Thinking of beginning Tracking

[aubie]

Anna turned 5mo Saturday and she's really begun to use her sniffer.

We've always played "find mommy, find daddy" games where we hide from her and she usually just looked for us, but now she's getting where she can actually put her nose down on the ground and follow our track. Out of curiosity I tied a hotdog to a string, drug it and hid it while she was in the house....she came out and I used the "find it" command and got her on the scent. She found it pretty well.

After discussing it with the DH we think we're going to start training for tracking. There's not a tracking club within our area (the closest is about 4 hours away) so we'll be doing this on our own.

We've researched the basics about creating scentpads, using treats, articles, etc. We'll probably begin "formal" practice this weekend, unless the day light lasts longer during the week.

Any pointers before we begin? If we don't have a harness, can we just practice right now with her buckle collar and a 6ft leash?

[BlackPuppy]

I think a flat collar is fine for the beginning. Switching to a harness is also a cue for the dog that it's tracking time. (My dogs also see the flags and take off down the track.)

We don't have a formal tracking "club", but I found out about tracking from somebody in my dog training class. You might look for a local AKC dog training club, or maybe a nice Schutzhund trainer or training club. You might be able to find somebody to meet up with.

As for pointers. The 2 biggest things I learned at tracking camp was to quit talking and let the dog work it out. Dogs know how to do this. LOL!

[aubie]

That's a good point...getting the harness JUST for tracking so it will put her "in the game"!

We're supposed to start obedience classes in late march at a AKC facility. They don't have any kind or tracking listed on their site, but maybe someone there knows something about some tracking in the area.

The closest ScH is about two hours away.

Would you say it's a good rule of thumb to have flags in the beginning?

[BlackPuppy]

Originally Posted By: aubieWould you say it's a good rule of thumb to have flags in the beginning?

Tracking tests always have flags at the start. I find that if I don't have flags and I leave for an hour and come back, I <s>sometimes</s> often forget where I put the track. LOL! Then the dog says it's over there and I think, no it can't be. The dog is always right.

I also mark turns and the glove at the end. You might think the dog just follows the flags (some might), but mostly they are focused on the scent. I like to throw in a curve on my tracks so the dogs don't get into thinking its always going to be a straight line.

I also like to throw in some concrete and asphalt tracking right from the start so it's not a surprise later.

[aubie]

Cool! Thank you! I'll let you know how it goes!

[Smithie86]

You will love tracking. I come from the area of “ where is Waldo” in regards to finding available tracking; the Bay Area. Most of the time we would have to drive an hour or use the schools in the area. Big leash laws in the area; very strict. We had to be very creative and like tracking, even in clumps of dry dirt.

But it is the coolest thing to watch them learn and work the track. Baer, who passed almost a year ago, was my first full tracking dog that I trained myself. I was lucky, as I started late (according to everyone) that he was talented and loved to track. Even after not tracking for 3 years, I laid a SCH3 track (very long) as I thought Gabor was going to run it with his dog. After 1.5 hours, we ran it with Baer and he nailed it.

[aubie]

Cool! Thanks for the tips/stories. I'm really excited about it and I think she'll do great at it. Her mom's lineage has a good Sch background so I guess the genes have come through, even though her mom didn't do any Sch.

She has a very strong working dog drive and has really, really got into sniffing out everything. Even after we play in the yard, she goes back and follows the tracks where we walked then comes back to us. It's from watching this and the hide n seek that we thought this would be something great for her to get into. We'll prob do the AKC style, that is if she seems to have fun while doing it. I'm not going to push her into something she doesn't like to do, but I have a feeling she'll like it.

I'm sure I'll be back here with questions and updates as this goes along. I can't wait till Saturday!!

[Smithie86]

Aubie - where in AL are you? We are 20 minutes north of Nashville.

[aubie]

Outside Montgomery, so about 1.5 hours south of B'ham, in a city called Prattville aka the last good eatery/gas stop on 65 on your way to the beach.

[aubie]

Well crap. now it's going to rain all day Sat and freakin' snow on Sunday. SNOW! it's 70 degrees outside right now.

Ergh!