4-month-old Puppy Circle Track - Page 1

Chuck just turned 4-months-old.  We're using Ivan Balabanov's circle track ideas.  We're at a public park in the morning with a fair amount of distractions.

I think it's time to take some of the bait off the track.

Just a black box with no way to open it?

Right now Chucky is learning to associate crushed vegetation, human scent (vaguely), and finding meat (he's hungry).  The circle eliminates issues with corners, wind changes and change of terrain.  I'm not interfering and helping him.  He's working independently and not looking to me for help.  As he goe around the second time, he has to work harder to find bait so it's easy to tell when to put less meat down.  The time is obvious when he's had enough and that's when I just take him off the track.  At the end of the video, he's following the steps where I left the track and that's where we ended it.

I think when you imprint a young puppy to track only in a straight line, there's work in the future to train corners & wind variables.

This is just the beginning but the training incorporates almost all the issues associated with tracking.  This training isn't something I dreamed up...but I recognize that the circle is the way to go for tracking imprinting.  Of course, there's a whole lot of other factors involved.  But, this is the foundation that works for us.

The circle track video is available on Ivan's OnLine Dog Lessons if anyone is interested. 

Thank you for sharing. I want to try this method, I'm getting a puppy in a couple of weeks. 

Super young pup, very well developed for his age. I like the way you do not interfere with him, far too many get involved. JMO