tracking---am i doing this right? - Page 3

YR Thank you for the information and for reducing the screaming level. While I will certainly check with my vet I do have to tell you that in the 40+ years I have had dogs, it has been recommended to me many many times by numerous vets to feed canned kitty food when you needed to stimulate a dogs appetite (My personal preference for this is to use baby food which has a very strong favor instead) or with an older dog when you are trying to get them to drink more water. I have even seen this done in emergency and specialty vet hospitals. In addition I know a number of people who use it in a limited fashion as a training tool as mentioned and no one has ever had a problem so I have to assume it is not as dire as you make out.  I was not specifically suggesting giving it to puppies as I have no idea the age ot Iluv's dog and quite honestly as you can note I said it was used after the dog had the concept of articles on the track - this is usually an older dog.

But thanks for bringing it to our attention tho in the future perhaps with a BIT LESS DRAMA :).

ok..i think ive got it...i guess I was making it out to be more complicated than it should be....

i got rid of the mayo jar , turns and articles is still a while off....

so for now, just make a scent pad, a straight trail, just more food and praise at the end? is it really that simple..lol..

yellowrose so gets it right eveytime about me-->>>youur trying to get too far ahead   your getting excited too fast<<<

the thing about the turns though, he didnt miss turns- it actually seemed to help him out , the first part of the track he would speed through, then slow down at the turn and do the other half slower.....i did a straight track yesterday, and he did fine except he went a little to fast and still left food on the trail..do i need to make sure he gets all of the food? or is it ok as long as he is sniffing each footprint..(i watch closly, and i can see that his nose does go back and forth/ left and right to each foot print, and most of the time his nose is deep and he snorts like a hog) ....i just dont understand how he seems to sniff out the footprint throughly, but still leaves food?....

anyways, thanks for the advice everyone and i'll just keep reading up an it and for now just stick to simple straight tracks....hopefully i will find someone to help me by time things need to get more complicated...

It's not a matter of him being able to do turns and articles at this point.  You need to establish a solid foundation and teach him to search every footstep at this point.  He may very well do the corners, but you need to focus on step one at the moment.     I am going to use a dirty analogy, but I cant think of any other way to explain.  Any guy can make love, but not all of them are efficient.  Just because he spent the last hour doing it, doesn't mean he accomplished the goal and did it right.  That is, of course, if his goal extends out past himself. 

lol...ok ..when you put it out that way.....i get it...

In the  beginning  you want the dog to find each piece of food, search each footstep.  What are you using for bait?  Your dog might be more careful if he is hungry.

sueincc-- i use different things, just depends on what i have on hand...ive used hot-dogs, steak, bacon and kibble...i know he must be hungry cause i usually do it before i actually feed him....i think that might be my problem with him being to excited and going to fast...maybe i need to feed him a little about an hour before?

Iluv-I didn't realize you were doing Sch. tracking, my training is coming from SAR tracking people. I'm glad you've got sport tracking help.

I can tell say that in the beginning I had mine skip a meal beforehand and it actually was a problem for him in much the way you describe. He would get so food focused/excited  that he would blow past some of it (but we don't do step by step food). I started feeding him a half meal two or three hours before and he seemed to do a little better on that. I don't think I'd do it right at training time though.

It's cool you're doing this just on your own. That takes a lot of motivation.