also am keeping a couple of pups from this litter as well.

[Sayreovi]

Easy, send it to me with my two now champions, Im missing the cold early mornings.

Ive PM'ed you

Ohhh so you want a dog to train, well thats easily fixed i will send you my two