thoughts on training GSD to track by myself - Page 1

I do my training by myself with my GSD. I have gotten some excellent books on tracking but they all use a partner to help out. Is it practicle to train tracking by yourself. The dog will basicaly be tracking you or some object with your scent. Also when you go out he will see the first part of the trail with his eyes. Is a partner required or should I even attempt this alone?

You may want to check out the following website for some more tips..... http://www.schutzhundtracking.com/

Have made it to natls.With dogs I trained to track by myself.You will need people later for distractions.

He seems to love to track so I am very hopefull. When he is chasing or being chase by other dogs either my other 2 or at the dog park. Actually he is almost allways chasing but dare I degress. After the chase is over he almost allways follows the path they took in the opposite direction. Tracking exactly the path taken by the group. I have watched him very closely and he gets it right. Is this common? this retracking of dog play chasing if not do you agree he likes to track? or mybe this is just hopefull thinking.

Maybe you could get someone at the dog park to lay you a short track? I'd bet they would get a kick out of that. Glen Johnson's "Tracking Dog, Theory and Methods" starts out with very short successful tracks for the dog and works up. If you have dog people at the park and worked through these I'd bet you would get a lot of help and encouragement with the tracks. Just a thought.

allabout I don't want to impune your advise, but I wouldn't let just anyone lay a track or help me with a track. The people that you should seek, are people with knowledge, not someone that just Luvs dogs. You are fine with running your own tracks for quite some time. I would, however, run the tracks with knowledgable people present. This will give distractions. Don't ask the local yahoo that may walk in front of you and go across the track. At this point, the dog is not ready for a cross-track. Later down the road, you can let someone with knowledge lay your tracks. Someone that has possible been involved with your tracking program and knows what the dog requires. You will need to talk about what you want. You will need to know where the track goes. Anyone that doesn't know where there track is in training is not going to benefit the dog. Don't just stare at the dogs ass. Know that an article is 20 meters ahead. Make sure the track layer knows what you want todays emphasis is. Let him know if there is a special need for reward in a certain spot etc. etc.

DeKal, I don't see it as impuning at all. Perhaps I wasn't clear. In the book I recommended it gives very precise instruction in how to lay a track. Since these are very short tracks it would be very easy to supervise their laying and to know exactly where they are. I got the impression from the above post that knowledgable people were not an option. I certainly did not mean to grab Joe shitkicker from the dogpark and say, "Quick, run over yonder!" My point was to ask if there is anyone who would like to receive direction on laying a track and do it as a training partner. As I said above for short tracks. If the owner doesn't have any experience and is learning as he goes, there is no reason that a track layer can not also learn before laying the track. Neither is the best option. I believe the OP question was whether training without experience would work. My response was in answer to that. Not whether it would be better to do it himself or with a trainer. If there are knowledgable people present when laying the track I would assume you would then have the needed tracklayers present? In my opinion, a person with no experience or knowledgable input will have a great deal of difficulty regardless. But certainly no more difficult with a novice tracklayer than with a novice tracklayer/trainer.

allabout Understood!