Tracking Tips

[ladyjubilee]

So, we're starting "official" but modified scent tracking. Our first lesson we today, working to key Bramble to my sobns scent. I know this is going to be a long haul process, made worse by my great ability to do exactly the wrong thing at crucial moments.

Any tips and tricks for building scent discrimination?

We are going to do a few sessions without my son present so she works toward his scent and not him.

[TimL_168]

I do just regular nose work drills with my kid's dirty laundry

[ladyjubilee]

That is sort of where we are starting. I'm use my son's dirty laundry, then in two week at session we are going to up the challenge by using smaller and smaller pieces...and I'm supposed to build to rubbing the clothes on the ground to create a trail...and make an trail with scented items. I think my biggest challenge is that my is pretty much always with me or we're at home where his scent permeates everything.

[TimL_168]

Yeah, it's a pain. You can't train to separate a scent that's already blanketing an area. When I'm drilling for discrimination, it's source scenting, not tracking. Honestly, tracking and trailing is SOOOO much more complex than just search for a source on the wind. Even that has many challenges unrelated to the dog.
I'll wait a until my kid hadn't been running around in the back for couple days. Then I'll stash a sock or a shirt or something somewhere where i can see the wind will allow her to find it without straying off my property. I haven't read anything specific or gotten first hand input from anyone, but it seems that the biggest hurdle I experienced in discrimination, was getting her to get a nose full of what I want her to find. So I'll throw another dirty sock in a ziplock, and get her to take a drag. She was SO ramped up for the search when younger that she wouldn't take the sample. It took s little bit of patience and repetition.
Next point
I'll only run one to three searches on my kid's scent in the back yard. After that, everything is muddied up. Scent is pooling in areas where there is no longer an article. So the right thing to do is to change the sample. I'm using a pair of leather work gloves, fox pee(hunting cover scent, don't judge ), etc. I'll run the same type of drills with those scents, knowing that the traces of the previous scents are still hanging around. Reward QUICKLY when the dog pushes it's nose into an article.

[TimL_168]

After a lot of successful rounds like that, you can place an unmatched article in the field as well as the match. The dog will hit the odd article. Ignore. Do not make eye contact, and if you have a reasonable base in the drive to search, the dog should turn back in to the work

[ladyjubilee]

That is one of the steps we plan. I'm going to be using some of my clothes as non match. I am also going to get gloves to try an lower my scent on the match items.

I hadn't thought about the scent pooling.

I am trying to focus on my reward timing. I totally messed up during training and undid the work of about 6 reps. I
Ugh!

[TimL_168]

I've found it's best to exercise extreme control of the environment when working on marker (reward) timing. It's the easiest way to make sure you're marking AN ACTUAL positive is when you are indoors with no breeze

[ladyjubilee]

That's part of our challenge. Even during our training sessions, I'm on mommy duty-with the target scent. We are going to try Bramble having some sessions just withe trainer while we are at Disney. I ultimately decided not to take her with us after talking to a kennel down there-they end up boarding a number of service dogs who get stepped on or otherwise injured. So we are going to try the trainer only sessions.

The other big hurdle we have is the drive issue. Bramble is "high drive", but unlike most working dogs, I can't "put her up" to nurture the drive to scent. Her job is taking care of her boy so she only goes in her kennel when he is in their room. Can't loose the medical alert to push the tracking. We are just having to work harder.