need tracking help please - Page 1

Please, I need help training my pup for tracking. I don’t care what direction we go in the future, AKC, Schutzhund, or SAR it’s just something he and I love doing. My pup is 6 months old, and we’ve been tracking for a couple of weeks. We started in the backyard where I’d shuffle my feet in a straight line into the wind dropping treats every couple of feet (he’d watch me through the back door jumping up and whining). Every day I’d increase the distance between treats and also the distance I’d walk.

 After just a few days, we were up to about 25 feet between treats and a distance of 600-700 feet with a couple of turns. Now, after a couple of weeks, he doesn’t even need any treats because they are about 100 feet apart and he finds them but doesn’t eat them until the trip back along the track. At this point, we are going over ½ mile through pastures, around ponds, across dirt roads, over logs and making 6-7 turns. He absolutely LOVES it (and so do I), but what do I do from here?
 
I live out in the country with no tracking clubs within several hours drive. I’m sure he could track miles if I laid the track for him. He’s always disappointed when we reach the end because he goes so fast it just takes a few minutes for ½ mile, and I have to run behind him about 10-15 feet back just trying to keep up. I’m trying to make the track as complicated as possible by changing it up every day going through my cattle, into the hay field etc, but nothing seems to confuse or slow him down. Thank goodness because I forget where the track is until we get to the treats, and he finds every one because I always count them. As I said, he’s only 6 months old, and we just started this a couple of weeks ago. I don’t know how to make this more challenging for him without wearing myself out trying to keep up.

As you can tell, I've never done any tracking before just picked up a way to get started by reading online.

Thank you from a newbie poster.

LOL, sounds to me like you don't need any help at all!  Maybe you should be teaching us.

If there aren't any "tracking clubs" (and I've never heard of any), contact obedience clubs in your area, breed clubs, too, and ask them if they know of any one interested in tracking.  They may have members who are into it and you can find them and train with each other.

With all that speed, is your dog tracking with nose deeply into the ground, or nose up?  The reason I ask is because SchH tracking wants to see a "deep nose," nose down into the footsteps, as opposed to an air-scenting dog with uplifted head.

Welcome to the list!

Thank you, Tess. I've checked with local obedience clubs, but no one is tracking. I was told a SAR group was doing tracking, but they told me they only train air scenting, and my boy is nose to the ground all the way. In fact, that's what got me started doing this with him. I got him at 4 months old and he seemed to spend all his time sniffing EVERYTHING with such loud "whuff" sounds from his nose it made me laugh so I started playing hide and seek with treats around the house then graduated to the yard.

This pup does everything fast with no distractions. I planned to start him herding the cattle, but we have so much fun tracking it's become an obsession for both of us.

THANK YOU, Mary!
I found a judge about 4 hours away, and I'm calling him so hopefully he can give me some advice. This list is a great resource. I never would've thought to check for an AKC judge.

Have you introduced articles yet?

Tracking an uninterupted track is a very good start but once you introduced the 'stop, indicate, restart' element you change up the equation.

BEST THREAD I HAVE READ SO FAR.......................THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR TRIANING TIPS

keep up the good work & good luck to the 2 of you.  i hope you find some other folks to train with.  you will have to decide which discipline you intend to follow as the tracking styles will be different.  just a word of caution.....your dog is tracking with great joy at this point.  he obviously enjoys tracking and enjoys doing the activity with you.  it is a game to him at this point and lots of fun.  when other folks get involved, they will start finding faults in your routine; tell you what you must change in order to get more points in competition; encourage you to pressure and correct the dog.  this is where you will have to be very creative.  if you apply pressure and correction on the dog, the joy will go out of it for him.  it will no longer be fun for him like before.  i've seen it happen with tracking, retrieves, stand out of motion, etc.  you will have to be innovative in your guidance with this dog so that the joy never goes away.  i hope one day you post on this board that you and your dog have won a major competition---maybe fci!!
pjp

FHTracker,
No, I haven't introduced articles because I don't have any idea what to introduce or how to do it. I just give him a bite of whatever treat I'm using and tell him to "find it".  I don't think he cares about the treats he just loves the game as much or more than I do. Honestly, I feel like a babe in the woods with this, and he seems much better than I am about knowing what to do.

I believe this pup has far more potential than I know what to do with. When I got him, I decided to try everything I'd read about including bite work. He has a good ball drive, but gets more excited when I hide the ball and tell him to find it than just watching me throw it and bringing it back. Anyway, I borrowed a soft sleeve and played tug of war for about a week while I was teaching him "sit, down, stay' then would put him in a down, walk about 10-15 feet away, put the sleeve on my arm, and yell "get it" while taunting him with the sleeve, but after a few times he ran so fast and hit the sleeve so hard it knocked me down so we stopped playing that game.

PjP, I am probably an unlikely candidate for serious dog training. I was a high school cheerleader then got my B.S. in Education so teaching with tons of positive reinforcement comes easily for me, but I probably would be frowned on in competition. I constantly do little "cheers" and yell "HE'S THE WINNER" when my boy does what I ask him to do. It's way over the top for competition I'm sure, but he LOVES it, and that makes me happy. If it ever stopped being fun, there'd be no reason to continue.