Police Service Dog Tracking - Page 2

Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

Since the original post I have changed the way in which I am conducting the training with my dog. I have read up on articles, forums and even purchased a book called Tracking Dog - Theory and Methods by Glen R Johnson which was well worth a read. it certainly give you a lot to consider when setting up your training.

As many of you have suggested in your replies that the dog could be mentally and physically tired which when reviewing the quantity and pressure of training I was putting on the young dog it was probably a major contributing factor in the dog loosing his concentration and focus. Fortunately for the dog I picked up a back injury whilst on duty and the dog got a six week rest period whilst I recovered. When I was restricted I used this time to review where I was going with my dogs training, especially his tracking.

Slamdunc --- In your first reply you make reference to the dogs physical and mental fitness which I believe was an important factor to consider when training. You also suggest that as he is a patrol dog, I need to move on from sport type track patterns and train in more realistic environment with a third party laying the track. I have now adopted this theory. After resuming duties I have stripped my training back to basics to establish good foundations and boost the dogs confidence. The tracks are much shorter and I plan ahead for what the objective is for that session. I decide whether I am training for distance, corners, accuracy, articles or varied terrain and ensure the track is designed to accommodate the needs for the session so the dog always wins.

Prager --- I totally agree with you when you make reference to the dog being mentally tired. Without repeating myself, I have probably been wanting to much from my dog at that time and as a result he has become fatigued. I believe this has then had the knock on effect of draining all the fun out the game and reduced his motivation. As you rightly say "You want something from the dog and dog want s something from you. If you do not give it to him/her than s/he will not work well or will stop altogether" I could not have put it any better.

Momosgarage --- You make reference to HITT method to train tracking. This is a method that I have not personally tried but other members of my department have attempted. To be truthful, they have had a mixed success rate but to be perfectly honest it is a method that here within my department in the UK is still very new and we don't really know much about it. It is certainly something I would like to learn more about. If you have time PM me with any good references, forums or books which are worth a read. I know its always open to debate but within my department they are very much focused on training the dog to track in rural environments first then once the dog has got good foundations move him into the urban areas.

Overall, since my original post back in January 2013 my dogs tracking has improved dramatically. Since that post we have had successful operational tracks resulting in offenders being arrested. In my opinion this is what counts as he is an operational patrol dog and this is always a good indication on how effective your training has been.

Thanks Again

philly0787, I actually had a chance recently to test out a dogs ability to discriminate and track human skin/scent versus tracking environmental grass/vegetation "kick up".  One of our club members had a dog that wasn't making great progress doing short tracks with single turns.  It was assumed the dog was looking for the "article" with its eyes after a certain distance (the tracks were not aged and were pretty fresh, less than 20 minutes old).  Well, based on my experience with "air scenting" I suggested that this dog was in fact air scenting environmental grass/vegetation "kick up" to the article all along and never actually learned to discriminate and track human skin/scent.  There was some disbelief at first, so I said "lets set up a track through gravel and see what happens".  My dogs all start on concrete and asphalt per the HITT method because I want be sure the dog has learned to track human skin/scent and not other things produced by the environment when a human walks through.  In between club practices I do short tracks using HITT somewhere in the neighborhood or in my front/back yard, to reinforce that the dog needs to track human skin/scent and not environmental grass/vegetation "kick up"

Well guess what happened when the dog was set to track on the gravel?  When moved to a gravel track, the dog was DESPERATELY air scenting for a very long time, looking for something and was nowhere near the track, I believe the dog was looking for grass/vegetation "kick up" and simply could not find it.  He NEVER found the article (the handler did lead him to it eventually because you don't want to end on a negative).  I think this is a clear example that when a dog is started on grass, the dog is possibly learning to track something OTHER than the human skin/scent.  I can't say what "fix" is for this club members dog, but based on my own dogs, if they start on human scent/skin, they tend to continue to track human scent/skin regardless of changes to the surface or environment.  From that point building stamina becomes the most prominent issue.  As for Urban or Rural, my gut would say, do urban first.  I think there is significantly more possibility of cross tracks happening in Urban environment, but in a Rural area the dog would have to be certain about tracking the persons skin/scent and not the evidence of travel through an area like broken grass/vegetation.

As for building stamina, the way I have seen it done is with multiple short "tracks" or "air scenting finds" in succession.  For example, 3 runs in a row, each with a clearly defined start and end for the dog, followed by a break and then an easy one to finish with.

philly0787,
I am really happy to hear that you have been successful with your dog and have actual street apprehensions resulting from tracks.  There are few things more rewarding and thrilling for a K-9 handler than starting a track for a fleeing felon and tracking to an apprehension.  Our unit is very successful tracking suspects, a large part of that success is training the Uniformed Patrol Officers to properly set up perimeters and to stay on perimeter.  Perimeters contain suspects and catch bad guys.  

Remember, tracking is one of the most dangerous (if not the most) assignment a K-9 handler will do.  Please, never track alone!  It is critical that you can read the dog and sense when you are getting close to the suspect.  I can guarantee the suspect knows you are coming long before you know he is there.  When you get close, slow things down, there is no need to rush.  Always bring back up, and preferably some one that can keep up with you and the dog.  Once your dog has a track to an apprehension, the dog changes in the way it tracks.  The drive, desire and intensity automatically increases.  

Be safe!

Jim

One of the concepts of HITT is that you are starting the dog on the most difficult surface it will encounter: asphalt, then progressing toward easier surfaces. The logic behind it is that the dog will learn on the most difficult surface they will ever encounter.

We use a modified version of HITT to start the dogs. We start with grass scent pads, to reinforce solid nose down behavior, then go right to asphalt with dogs that will be doing police dog style tracking.

I also use a modified version of the HITT method, but I do not start on grass.   We add a scent article to the water and start right on asphalt then progress to concrete.  IME, the dog will automatically put it's nose down when starting.  We then progress to putting the dog in drive and scent discrimination trailing.   There really is no need for a police K-9 to track with it's nose on the ground.    When the dog is "hot" on the trail it will be moving quickly and rarely drop its nose completely to the ground, and if it does it will only be for short periods of time.