Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Well done team Kenz. I bet it was the freezing weather that helped. Did you get snowed on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Wasn't that cold up there. Certainly not as cold as the last trial when we got there. It was quite warm with the sun out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dezzyno.1 Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Kenz passed her Track 6 today. Only just as she was one very sore girl but none the less a pass is a pass and we now have our TDX . Woohoo well done Ness and Kenz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertDobes Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I need some help tracking people. On turns, what does your dog do that says they have found the next leg as opposed to just sniffing about. I am having trouble reading my TD dog and I'm not confident in trusting him at turns (although I am finally learning the difference between when he is tracking or hunting on the straight legs). How would you train changes of direction to be better? Are there any good youtube clips I could watch? As some of you would know, I live in the NT and don't normally have anyone else to train with who could help me. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dezzyno.1 Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 the way we can usually tell is once the dog has overshot the corner their head or tail will come up as they have lost the scent this then gives you the opportunity to work your dog back where you last knew it was on the scent....maybe walk a course in practice where you know where the corners are and let the dog work them out they may circle and pick it up again....another way is to put food at the corner and a couple of steps away on the track after the corner to bring the dog around....it is really you knowing how to read your dog as to when it is tracking and when it is not....I have trouble with Dezzy because his head doesn't move he doesn't put it down on the ground and it doesn't move when he is off track (he lies to me) I just have to trust him....hope this helps also when your dog goes around the corner make sure you give him lots of praise....sometimes it takes a while for it all to click in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory the Doted One Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 What about going back to basics, double lay or even triple lay your corners till you know he KNOWS corners. No food up to the corner, a couple pieces on the corner to slow him down, then several pieces out of the corner for reward and stress relief. I usually follow up a few paces down with another couple of treats. Then progress as you normally would. Knowing where your track is in the learning/teaching phase is critical to learning about your dog and how they work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory the Doted One Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 Kenz passed her Track 6 today. Only just as she was one very sore girl but none the less a pass is a pass and we now have our TDX . Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 what a weekend we had.....first of all Pink failed as she thought ducks on the lake were much more exciting than following someone's scent.....once I got her going again I had lost all trust in her and should have turned when she wanted to but didn't....lesson learnt.....Dezzy passed his Test 2 and it wasn't pretty but we passed and my daughter Tamika and Jessie passed their Test 3 and gained their first Track and Search Dog Title.....this means Tamika is the youngest in Australia to gain this title and Jessie is the first Amstaff in Australia to gain the title....I am so proud of these two and it has taken me a few days to recover from last weekend....back out to practice with the Weimeraner on Saturday and a trial in two weeks with the Weimeraner and we are going for our Test 7 Missed this one ..... huge congratulations to Tamika and her Jessie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertDobes Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 the way we can usually tell is once the dog has overshot the corner their head or tail will come up as they have lost the scent this then gives you the opportunity to work your dog back where you last knew it was on the scent....maybe walk a course in practice where you know where the corners are and let the dog work them out they may circle and pick it up again....another way is to put food at the corner and a couple of steps away on the track after the corner to bring the dog around....it is really you knowing how to read your dog as to when it is tracking and when it is not....I have trouble with Dezzy because his head doesn't move he doesn't put it down on the ground and it doesn't move when he is off track (he lies to me) I just have to trust him....hope this helps also when your dog goes around the corner make sure you give him lots of praise....sometimes it takes a while for it all to click in Thanks Dezzy. Yes my dog is a good liar too which is why I have problems. I do normally lay my own tracks for training and then take the dog over it but even though I am watching him intently to see what he looks like when he is taking the corner properly and when he is just faffing about, I can't notice any difference. It used to be that when he was hunting rather than tracking his tail would come up and start wagging like crazy but he just calmly tried to head off in the wrong direction with his nose to the ground when I tracked him on the weekend! More practice for us I guess. I will try some food at the corner and after. I normally just train tracks which are similar in number of corners and length to whatever test we are up to. So at the moment we have 2 or 3 turns for a T4. Just wondering if I should make the length shorter but have more corners while I am working this out with him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertDobes Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 (edited) What about going back to basics, double lay or even triple lay your corners till you know he KNOWS corners. No food up to the corner, a couple pieces on the corner to slow him down, then several pieces out of the corner for reward and stress relief. I usually follow up a few paces down with another couple of treats. Then progress as you normally would. Knowing where your track is in the learning/teaching phase is critical to learning about your dog and how they work. Thanks Dory, will give that a go! I asked Dezzy about number of corners while training, your thoughts on this would be appreciated too Edited July 15, 2015 by DesertDobes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dezzyno.1 Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 what a weekend we had.....first of all Pink failed as she thought ducks on the lake were much more exciting than following someone's scent.....once I got her going again I had lost all trust in her and should have turned when she wanted to but didn't....lesson learnt.....Dezzy passed his Test 2 and it wasn't pretty but we passed and my daughter Tamika and Jessie passed their Test 3 and gained their first Track and Search Dog Title.....this means Tamika is the youngest in Australia to gain this title and Jessie is the first Amstaff in Australia to gain the title....I am so proud of these two and it has taken me a few days to recover from last weekend....back out to practice with the Weimeraner on Saturday and a trial in two weeks with the Weimeraner and we are going for our Test 7 Missed this one ..... huge congratulations to Tamika and her Jessie. Thank you Tassie.....I am so happy for them both they did well :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dezzyno.1 Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 the way we can usually tell is once the dog has overshot the corner their head or tail will come up as they have lost the scent this then gives you the opportunity to work your dog back where you last knew it was on the scent....maybe walk a course in practice where you know where the corners are and let the dog work them out they may circle and pick it up again....another way is to put food at the corner and a couple of steps away on the track after the corner to bring the dog around....it is really you knowing how to read your dog as to when it is tracking and when it is not....I have trouble with Dezzy because his head doesn't move he doesn't put it down on the ground and it doesn't move when he is off track (he lies to me) I just have to trust him....hope this helps also when your dog goes around the corner make sure you give him lots of praise....sometimes it takes a while for it all to click in Thanks Dezzy. Yes my dog is a good liar too which is why I have problems. I do normally lay my own tracks for training and then take the dog over it but even though I am watching him intently to see what he looks like when he is taking the corner properly and when he is just faffing about, I can't notice any difference. It used to be that when he was hunting rather than tracking his tail would come up and start wagging like crazy but he just calmly tried to head off in the wrong direction with his nose to the ground when I tracked him on the weekend! More practice for us I guess. I will try some food at the corner and after. I normally just train tracks which are similar in number of corners and length to whatever test we are up to. So at the moment we have 2 or 3 turns for a T4. Just wondering if I should make the length shorter but have more corners while I am working this out with him? Yes I would maybe start with 2 corners doing basics.....we have another lady whose dog does exactly the same but with me following I picked up the dog does raise its head and tail every so slightly and you have to be really quick to pick it up...your dog maybe the same.....as I said when he takes the corner lots of praise so he looks forward to following the scent around the corners and as Doty said short tracks maybe start off with 1 corner then increase to 2 but always look for that slight indication.....my boy Dezzy when he is on track actually paces so that is the only indication I have that he is on track....good luck with the training but remember not to overdo it in training as some dogs will get sick of it....I only train my dogs once a week :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory the Doted One Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 I do footstep tracking and it's been a journey! My first hurdle was finding 'what's in it for the dog', especially as Willow was skipping most of the food. Out came the bacon randomly placed, although always placed after tricky bits like corners, surface changed etc. I mix it up with leftover roast, and other goodies. She's keen enough about tracking that randomizing food on the track keeps her interest. Because my second hurdle was making it enough of a challenge that she enjoyed it, but not so hard she chucked it in as a bad joke. I lay my tracks according to my grounds, love it when there are 'goat track' or tyre tracks to me these are opportunities to teach her how to work through it. Anything she had to 'work through' will have a reward waiting on the other side. Be it food on track (footsteps) or an article I can jackpot het on and give her time to process what she just did. (If there is poo on the track, tough through it we go...horse, cow, duck, bird...tasting is not permitted! We have a job to do). I make my corners 90degrees an try to make sure I know exactly where it is. Food is placed on the outside edge. So they are really clear. And I get clear behaviour from her, so I'm getting a better idea of her body language. I'll do long legs, short legs, legs with multiple articles and two to three corners. Just depends on how she went with her last track. I also don't let her go too far off my track. She can head check, but there is no forward movement till she is on and I don't permit her to circle behind me. But then I'm on the track, because I know where it is. On corners I don't allow more than a body lenght and again, no forward movement til. I know she's on the track. She used to circle, but I've noticed with the sharper corners she's more aware that when the footsteps disappear, backs up then head checks left or right and off she goes. :) I love tracking. The fun of laying out a puzzle for my dog to solve. :) Her reward at the end is 'Good Job!' Which means pats from everyone and a tasty jackpot of the good gear. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dezzyno.1 Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 that is the main thing....that the dog gets the special treat at the end.....we find that most dogs will track to get that treat....we use the little my dog single meals and with my Amstaffs they are gone in seconds but they enjoy them because they do not get them any other time....I have known people to use kangaroo sausages as well....nice and smelly :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dezzyno.1 Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 I have some fantastic news.....on Monday 17th August 2015 Melody (the Weimeraner that I have been handling for a lady) and I passed our Test 8 she will now be known as T.Ch. Fyreside Glitz and Glamour......she has now come into season and will hopefully be having puppies....this is the 3rd dog I have handled to Tracking Champion now.....our season has come to an end short but have a trial to help at in 2 weeks and have found out that another 2 TSD trials have been added in October so will be back to showing our neuter girl and also doing some Track and Search Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 Congratulations dezzyno.1. That's very exciting ..and perfect timing. Nice to have the extra TSD trials. Good luck with those and with the showing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dezzyno.1 Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Well tracking season has now come to an end.....we ended up doing Track and Search and had the following results.....Dezzy ended up with his first TSD title so now is known as T.Ch. Amerykus God Ov War TSD, Tamika and Jessie also ended up with the first TSD title so Jessie is now known as T.Ch. Zforce Sweet Surrender TSD and Pink was handled by Tamika in the last trial and has gained her 2nd TSD test.....looking forward to next season but will be good to have a bit of a rest.....we are hitting the showing scene with Pink in neuter classes and I have now become a full instructor with our local club and am taking Children Classes until the 6th of December which will be the last weekend before the club's break until February next year then back out to do it all again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Wow ... what a great (and busy) year it's been for you and the kids .. 2 and 4 legs :D . Congratulations on all your achievements .. including the instructing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dezzyno.1 Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Wow ... what a great (and busy) year it's been for you and the kids .. 2 and 4 legs :D . Congratulations on all your achievements .. including the instructing. thank you Tassie.....it will be good to have a break but am going to be busy with showing Pink in neuter classes.....every weekend in December is taken up lol.....after a few weeks when club finishes on 6th December I will be itching to get back to the tracking even though I will not have a dog to track unless it is a TSD trial which there are not as many as tracking trials but will be instructing in obedience and also as I am an instructor in tracking will also be helping the new ones once tracking starts back up again hope everyone has a great xmas and just want to say this tracking section is the best....always someone to help if help is needed....well done to everyone this past season has been great to hear of who has done what and what they have achieved Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory the Doted One Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 We are still doing tracking, mostly on ovals to avoid grass seeds and other summer time perils (ants...grrrr....ants). We are starting to get good article indication with Willow!!! And considering she has had quite a large break from training lately, I was pretty pleased with her last track.. Even if she did indicate the corners by dropping...hey...at least she's thinking it through!!! Dory still charges through it all, doesn't want to stop even when she gets to the end. :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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