Basic tracking

[jennafetherolf]

Hi I am looking for new mental stim for Shelby and would like to do a little tracking with him. But, I have no clue as to how to do this. Can anyone offer some beginners tracking exercises? Thank you!

[BlackPuppy]

The current training method for tracking is Hydration Intensified Tracking pioneered by Steve White. I'm going to post an exerpt from my tracking list by a woman who taught us about it.

Quote:
Glad you guys were able to answer the questions :-) Just to note- Steve STARTED with Scent in a Bottle (SIAB) but he has now moved to HIT (Hydration Intensified Tracking.) No scent is added to the water because he found that step wasn't needed.

The basic principle is that by starting on a solid surface (sealed blacktop) you know what the dog is scenting on. WE know we want the dog to follow the human scent, but if they are working on a natural surface, we don't really KNOW what they are smelling as the track. By starting on a paved surface, it takes out the component of crushed vegitation that the dog started on grass might confuse as the "scent" to follow (which makes it VERY hard for them if you try to do a Variable Surface Track that includes pavement.)

By spraying water ahead of you with a standard garden type sprayer, the skin cells falling off the person stick in the water and the water helps hydrate those cells allowing the bacterial breakdown to occur faster (thus giving off more scent.)

He also believes that dog's need to be taught to walk while they keep their nose down because that's not a natural behavior. So by putting food on the puppy tracks, it helps the dog learn to walk in a sustained nose down position while moving fluidly. It's the moving fluidly part that takes the dog some time to master (not having the back feet try to pass up the front feet, not having their back bounce up and down like an inch worm, etc.) As the food gets more wide spread, it teaches them to follow the human scent to find the food rewards. If the dog's nose comes up, the human stops.

Gradually the food is faded and as the tracks get longer, the water dries out. But it is also faded by spraying only the foot steps, then every other foot step, then no water.

Once the dog is tracking just human scent reliably on pavement, the process is repeated on gravel. Of course the dog goes through the steps much faster, but the reward history and the reinforcement for working in a nose down position is valuable for generalization to the new surface.

After gravel, they work through the steps on dirt and finally on grass.

I might have left out a few surfaces, but you get the idea. It makes a LOT of sense to me so that's why I'm using it. Plus, he has trained many police dogs that have been quite successful trackers in all types of terrain incluing urban with many cross tracks. His seminars (and the DVD set of one of his seminars) addresses the differences in various tracking needs as well (SAR, AKC, Sch, police, etc.) but the basics are the same for each venue.

Very cool stuff! I highly recommend his DVD's available on his website: http://www.i2ik9.com

If you google it, you'll find a lot of information and youtube videos.

[Chris Wild]

I'd say that's ONE current training method, but not exclusively THE current training method.

Gary Patterson's "Tracking: From the Beginning" book is a very good read for people new to tracking.

One very important question is what sort of tracking are you interested in? Trailing? Air scenting? Competitive AKC style? Competitive SchH style? Don't care and just want to have fun and not interested in titles?

[jennafetherolf]

Thanks for the information. We are not looking for titles or competition. Just something different for us to do together and a new way to challenge and stimulate this boy's mind.

[OkieAmazon]

I'd go with the Patterson book. Good luck, and you never know, you may enjoy yourself so much you decide to go for a tracking title!

[Kayos and Havoc]

Ditto on Pattersons book. You might also look at at Ed Presnall's Novice Nosework. It is available at http://www.pawmark.com