How do you get them to keep their head down when tracking - Page 3

You see! You say potato...I wouldn't put treats under an article. I don't want the dog to even think of touching the article. Especially on trial day when you're all the way back on the line giving the dog too much time.

^ That I agree with, but hey there's probably dozens of people with SchH3 dogs that tracked this way, teaching articles with food under them.  My own dog wanted very much to pick up and mouth articles while I was still teaching them, I joked about training him to retrieve them since you can.  I would not put food under his articles, too much temptation to help himself after having to train him to keep off the article.  I like the rewards coming from me.  When the dog is correct and doing well or has solved a problem, I've set the track up in such a way that I can reward him for doing so.

Don, it works for my girl. No mouting, touching or picking up from the get go. But then again, its my dog and I found that everyone in our club has their own method and gigs that work for them.

To sum it up, Debbie has gotten alot of insight and suggestions she can try and at the end she has to pick and do what works for her girl.

I am not a big fan of the tracking aspect of Schutzhund, but a high level tracker taught me this way.  Hope it helps.  The way I learned it was to have a very hungry dog.  Start in scent box then move to straight tracking with food inside the foot step (was told that it was imperative that the food be INSIDE the footstep and NEVER EVER outside of it).  Was also told to teach article NOT ON TRACKING FIELD.  I do article every place but tracking field until preparing for trial then 3-4 weeks before trail add them to the field track.  This method may not be the best but I have seen it work well.  Good Luck!  
W 

Wlpool, I guess I messed up cause my 6 month old already does articles. I think we have more than 3-4 weeks before we hit a trial.

We are now tracking on pavement,I found this methhod very helpful. So maybe it would work for you.
We eventually found that most of the dogs became determined to try tracking on the pavement when we dragged raw beef bones or liver behind us. For the least possible mess, put it into a pantyhose leg at home, and then bring it to your tracking site in a resealable plastic container. The strong scent left by this drag encouraged the dogs to keep their noses right on the pavement, and once we had that style, it remained when we stopped the drags. One of the dogs needed six tracks like this, one needed only one. Let your dog tell you when she is convinced she can track in a parking lot. If you choose not to do a drag, try rubbing a greasy meat such as hot dog or salami on the soles of your shoes or marking the pavement with a "hot dog crayon". I do not recommend actually putting food on the track as is often done in introducing tracking to a new dog. The visually oriented dog will learn to use his eyes to look for the food rather than his nose to smell for it. My dogs still check every bird dropping, each piece of gravel, and each bit of trash they see near their tracks to determine if it is an article. Putting food down will encourage this, especially when it is easier to look than smell.