Excitabilty - Page 2

My last sentence should have read; I have dogs that tracking creates such a HIGH for them, that it is reward in itself.

More brain games/work...  Before tracking retrieve double ball game,   makes them work and think and retrieve all in one.  Great game.  Dogs love it.  Nan  Also enhance his focus command on  you and don't track until he does so. 

If you go to a Tracking Field and of course your dog will know it...They anticipate it...Then bring the dog out...and do Obedience...Then you're done...

Then...After doing this a few times...Go to the Tracking Field...Lay a Track with "MANY" turns...I mean like 10 to 15 paces...then a turn...do this for 100 paces or so...You can also use some food on the track to slow the dog down...Bring the dog out...Do some Obedience (like you've been doing)...Then then as you finish with the Ob bring the dog up to the Starting Point of the track and begin the track...

I had a dog that from 1 year of age on...When Tracking...My goal was to be able to walk behind him...NOT RUN...When correcting a dog like this you have to look at the entire picture and what you're trying to accomplish...I mean do you want to eventually do a SchH3 or FH track and if so then you have to be sure the dog has enough energy to finish the entire track with enough energy...So you have to Chip away at the dog and his speed...NOT...Correct too much and slow the dog down to the point where they won't be able to do the entire track with energy...

You've gotten good advice so far, and I'm most definitely NOT anything beyond a tracking novice [mainly because I hate that phase, and I hate laying tracks]--but I DO have an affinity for dogs that are very 'busy' types, and my own OCD doesn't make these dogs any less like coiled springs, if you get my drift.  That said, you may also find teaching your dog better impulse control using Brenda Aloff's "Be Still" exercise. You can find an excellent article that describes the exercise here.  I have found it to of great help in uncoiling the springs in dogs AND in myself, and it certainly can't do any harm to your dog to incorporate it into your training toolbox.

And I think others have already mentioned using serpentine tracks--laying several serpentine tracks for your dog periodically instead of tracks that are all 90 degree angles and straight legs can help remind the dog to slow down and to not try to anticipate a turn or the end of the track.

I appreciate all theadvice but everyone keeps giving me advice on tracking and as i said in my posts..."tracking is not a problem for the dog". He is a brilliant tracking dog and will sit quietly at the start while I put on his harness and then off he goes with no undue excitement and usually does a great track and finds/indictates the articles.

The problem with excitemene is with the "SEARCH" square, which no-one so far has given me any real positive advice on and how to curb his OTT excitement on send off and on his return with an article. Each time he returns I have to sit him again to calm him down and then send him back into the search area and this loses valuable time if in competition. If I send him straight back in he leaps about barking and sometimes running round me in circles which also wastes time. There is only 5 minutes to find 4 small articles in a 25x25 yard square area of thick grass which is usually about an hour or two cold in top stakes. 

You might not be able to change this behavior--this just may be something you have to accept as part of the dog's personality, and you'll have to decide what's more important: winning a competition, or having a good dog who tracks well,and performs most of the obedience exercises great, but isn't perfect on the scent discrimination exercise. Be glad the dog isn't a 'spinner' who chases his tail and self-mutilates it if he doesn't get what he considers to be sufficient stimulation...

 

Roxanne - is your last post the first one that has actually specified what particular exercise and the parameters of such with which your dog is having problems? It seems to me that you did not make this clear before, which is why you have gotten good advice on correcting tracking problems and not "area search" problems.

certainly not clear in the OP but the lady is actually referring to an obed excercise of the dog going into a trial ring and retrieving articles from a marked area.

 

you guys think she is talking about following a track as in what dogs do in the ipo tracking excercise.

 

i don't think their is any tracking involved, per se, OR i have absolutely no idea what anyone is talking about which is far more likely.

 

anyhoo, from the few posts by the OP i think i get why the dog is hectic.

That wasn't clear to me initially, either, vk4gsd, but now I understand what the OP is referring to: over here, it's called the 'scent discrimination' exercise, and is part of the group of exercises for dogs which are competing in the Utility title classes in obedience trials. 

It may be necessary to back up several steps in the training chain, break the exercise down into segments, and teach the dog a solid directed send-out. You'd need to train the send-out in a fashion where the dog has no opportunity to clown around, using barriers if necessary, and once you had that, you could then link it to the articles...but it's not going to be an easy task. 

Roxanne, if it's scent discrimination you are trying to teach, you need to find a good instructor to show you how to handle the cold scent items, and to teach you to send your dog out to find the hot scent item in the group.  You need to use metal objects for one part of the exercise, leather or wood for the other. Most people use dumbells.

I am confused since you say you are working in a 25 x  25 patch of grass and that's not the way that exercise is staged at AKC shows as a part of the utilty class.  Do you mean the size of the entire outdoor ring? Your dog must have a CDX title before it can advance into utility. If you are working with AKC OB exercises, you might want to send for the OB rules and regulations. I believe you can order that from the AKC website.