Shakti Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 (edited) I cannot find a Tracking group or a tracking guru near enough to my home to help me so I am looking at training this on my own. Can anyone please recommend any DVDs /books or Videos that will be of help to me? Edited July 27, 2006 by Brooke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazz Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 (edited) I too would be interested :D edited to add: I know you do need someone to lay the track for you should be able to bribe someone .... Edited July 27, 2006 by Hazz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roguedog Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Im also interested in tracking but have the same problem... maybe we can get together once a month to help each other out??? I also know of a few others who would be keen too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamby Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Hi Why not join the Tracking Club of Victoria's Yahoo Group. They will have heaps of ideas, books etc to help you learn to track. It is very hard to do it by yourself. You need people to watch how you handle the dog as well as watching what signals the dog is giving. There are some wonderful books and videos on the market for tracking as well as tracking Web Pages that provide heaps of help. Tracker Dog Training (German) translated by E. Weinand (Video) The tracker dog by Eddie Weiner Tracking Dog Theory and Methods by Glen R Johnson The Koehler Method of training a tracking dogs by William R Koehler Scent Training to Track, Search and Rescue by Milo D Pearsall, Hugo Verbruggen MD Following Ghosts (can't think of the authors, try a search on the internet for it.) I love tracking. To me it is the most wonderful thing to do with your dog. You enter their world and to watch them work their little butts off searching for that Thing (whatever it is) at the end of the track is amazing. I can give you one hint and that is not to step forward at all until your dog has got it's head down and is working the scent. I see many people who's dogs could track but have given up doing their own thing and just allowed the handler to indicate where the track is. I hope I have been of some help becasue it would be a shame if you couldn't go out and enjoy the world of tracking. Miss Annabell is my Tracking Champion. She is amazing. The other two dogs, Mister Scotty can do it but would rather chase mice and Gambit is in the learning stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamby Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 I found some web addresses for you http://www.basset.net/track.html http://home.ntelos.net/~dtratnac/ Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 For the Test Qualification Track and the TD1, the first two levels in tracking, your dog is allowed to track you or someone that it knows well, so the initial training doesn't have to involve a helper. At a trial however, you will need someone to handle your dog for you. I started tracking training with my girl when she was a baby....I'd prepare her breakfast, and let her see me do this, then I'd lock her in the shed and take her breakfast for a walk down the paddock, then come back to the shed to let her out. In the early stages, I didn't put a harness and lead on her...just let her free form and sort it out for herself. You can also drop treats in your footsteps to help them get the idea. As I gradually increased the distance of the track I eliminated the footstep treats, but introduced scented articles with treats on top. At this stage, she started looking for articles instead of following the scent trail to find them, but I wasn't too worried about this because she seemed to have the idea about following the scent trail to a reward, and she put her nose back to the ground again when I started to reduce the number of articles on the track. Also at this stage, little smarty pants decided to improvise...she'd run up to each article, check to make sure there was a treat there, make her way to her breakfast, eat her breakfast, then back track to eat the treats on the articles :D It wasn't until after this that I put the harness and lead on. I had been attending tracking trials and helping out as either a steward or track layer for about 18 months until I got my pup, and one of the things that I noticed was the dogs that either lost the plot entirely or lost drive for following the scent trail often seemed to responding to signals being sent down the lead because the handler either didn't trust the dog and just follow it (which basically translates to not learning to read their dog) or they didn't realise what effects their actions had on the dog. So before I inadvertently started muddying up the process, I wanted to be sure that she was confident with the job at hand and that I was reading her well. The first time I put her on the track away from her own yard with a harness on she flushed a hare....followed it for about 5 paces, but then returned to the job at hand without any encouragement or input from me. She is a RR with moderate to high prey drive....breaky drive is much higher though When I started to age the track before I put her on it, I had to move away from breakfast bowls and treats on articles because they attract ants. The last thing you want is for your dog to get bitten on the nose or mouth and create a negative association here. I started to use cans of sardines....she soon started to recognise the can and know what was coming up whenever I took a can of sardines out of the cupboard. She passed her TQT easily, and got an excellent pass on the TD1 at her third attempt. What was most thrilling for me though was seeing how hard she tried on her second attempt. After the track layer went out, old mate farmer decided that this would be a good time to go get that dead cow out of the top paddock to burn it, crossed the track with his tractor, bought the dead cow back across the track then figured since he had the tractor out anyways, he might as well take a round bale of hay out for the other 150 head in the paddock. We had 150 head on the end of the first leg, first corner, and second leg of the track eating hay. So she lost the track, but she did not stop trying to find it. I was so proud of her, at one point she stopped for a split second, looked back at me and yawned. I figured that at this point I was going to pull her off and reward her anyway..but she put her head back down again. The judge had failed us and left for the next track before this point, so I got the steward to show us where the track was and we continued on. Next we really needed to polish up on article identification and this is a behaviour that I've shaped with a clicker. We have this article identification game where I put a bunch of scented articles on the ground and I started by clicking and rewarding every time she picked an article up...don't have to reward for this anymore...she just tears around like a lunatic, picking up articles and shaking them then dropping them to 'attack' the next article. You'd figure that the way she plays this game would make her lose the plot on the track if she comes across an article, but her drive is sooo good for the track that picking up the article is almost something she does as an after thought...she just picks it up, carries it in her mouth for a few steps and drops it without really losing focus on the track. I initially did play with trying to get her to drop at an article....but this did seem to kill her drive for both the track and article identification. So I give up on that and went with her picking the article up. I also never have to give her any commands on the track....soon as I put the harness on and show her the start article she knows what to do. I guess that since I started following her off lead as an observer to see what she was going to teach me(after all, she instinctually knows a helluva lot more about following a scent trail than what I could ever teach her...all I had to do was provide the motivation for her to follow a trail that I chose)..I never really got to the point where I introduced verbal commands. I do however give her heaps of verbal praise on the track when she identifies an article and finds the track layer. At a trial, can of sardines is waiting in my car for when we get back after we are finished the track. I'm a relative newbie to the sport and this is the first dog that I've trained in it....resources are hard to come by and the best way to learn is to offer to go along to help at a trial. I've met plenty of people who don't have training partners who are quite successful, so this doesn't need to be a limiting factor. I'd say about 95% or more of the training that I've done with my girl has been just with the 2 of us. I also found some links on DOL...do a search on tracking and you'll find some links to w'sites with some info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamby Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Here are some more sights to visit http://www.grcv.org.au/training/tracking.htm http://www.trackingclubvic.org.au/about.html http://www.finographics.com/schutzhund/tra...g/tracking.html FOLLOWING GHOSTS: DEVELOPING THE TRACKING RELATIONSHIP by Suzanne Clothier & John Rice (See other books by author) Publisher: Flying Dog Press Edition: 1996 Booklet, 54 pages ISBN: 0964652986 Item: DGT200 Will Ship on: 08/04/06 Summary: Try this common sense approach to tracking/search and rescue based on respect for the dog's natural abilities, positive reinforcement and observation skills! All training is done on variable surfaces. Price: $6.50 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Expanded Description: A commonsense approach to tracking/search & rescue based on respect for the dog's natural abilities, positive reinforcement, and keen observation skills. To be successful with this approach, all you need is a good relationship with your dog! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dig In Introduction About the Authors See all 3 Pages. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dogwise Thinks You Might Enjoy: ENTHUSIASTIC TRACKING: A STEP BY STEP TRAINING HANDBOOK TRACKING FROM THE GROUND UP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Customers who bought this product also bought: UNDERSTANDING & TEACHING SELF CONTROL TRACKING FROM THE GROUND UP FUN NOSEWORK FOR DOGS, 2ND EDITION TRACKING DOG - THEORY AND METHODS, 5TH EDITION TRY TRACKING! THE PUPPY TRACKING PRIMER -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Customer Reviews Average Customer Ranking: Write a review for this product! A must have!, March 20, 2006 Reviewer: Claudia Clifton This booklet is a must have for everyone, beginner to advanced tracker, for sport or practical tracking like SAR or trailing. Not a how-to-book, but a book that will give one fresh ideas on how things work and how the dog tracks.... Takes the complicated thinking of humans out of the tracking equation!!!! I need more of those books for everybody I am training with! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamby Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 For the Test Qualification Track and the TD1, the first two levels in tracking, your dog is allowed to track you or someone that it knows well, so the initial training doesn't have to involve a helper. At a trial however, you will need someone to handle your dog for you. I started tracking training with my girl when she was a baby....I'd prepare her breakfast, and let her see me do this, then I'd lock her in the shed and take her breakfast for a walk down the paddock, then come back to the shed to let her out. In the early stages, I didn't put a harness and lead on her...just let her free form and sort it out for herself. You can also drop treats in your footsteps to help them get the idea.] Wow, that was a wonderful read. You described the tracking world perfectly. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shakti Posted July 28, 2006 Author Share Posted July 28, 2006 wow - thanks to everyone! :D Excellent links and suggestions and Rom that was a wonderful read anf a great help! I would love to get together with some DOLers who want to do tracking I am in the Hunter Valley but can get to the Central Coast or Newcastle - any takers?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayreovi Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Is there anyone over South Eastern way that trains? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamby Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Is there anyone over South Eastern way that trains? Where abouts in South Eastern Victoria? give me some towns that are surrounding your area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdayz Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Shame tollers as you are probably too late...but Hastings Obed club have a workshop happening this weekend. There are plenty of tracking people in your are though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayreovi Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 I live in Pakenham surrounding areas are Narre Warren, Berwick, Cranbourne further east is Warragul and Drouin. Ohh damn Dogdayz ohh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamby Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 I live in Pakenham surrounding areas are Narre Warren, Berwick, Cranbourne further east is Warragul and Drouin.Ohh damn Dogdayz ohh well. Don't give up. Contact Hastings Club, Denise Burriss or Kim Houlden. Kim lives at 131 Tyabb/Tooradin Road, Somerville or even try Andrea Sciberras on 03 9877 1528 ASAP You never know if you don't ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamby Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Tracking Club of Victoria's Yahoo Group address is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oztracking/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Make sure you come up and say hi to Springergirl and I if you manage to get in Tollersowned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helen Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 Give it a go if you can Brooke, it is great fun. The tracking club of Vic workshop is great, I went this year and learnt so much. There were a few interstate people so you may even meet up with some NSW people you can train with. As I have found it is not easy to get started and finding but once you do it really is worth it. Like ROM said if you can get to some trials you may find people to help too, there is not much of the season left though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayreovi Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 Its too short notice for me to even bother ringing. Will see next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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