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| Tracking
Into The Wind I would start my puppy/young dog with sent pads, 2-3 pads at a time, that would steadily grow in size from 11/2' to 4' circles using small pieces of food so the dog has to search for them. To big a piece teaches the dog to collect the food not use his nose to find it. Bring the dog into the sent pad with the wind to it's back until he figures out that the damaged ground contains the food. After a couple weeks start bringing the dog to the sent pad at different angles according to the wind. If the dog leaves the sent pad hold him tight trying to teach him leaving the sent pad didn't get him anything and there wasn't any food hidden in the grass that wasn't damaged. At the same time if the dog picks his head up at anytime make a verbal encouragement, to get back to work. When the dog shows intense sent pad work and starts dragging me to the pads I start laying tracks out of my circle that lead to a small sealed container full of a special food, steak, egg and cheese omelet, or pizza. Once the dog finds the container I down him and open the container.
If the dog doesn't show a desire to track I pick the container
up and eat it the food. After all I did work my ass to afford
to buy the steak. Why should the dog be able to eat what he didn't
work for? Tracking is usually the first phase of the day so I
spend as much time as possible teaching proper technique. With
everything that can go wrong in obedience and protection it's
comforting to start the day with a 90+ vs. a 70. If you research
the big events the top ten place dogs usually have V scores in
tracking. |
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