So Exciting, but Going About This Totally Wrong!

[GSDElsa]

I've REALLY been wanting to get Elsa into tracking. We've just been biding our time with her basic OB since we've only had her a few months. Her favorite toy EVER is tennis balls. Lately, with the chuck it they've been catapulting into giant piles of leaves, and she's been sniffing them out.

Tonight we decided to play "hide the tennis ball". I'd get DH to take her with the tennis ball to one of the bedrooms, I'd take the ball from her and then go hide it somewhere in the house (under a shirt in the living room, in the first aid kit, on top of her crate under the blanket covering it, behind the trash can, etc. We decided awhile ago when we started tracking what her code word was, and she knows "ball" is her tennis ball.

Anyhoo. WELL. EVERY TIME she found it after about 30 seconds! Yay! I'm very proud of her!!!! And she was soooooo proud of herself when she found it. Would snatch it from the hiding place and trot around in a few circles all cute.

OK...I am full away this is totally not the way to properly train to "track" but I just wanted something fun to do with her on a cold Friday night. I'm just so proud she practically picked up on in instantaneously!

Granted, it was with her favorite toy ever, but still!

[Ruthie]

We play that with Bison too. It is a lot of fun. We used the command "find it". Since then, the command has come in very handy.

[Kayos and Havoc]

There is nothing wrong with find it games. If you do decide to track you can carry that game over. You may end up having to use food to get her to use her nose on the ground scent but that is okay. That tennis ball will be a great thing for her to find at the end of the track and a good play reward.

[Chicagocanine]

If you like that game, there's a neat book called "Fun Nosework for Dogs (" which has a lot more fun games to play with your dog, and also includes information on getting started in tracking.