Tracking - Training Question - Page 1

Yesterday, I got to see a young female Bouvier train with us. It was a beautiful dog with alot of bounce and power. The dog and her handler are newbies. Seeing a Bouvier got me thinking of growing up with Belco Farm (Bouvier breeding kennel) behind my parents house. I remembered the stories told to me as a child about Edmee Bowles (founder of Belco Farms) and her escape from Belgium during WWII. She is responsible (mainly) for introducing this breed to the US. She was an eccentric, strong woman and I am kind of disappointed that I was not older when she was around to learn from her. She helped train dogs at "Dogs for Defense" when she first arrived in the US. In googling her - I came across this tracking article - about tracking in the snow. I am a newbie (just starting end of August) and am looking for ideas on how to handle training in the cold weather. The reason for my post is - (I think this article is more geared to akc tracking), but noticed a difference in how I am training. In it it says that "you can afford to follow him down a wrong path for a few yards to see if he will change his mind on his own". The way I am training is I stop if Molly gets off the scent and just stand still to give her a chance to find it again. Is this something that you only do with a young dog? Just curious of other opinions on how others handle when a dog loses the scent. Do you stop or follow and give them a chance to find it again? I will ask my trainer when I work with him next Saturday - but always like to hear how others train as well. Here is the link to the article. http://www.nawba.biz/tracking_in_winter.htm

If you would like to read some really good articles on tracking go to this web site and select training articles. http://schutzhundvillage.com/