tracking in cold and snow - Page 1

Are there any benefits to tracking in snow? Also, at what point is it too cold to track? Thoughts anyone? We haven't had bad weather yet, but I know it'll arrive sooner or later. I hate to miss several months of tracking.

The main benefit to snow tracking is you can see the track. If you do too much of it, however, your dog will begin to sight track, i.e. look for footsteps. It is useful to track in the snow now and then if you think there is ever going to be a chance when you might have to trial in the snow. Dogs who indicate articles by downing on them sometimes won't if they don't have a little snow practice first. As for how cold is too cold, if its a GSD, its only too cold when you can't stand it. I have tracked in -15 F weather. Hardly ideal, but it didn't bother my dog. Glen Johnson & his colleagues tracked the entire west Canadian pipe in artic temps and the dogs did fine. The two main areas of concern are the paws and on males testicles. If you are going to be out for more than 30 minutes you might consider mukluks or some other dog bootie. As for testicles, it is generally not a problem but using your hand to warm them from time to time is not a bad idea.

The main advantage to tracking in snow is for the handler. You can see where the tracks are going and how your dog is reacting to scent. It is easy to find areas where there are other footprints so your dog must scent discriminate, but you can look for the correct tread pattern. Also snow is one of the best substrates to hold scent because of the high surface area. The colder it gets the more difficult it is to search just because the lower the temp the amount the scent volatizing is reduced. It is a great way to teach a dog to track. Maxislooking

You can get a dogs "Undercoat" which will keep belly and testicles from getting cold. It's available from musher's supply houses. I often went skijoring in cold up to -25 weather near Fairbanks, Alaska, using a dogs undercoat on my working German Shepherd.