Yodas tracking is going great

[Steve Gossmeyer]

[Tennessee3]

Nice work Stevie G!

I'm real digging how slow, steady, and methodically she works the track! Deep nose, minimal casting with no step offs I saw, quick steady Platz on the article, only fault I saw was the look off for you after the initial Platz and stare. (I found it, where's my treat Dad?!?!?! )

Excessive Question TIme!

How old is Yoda?

Are you still putting treats on the track?

Assuming Yes (that deep digging at the beginning says to me she's rooting something out) : What treats do you use? How many do you put in a footstep? Do you prefer back middle or front of the foot?

Have you had to rein her in to get that nice slow speed or is she naturally inclined to be steady like that?

Do you feel the depth of grass there is an asset? My thought being it encourages the dog to use her nose and dig deep to find any treats, too deep can bring the nose up of course but that looks about perfect.

How long have ya'll been working tracking? How often?

Roughly how many steps was that?

What leads were you using there? I need to snag a couple.

Whom did you learn tracking from? Any specific trainers or programs you reference?

Do you use the walked off square scent pads in the yard or do you find that training for the sport has worked better for you?

Scent Pad explanation I'm referring to

I think that's all I got for the moment

[Steve Gossmeyer]

Nice work Stevie G!

I'm real digging how slow, steady, and methodically she works the track! Deep nose, minimal casting with no step offs I saw, quick steady Platz on the article, only fault I saw was the look off for you after the initial Platz and stare. (I found it, where's my treat Dad?!?!?! )

Excessive Question TIme!

How old is Yoda?

Are you still putting treats on the track?

Assuming Yes (that deep digging at the beginning says to me she's rooting something out) : What treats do you use? How many do you put in a footstep? Do you prefer back middle or front of the foot?

Have you had to rein her in to get that nice slow speed or is she naturally inclined to be steady like that?

Do you feel the depth of grass there is an asset? My thought being it encourages the dog to use her nose and dig deep to find any treats, too deep can bring the nose up of course but that looks about perfect.

How long have ya'll been working tracking? How often?

Roughly how many steps was that?

What leads were you using there? I need to snag a couple.

Whom did you learn tracking from? Any specific trainers or programs you reference?

Do you use the walked off square scent pads in the yard or do you find that training for the sport has worked better for you?

Scent Pad explanation I'm referring to

I think that's all I got for the moment

Yoda is 4 years old now and has his BH... honestly I got him as a puppy for my gf and the kids and was trialing my now retired ipo dog... he was a pain in the ass and disgusting in the crate so I put him in a 10x10 pen in my yard... as Tweek retired and all our club members with new dogs.. I decided to start training him..this was like end of march this year... so i waited till he was 4 years old... he's always tracked very slow and methodical like this... I start with food (one piece per step) leading up to the scent pad and then I turn backwards and lay my track by sliding my feet as long as I can go using a piece of food to make the left right footsteps ... with a can of sardines or cat food at the end... then I do a down and run far away and do a recall and play ball to the truck... I do this about 50 times or so with food in every step..I always run two 20ft long lines one on the fur saver and one on the dead ring of the prong and under the armpits... I stay up close for say 200 tracks or so.. after about 50 tracks I start adding serpentines and angles and corners.. once the dog can track 8-10 200 pace legs then I start my articles off the track and with force as needed... (Yoda never misses an article) then I start laying my tracks footstep to footstep with food in every step I use about 20-30 articles big ass tracks all kinds of turns.. I use the article to fix issues say he blows a corner or needs slowed down... once I do about 100 tracks this way then I go back to 3-5 articles and just make the tracks as hard as I feel fit but always at least 3-5 200 pace legs with swrpetines am weird angles and articles were needed... now there's food about 50% of the track... I use hotdogs cuttup for the longest time now I'm using just small kibble... I prefer to track on the shortest grass possible this teaches the dog to really use its nose (oh and food in the toe of the footstep) our tracking grounds the grass sucks!!!! But the dogs track awesome on good grass after training there so I don't complain! Lol lots of terrain changes legnth and style of vegetation.. dirt ants lol hope that explains it well if I missed something let me know! ( oh and I am mentored by dean calderon)

[Steve Gossmeyer]

We used to track 5 days a week and sometimes twice a day! Now he doesn't need to track often sometimes twice a week maybe even once... I mean he's at a point we're now in just trying to get points

[Tennessee3]

We used to track 5 days a week and sometimes twice a day! Now he doesn't need to track often sometimes twice a week maybe even once... I mean he's at a point we're now in just trying to get points

Thanks for answering all my questions!

That's alot of what I expected to hear but some interesting little tidbits in there to incorporate as well

I've started young with my girl and she naturally just loves to track, it requires management to keep her calm and steady while she works. I use a couple strategies to try and naturally keep her calm / slow her down. And I'm always mindful to stay very very relaxed while we work, but for the time being it's not something I'm really trying to "fix".

There's plenty of time for that and who am I to complain about having a dog that loves the hardest element of the sport

Figured I might ask and see if you had any insight on the issue I could incorporate down the road.

ETA
I'll have to check out Dean Calderon's work, a quick internet search says he's quite the trainer with a ton of experience. Also my bad for calling Yoda a girl LOL

[Steve Gossmeyer]

We used to track 5 days a week and sometimes twice a day! Now he doesn't need to track often sometimes twice a week maybe even once... I mean he's at a point we're now in just trying to get points

Thanks for answering all my questions!

That's alot of what I expected to hear but some interesting little tidbits in there to incorporate as well

I've started young with my girl and she naturally just loves to track, it requires management to keep her calm and steady while she works. I use a couple strategies to try and naturally keep her calm / slow her down. And I'm always mindful to stay very very relaxed while we work, but for the time being it's not something I'm really trying to "fix".

There's plenty of time for that and who am I to complain about having a dog that loves the hardest element of the sport

Figured I might ask and see if you had any insight on the issue I could incorporate down the road.

ETA
I'll have to check out Dean Calderon's work, a quick internet search says he's quite the trainer with a ton of experience. Also my bad for calling Yoda a girl LOL

Haha it's all good as at as dean goes 18x world team competitor 3x world champion with 3 different breeds not to mention the people he's helped put on the podium honestly there's no better ipo guy in the country

[Tennessee3]

We used to track 5 days a week and sometimes twice a day! Now he doesn't need to track often sometimes twice a week maybe even once... I mean he's at a point we're now in just trying to get points

Thanks for answering all my questions!

That's alot of what I expected to hear but some interesting little tidbits in there to incorporate as well

I've started young with my girl and she naturally just loves to track, it requires management to keep her calm and steady while she works. I use a couple strategies to try and naturally keep her calm / slow her down. And I'm always mindful to stay very very relaxed while we work, but for the time being it's not something I'm really trying to "fix".

There's plenty of time for that and who am I to complain about having a dog that loves the hardest element of the sport

Figured I might ask and see if you had any insight on the issue I could incorporate down the road.

ETA
I'll have to check out Dean Calderon's work, a quick internet search says he's quite the trainer with a ton of experience. Also my bad for calling Yoda a girl LOL

Haha it's all good as at as dean goes 18x world team competitor 3x world champion with 3 different breeds not to mention the people he's helped put on the podium honestly there's no better ipo guy in the country

I'll definitely have to find some of his work!

Hey one more question I forgot to ask, why do you walk backwards?

[Steve Gossmeyer]

Only in the beginning 100 tracks or so it's to create a constant scent and I use the food to make the footsteps teaching the left right behavior... once the dog Masters that then I go back to laying normal footsteps and ever still every now and then when I have a hard turn I'll lay the turn backwards

[Tennessee3]

Only in the beginning 100 tracks or so it's to create a constant scent and I use the food to make the footsteps teaching the left right behavior... once the dog Masters that then I go back to laying normal footsteps and ever still every now and then when I have a hard turn I'll lay the turn backwards

Ahhhh!

I gotcha now, basically moon walking so the smell of the footsteps = food = track

[Steve Gossmeyer]

Only in the beginning 100 tracks or so it's to create a constant scent and I use the food to make the footsteps teaching the left right behavior... once the dog Masters that then I go back to laying normal footsteps and ever still every now and then when I have a hard turn I'll lay the turn backwards

Ahhhh!

I gotcha now, basically moon walking so the smell of the footsteps = food = track

Yes sir!