Air Scenting

[Kayos and Havoc]

What causes this?

How do we fix it?

Max, my first tracker, was a horrid air scenter. I never fixed it and he grew to hate tracking and I never put a title on him.

Kayos has never had a problem with air scenting on vegetation but tracks head high on hard surfaces. Not really air scenting - I think just picking up the scent as the air rises off the concrete or asphalt.

Havoc is an air scenter. But not as bad as Max.

When I started Havoc I did not have this problem. We also started on short vegetation. The vegetation on the desert was relatively sparse too so I did not see this problem.

I started to see it when I would put him a few of the taller fields with a lot of growth at McNary Dam in OR. I did not really make a connection to type of cover and type of tracking style.

Now that we have moved to Oklahoma I have my dream fields back. Nice lush, damp cover that really holds scent well. Of course those dream fields also have chiggers, ticks, mosquitos and every other flying and biting bug out there! Lots of bug spray!

I see Havoc air scenting more and straying farther off the track than I will accept here.

I have also been tracking him in taller cover.

I put my thinking cap on to study on this and I have no idea if my theory is correct or not so please share your opinions on this.

1. In tall cover we think the scent trail is wonderful, we make a nice path through the cover and our scent holds on to the vegetation from the ground to the top. So why does the dog need to work ground scent when in tall cover it is right at head height? Technically it becomes ground scent to the dog I think.

2. In tall cover there may be some much scent that it is overwhelming to a dog that was taught on the desert where the scent is sparser. So I am thinking "gosh the scent is great here" and Havoc is thinking "heck no it is too much so I will work TEN FEET off the track where it is comfortable for me".

3. In short or sparser cover he is forced to work the ground scent more. This may also be why he tends to do the opposite that Kayos does. He tends to track head down on the hard surfaces.

So my plan of attack on this has been to shorten my line more and work him at 10 feet max. He gets 3 feet off the track before I stop and put a lot of physical pressure on him through the line.

I have gone back to shorter cover but not as short or sparse as desert cover. I am also going in and out of tall cover so he has to work a bit harder. Basically TDX obstacles.

I have seen this is helping as he did not air scent at all yesterday and worked a very accurate 300 yard track for me in tall and short cover, 4 road crossings and a creek crossing.

I think this will be an ongoing thing for him as his natural tendency is to air scent I think.

What do you all think about this??

[umzilla]

Sounds like you have some dream tracking areas! We have a lot of bugs around here too in the high cover.

Do you wear bug spray when laying the tracks? If so, any chance that that is affecting how he works the track? I'm guessing you didn't when you were in your other location.

Just a thought.

Christine

[Kayos and Havoc]

Funny Christine, that crossed my mind too, and yes I do wear bug spray - have too or I would be carried off!

I did not wear bug spray in Oregon, no need to.

I bought a can of OFF from Oregon, we had had it for 5 years! I have been through 4 cans in 3.5 months here. It has also been a very wet year and the mosquitos are intense and the ticks chase you around.

I am also back to having to use Frontline and Interceptor on the dogs which I have heard can also effect tracking immediately after application.