IPO 2050 .. What Must Change ..Tracking - Page 8

HD,

Where is this done?

@momo

                  I was not suggesting falsifying answers on your home owners! (geez)  most home owner policies that restrict certain dog breeds will allow you a blanket liability policy if you inquire with them. I Pay 750.00 a year over my home owners for just such a policy and it covers me and any of my property up to 1 million dollars of liability coverage which covers dog bites any where in the continental U.S.

Careless dog owners are usually responsible for the banning of dogs from school property or other public areas. They allow their untrained dogs to be off lead chasing after other dogs and people and not cleaning up after them. All it takes is for one kid to step in a pile or to get confronted by one of those dogs and from then on it's - no dogs allowed.  It's not necessarily pet owners either. I've seen it at shows and trials too.

Ok, first, golf courses are a big no-no, they have their own insurance polices to adhere to and its not likely to cover someone training a dog on the grounds, whom is not a member of the club and/or using the property for something "other than golf".  There is a difference in polices that cover "sports" and is distinctly different from the ones that cover "dog training" in many cases.  I know because I belong to a couple of dog clubs and a running club that all recently had to change their insurance companies recently, "running with dogs" was a topic of issue with the running clubs "sport focused" insurance policy.  If the golf course property owner gives you written permission, great, you're all set, BUT I highly doubt any golf course owner is going to give written permission for this kind of activity.  The ground keeper saying its OK is not sufficient, legally speaking.

Second, public & private schools near me have been very cooperate in letting "certain" dog events/trials/training use the grounds.  But its almost the same as above, you need written permission and proof of insurance, tied specifically to an official tax filing dog club, business or non-profit sponsoring the training.

@ Bob McKown, does you policy specifically say, in insurance speak: "bitework", "schutzhund", "guard dog", "protection" or "trained to attack on command"?  If not, your butt is "swinging in the wind" and will certainly have a strong possibility of a claim being denied should the need arise to file one.  I know for fact State Farm will drop you.  Insurance companies won't even issue polices to some K-9 Law Enforcement officers with home owners insurance, due to their dogs have been trained in bite work.  You need to get your facts straight, this board is public and someone out there might believe your incorrect statement!

As for the HITT method,  this came up before on the forum here is some of my past explanation.  HITT is done totally away from, soil/grass and instead is done on an artificial surfaces like concrete, blacktop or asphalt.  You basically lay a track on asphalt and spray distilled water on the track as you go, thereby concentrating and isolating the "shedding skin smell" that a dog will more easily recognize and remember.  I would say give him easier tracks and make sure he really knows what he is smelling for, essentially the human trail and not the environmental aftermath of smushed vegetation, etc.  I see many dogs that have learned to track the smell of broken grass/plants/soil and once you hit them with their first cross track they get easily confused, until they are taught to track the shedding human skin alone.  HITT lets you know if the dog knows he is looking for human scent and not broken vegetation scent on a track.  If he does not, then you need to isolate the human scent for him to track and practice on that, without other paired environmental scents like grass, soil , vegetation etc. I personally use the HITT method in the very beginning, but there may be some other way to integrate it if you have already started training another way.  HITT is also good for getting practice in when you have no access to good natural vegetation tracking fields, I find what the dog learns on artificial surfaces to be totally transferable to natural vegetation environments. 

Also on an anecdotal note, from what I have seen, dogs who were taught some kind of  "area search" indication via "air scenting"  before being taught tracking, seem to have much more "mental stamina" to keep working even when confused by a cross track or a longer track with many turns, as opposed to dogs that started on vegetation tracking, who them move on to "air scenting" activities later.  I just don't see the same level of "stick to it' ness" in the beginning from those dogs to "find it".  I have seen many nosework sport dogs, for example, go on to tracking sport years later, after doing nosework and they seem to be able to move onto longer tracks without tiring, much faster than dogs that never did any kind of "air scenting" work.  In reverse I have even seen some titled tracking dogs not pick their head up to scent when introduced to nosework.  It almost like the air scenting trained dog is thinking "wow this is SOOO much easier to get paid for than the other nose thing I do, so I'll just keep following this scent until I hit the reward".  I know this may not be universal true, but my gut says that the "thinking" which the dogs does to "air scent" their way to an article is somehow harder than the action putting their nose on the ground and following a track.  The downside is theses dogs are not doing IPO 1-3 tracking, per the rules.  However, since the longer and more difficult FH (Fartenhund) is more lenient with the dogs casting off the track somewhat, I don't see as many venue transition problems there.

Comparing seize and population of Germany with seize and population of the USA I can´t believe that you are not able to find tracking grounds ( maybe not in the centre of Manhattan or Chicago, but outside of the big cities ).
Our laws are very strict, but there is always a way...
We just ask the landlords, and the farmers for permission. Our club makes small presents to them every single Christmas, we say "thank you" and we don´t leave any sticks ( iron flags are able to destroy a agricultural machine ! ) or poops on the fields. And we don´t use the fields just before they want to mow them down.
Most of them just want to be aware of what´s going on.

@susie, america is sue happy and most people with any real assets, are afraid of litgation or insurnace claims.  So they "err on the side of caution", which means, no, in most cases.  But like I said, if you have "club affiliation", train as a formal group, carry insurance and get formal permission from the owner, you're good to go with some owners.  But that is not an individual practicing on thier own with no "club specfic insurance".  Most owners around here will say no to that situation.

@ momo:

                         I know exactly what I,m talking about and I have State Farm Insurance and my agent has held the sleeve for some of my dogs so there is no misunderstanding! Most insurance will cover any thing your willing to pay for or there are plenty of specialty companies that do.

Did you ever ask?

susie if your asking me, Yes I,ve asked and know exactly how the underwriter defined my dogs. Listed as performance dogs subtitled Tracking ,Obedience and Protection Work. I,ve also been out of state and found tracking grounds, it,s my experience that if approached properly and respectfully it,s not hard to find places to track. But thats just me.