Laying a track

[Catu]

I've read several times that the best way to fix, or accomplish would be a better word, something is in the way you lay the track. What nobody has said is what they do in those different situations. Some things come to my mind:

- Where to track
Well... obviously where you can. You not always have the choice to track in the conditions you would like, and it is more probably you will have plumbed fields in the fall and high grass in the spring, but lets keep it hypothetical. Why you choose one terrain over the other? What are the advantages or disadvantages of grass, long or short, dirt, soft, hard, etc. What would be the reasons would make you look for one v/s the other?

Given that example, lets do the same exercise with:

- Stride
- Length of the track
- Quality of food
- Amount of bait on the track
- Number of angles
- Number of articles
- Number of tracks per session

I know this is an is ambitious thread, but you don't need to write a book about everything I ask, only what YOU do.

BTW, I do SchH style tracking, but all experiences are just as valuable.

[szariksdad]

With the TD of our Sch. club he prefers grass over others since the when you make the footstep the crushed vegetation holds the scent longer. This for beginning then build up to other surfaces. Again more for early tracking you want the stride short to get them going from footstep to footstep. The length starts short but build as the dog knows what it is asked to do. For food I like to put piece the size of my pinkys fingernail or smaller as they get better. As the dog gets better and knows what is expected of it then I can add in other things like corners and articles. Finally when starting a dog I like them to be on 3 tracks since the first will be hectic and they can settle down by the 3rd. As the dog gets better I then scale back to 2 then to 1.

[JKlatsky]

I like Wet dirt for building style points and establishing that really methodical back and forth head motion where they check every foot step. It is also really helpful for learning how to handle your dog because you can literally see every single step and know if your dog if off by even a hair. Dry dirt/sand is hard but this is good also for our Florida dogs to learn since Florida is not usually known for it's lush vegetation- even a grass field can have a fair amount of dirt to it.

I generally keep my stride close, but I will literally go heel to toe on young dogs...moving to a more natural step.

Length of track depends on what I am working on, the conditions of the terrain and the day. Crappy conditions with lots of problems...shorter track. Conditioning the dog to track? Longer track.

Amount of bait again depends on the conditions for the day and what I am working on. Obviously beginning dogs get more bait. Hard dry conditions get more bait. If I notice my dog is having trouble with corners, I will bait after corners. Hit a spot in my track with animal tracks or a change in terrain? More bait to help them through if they haven't encountered it before. I also like to bait in natural low spots in the terrain...helps pull their nose down. If they are having trouble on the articles, I cut the bait on the track and increase the reward for the article and opposite.

# of angles...depends on if that is what I am working on. Anywhere from None to 6 or 7. Easier to do slight slants than 90degree corners.

# of articles. If I'm really working articles...maybe 7? Sometimes 1 and sometimes none if I don't want to mess with them and am focusing on track problems.

I'm usually a one track per session kind of gal I might do multiples if they are short and I am working on something specific or I encountered a problem on my initial track that I want to address immediately.

[onyx'girl]

Last weekend our club tracked for the first time as a group since last Fall.
The field we went to was new to all of us, and it was short pasture grass that has been dormant, but a day of rain the day before had it waking up some.
The field was very hilly terrain, gusty wind up high, in the valley area calm/ and full of turkey and deer poop.
What a way to start the season!
There was a flatter piece of land that the younger dogs tracked on.
Most every dog did well, some with lots of food, some with very little/some straight/ some with turns or serpentines/articles or none...they all clearly loved what they were doing.

A couple dogs didn't do so well, mine included. At one turn, he got on the wrong track(deer with poop to confirm it) and after about 10 paces I let him figure it out....he got back on mine and found the article.
I put food(natural balance and string cheese) on the start, in the turns and random here and there. I only put two articles down, because I didn't want to lose them(I knew it was going to be a challenge)
I couldn't see my footsteps at all, the grass was very short, or it was sandy with oak leaves scattered about. Not anything to really "mark" my turns other than counting paces. My stride is a natural "walk" though I don't really stomp hard, but I do put more pressure than when walking.
I started doing toe/heel way back when, I may be doing them too far apart now!

Our club members walk behind each dog(many paces behind) so we can all learn, taking much more time than individual running them on our own, but it is worth watching/learning from each dogs problem solving and progression! The tracks usually age for about 1/2 hour before we run them.

So for as far as the questions go, each dog/age/natural tracking ability plays a part in all of it.
I want to work on positioning on the indications, so that will take time, too.

[jesusica]

Originally Posted by JKlatsky

I like Wet dirt for building style points and establishing that really methodical back and forth head motion where they check every foot step. It is also really helpful for learning how to handle your dog because you can literally see every single step and know if your dog if off by even a hair. Dry dirt/sand is hard but this is good also for our Florida dogs to learn since Florida is not usually known for it's lush vegetation- even a grass field can have a fair amount of dirt to it.

I generally keep my stride close, but I will literally go heel to toe on young dogs...moving to a more natural step.

Length of track depends on what I am working on, the conditions of the terrain and the day. Crappy conditions with lots of problems...shorter track. Conditioning the dog to track? Longer track.

Amount of bait again depends on the conditions for the day and what I am working on. Obviously beginning dogs get more bait. Hard dry conditions get more bait. If I notice my dog is having trouble with corners, I will bait after corners. Hit a spot in my track with animal tracks or a change in terrain? More bait to help them through if they haven't encountered it before. I also like to bait in natural low spots in the terrain...helps pull their nose down. If they are having trouble on the articles, I cut the bait on the track and increase the reward for the article and opposite.

# of angles...depends on if that is what I am working on. Anywhere from None to 6 or 7. Easier to do slight slants than 90degree corners.

# of articles. If I'm really working articles...maybe 7? Sometimes 1 and sometimes none if I don't want to mess with them and am focusing on track problems.

I'm usually a one track per session kind of gal I might do multiples if they are short and I am working on something specific or I encountered a problem on my initial track that I want to address immediately.

I'll add to this that it's not just the number of food pieces, articles, turns, serpentines etc...the placement of those things is absolutely crucial.

[BlackthornGSD]

Originally Posted by jesusica

I'll add to this that it's not just the number of food pieces, articles, turns, serpentines etc...the placement of those things is absolutely crucial.

So true.

The rewards, the challenges have to come from the track--so placing an article or food drop after a change in terrain or a tricky corner can help to motivate and reward the dog for working out a challenge.

And then there are the challenges/training lessons from what type of track is laid. For example, sometimes, if I'd been working on corners a lot, I'd lay a track that went really straight for a long, long, long, long time. I'd see the dog start to expect the turn, cast for it a bit, get a bit uneasy over the length of the straight line, then finally the turn would come--will the dog overshoot it because he was hurrying? Will he nail it b/c it finally showed up and he's been expecting it?

Is your dog always tracking nose high? Lay a track on short grass (or dirt) and age it past 30 minutes. Does your dog rush after a corner to get to the article or piece of food you always put there? Lay food through the first 3 steps following the turn, but not going into the turn. Does your dog always overshoot the turn? Try putting food in the last 3 steps before a turn--or maybe "walk" your turns for a while (do turns with like 8 steps to make the corner, not just 3, so walk your whole way through it toe-to-toe)--or do both.

That's the type of thing I am referring to when I say the track has to do the teaching.