Beginning tracking

[Lauren]

Can some one point me in the right direction as to how to begin tracking training? There is SO much information out there.

Also I would like to teach her airscent as well, Some sources say you must train air scent first and some say you must train tracking first. I have the book : Ready; the training of the search and rescue dog. It has some good ideas, but i wanted to bounce it off of you guys first.

I have been putting off any formal training because the local S&R team said that they would be accepting more dogs this fall and they did't want to have to undo bad training... But I feel like we are missing some great training time and we may never be chosen after all.

[Diesel]

I met a girl last summer who had trained her dog to track...I asked her to send me some information. I will definitely share when I get it.

[Lauren]

Thanks!

[Christie M]

Personally, I think its much easier to teach a dog to air scent. We teach footstep as the foundation for all of our dogs. Once they have that, then we start run aways and let them begin to air scent. If they loose the scent cone while air scenting, the ground track will always be there to go back to and reorient.

[Lauren]

That makes a lot of sense... I really need to break it down into steps and get moving on it. I know that we will love it. It does take a lot of helpers, though. I guess it is time to bribe my kids.

[Christie M]

Actually, to start footstep tracking, you only use yourself. Most people start by laying scent boxes (area of scuffed ground) and distributing the food within the box. I recently heard that it makes a more dramatic contrast to the dog if you concentrate your rewards towards the edges of your box. When you start, you are only asking the dog to differentiate between a specific scent on the ground and no scent. Most people feed the dogs entire meals in the scent box (and then on the track) for 6 out of 7 days.

From there, we go to baited footsteps. But still tracking the same person - namely you.

[Marjolein]

I do as Christie said, with the box, and than in footsteps, only using myself first, leave the track/box to rest at least 15 min. before you get your dog, this allows the skin particals (is that english)that fall of you (off any person) to settle down on the ground.

With Dingo we trained both at the same time, after a while you will see them use both skills in a search, since they were thought how to use their nose, they will switch from footsteps to air scent and vice versa. At least, that is what I saw in the group I trained in
Only problem with Dingo was that he would walk next to the track when there had been side wind. The particals "land" next to the actual path you followed. For SAR this is fine as you will find your victim, for an examn in Schutzhund it sucks, because the want them IN the footsteps This is not natural to a dog and must be learned.

[Drizlaru]

Worth taking a look at. About half way down you can see the tracking videos. They sell some decent tracking equipment as well.

http://www.leerburg.com/dvd.htm

[Frenchie85]

Lauren,

Before you start any scent work with your dog, you need to find out what kind of search dog you want to train.
Do you want an area dog or a trailing dog? If you want a trailing dog, I'd encourage you to build a foundation of tracking and no air scenting. It would help you tremendously down the road.
If you need more information about trailing dog, please feel free to PM me.
Also, if you're doing trailing with your dog, I'd love to hear your progress and how your dog is doing.
I currently own a 9 year old German Shepherd who is a certified trailing dog by the state of California and I'm currently researching the Dutch Shepherd breed for my next SAR dog.