Tracking without food - Page 2

Yes tracking can be taught using the articles.  I have never taught a dog in this manner and I am not very familiar with it, but I know of some who swear by this approach. 

I am not ignorant of the style of SAR (wilderness) as well as Police dogs in tracking styles.  Trailing and airscent are both used, by both.  Different dogs will work in different styles, and more than one way works depending on the conditions, wind current, and other problems on the track.  Police dogs will go from "air scent" back to "trail" including footstep tracking, and back to air scent again depending on the conditions (ie weather, wind, temperature, age of track etc).  The goal being to get to the end asap and find the target/lost person etc.  The Schutzhund footstep-to-footstep style of tracking is not useful (unless as I said the dog uses the footstep tracking to regain a lost track or get through a difficult area before returning to the faster air-scent tracking or trailing method) for SAR or police, but it is the only way to get the passing points for Schutzhund tracking.  It is also used for evidence search, though the police dogs I've seen doing evidence searching also use "grid search" which is more air-scenting as well.

There are many ways to get to the end of the track, and in everything except Schutzhund, that is the goal and the "passing score".  IN schutzhund however every footstep is judged, so the foundation and ongoing maintenance training must be focused on intense, focused, steady footstep tracking only (for Schutzhund).

molly

shasta,

there are some really interesting links here:

http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/Work2.htm

Maybe you`ll find what you are looking for.

Also you are also teaching this dog to search on a command    suuk   or seek    the object is for the dog to learn   to search by finding his way thru the track beside a flag on the left and know that when he is told to     suuk   he knows it is to find the food or search the track   laid  and gets a reward when the objects come and when he follows the turns and the dragging ot the feet on the dirt or grass leads him along the way with the food  heavy first and then like you said,,,faded out after he learns ..

Dave Kroyer told Myah that she had to track on dirt....no grass because where she was going to trial   was on dirt,,,,,,

I am a firm believer that you teach your dog on dirt or on grass or on any kind of surface you think your trial will be on........

Years ago , I showed up in Houston on a field of high corn stalk crap, and geese in a pen across the fence and boy did we have a bunch of crazy acting dogs....none of them had ever been tracked on anything but grass and no geese or ducks or peacocks screaming while tracking.....