downing on an article during a track - Page 1

I am trying to get my bitch ready to title. She has been trained for more patrol work for the past 2 1/2 years of her life. She tracks like a fool and has no issues there. We are working on slowing ourselves down but she has never failed on a track. Now my fight is teaching her to down when she comes upon an article on the track. This seems to be a fight between the two of us to get this communication acrossed. She has always been allowed to track at high rates of speed with high reward at the end toy,bite. Now that we are moving more toward the sport world the more slower fine tuned pace is taking lots of time and patience. So my main ? is give me advice on getting her to down at the articles on the track.

Thanks,

 Corey

Does she know Platz or down command?  Put articles at regular intervals along the track - know where the articles are and make them visible.  Carry food with you.  Hold her slow (very important) - you as the handler must A) know where the articles are, and B) hold her slow on the track.  Your only two jobs.  When her nose comes to the article, before she passes it by tell her platz.  With your line prevent her from going any further.  Correct her platz if need be.  Once she platzs, take the article, point at it tell her "such platz" and slide it forward about 12", encourage her to scoot forward and platz on it in correct position (with article between her front legs) then praise, remove article at the same time you put food reward down in the same spot the article was.  Stand up, get line ready to hold her slow, tell her "such" again and go to next article.  Repeat repeat repeat repeat.  She will get the picture - you will need to help her in such a way until she starts platzing on her own.  Reposition her on the article by sliding the article forward (keep it on the track) until she knows how to position  herself on it to indicate it properly.

you can also work on articles in this way without a track, on a sidewalk, driveway or even in the house.  If you do that, tell her such but have the next article in plain sight, so she knows to go to it - if she doesn't, point at it and get her to come lay on it, reposition it until she is correctly indicating before you feed reward.

molly

One cannot  really expand any more on it than Molly has told you, if you do as she says you will get your dog Down at the right time with her doing it herself

Steve

Hi Corey...I'm not sure how your tracking...I mean with a 15' lead or a 30' lead or what...but one thing to think about when your tracking and want to also control the "downing" on an article...and that is how you approach the article...I mean like was said before...you must know where your articles are so you can help the dog when you come up on them...For instance...When your tracking and about to come to an article you must shorten up on your leash so you have control of your dog...so I would think that you want to be no more then 4 or 5' from your dog when approaching the article...And now once again I don't know how you train but...as the dog comes up to the article (which has food ontop of it) I would give the dog the command to "down"...and also at the same time I would give a little "POP" on the lead...just a little pop...not a correction...but just sorta a reminder to "down"...And...yes...you follow what Molly said above about the food on the article and adjusting the article to straighten out the dog so that the article is in between the dog's two front legs...

But there is one other thing that I will mention to you at this time...and that is most people will approach the article as the dog is going down...on the dog's right hand side...I would begin to mix this up and approach from the dog's right hand side one time and then the next time I will approach from the dog's left hand side...This is beginning to help the dog not to lean one way or the other...it will keep the dog straight and laying with the article between their two front legs...

Hope this Helped...

~Bob~

Excellent advice Molly.  I like to separate the articles from the track and teach them independently, then add them to the track as Molly explained.  I will lay out 10 - 15 articles in a straight track about  3 yards apart, I wiil place a piece of hot dog just in front of each article.  I keep the dog on a short leash and command down when the dog reaches the article and goes for the food.  I retrieve the article, praise the dog and feed again, then restart the dog to the next article and repeat.  I continue this until the dog reliably downs on each article.  Then I add them to the track exactly as Molly explained. 

To proof my dog I will periodically use a pine cone, stick or a rock as an article.  Before I lay a track I will pick something "natural" off the ground and carry it for a brief time.  The goal is to see if the dog connects that it is supposed to down on articles with human scent and not just a piece of wood or leather on the track.  If the dog downs without food on the stick or rock that you have "scented" he understands the exercise.  One caveat here: don't do this too often.  You don't want a false indication on trial day.  It is just to let you know the dog understands the exercise.

Jim

thank you so much for all the advice as i will start trying the advice given by molly

    I also thank you Molly, I don't think anyone could give a clearer, easy to follow directive. This is a situation that is quickly approaching for me.

    AND AGAIN, the database has been GREAT lately!!!!

you are welcome.  I love helping with tracking -

molly

one more thing.  Not saying anyone is incorrect with their method of putting food on top of articles, or in front of articles - but I don't do that.  The reason I don't do that, is I want the dog to be looking for the article, not for food.  The reward for finding the article is food.  They will associate the article indication with praise and food pretty quickly.  But if food is put on top of the article, or in front of it, this will distract the dog from what they are indicating - should be the article.  Not food.  Food will help slow the dog down, and maybe make it pause before the article - but if you as the handler are on the ball, know where the article is, and are holding your dog slow on the track or between articles if you are training them off-track - you can see when the dogs' nose reaches the article and say platz while not allowing him to go any furthur with your line.  Someone said it is important to keep a short line - this is correct.  I use a regular leash only under the right leg (dogs leg) so I stay beside the dog and only slightly behind his shoulder.  I hold the line to the rear, but my body is to the side.  I can help  him immediately in this way while still holding the line tight to keep him from overshooting the article.  It is also very important to praise him when he obeys the down command or downs on his own - but you must not give the food reward until he is indicating the article correctly.  If he's crooked or too far back, this is when you slide the article forward about 12" and get him to reposition into the correct indication (article between front legs) and then take the article and leave food behind at the same time.  DO NOT GIVE THE FOOD FROM YOUR HAND.  The track should train your dog.  Everything comes from the track - the scent, the articles, AND THE REWARD.  put it on the ground where the article was - never give it from your hand.  The dog should never look up at you or even worse, sit up to get the food.

molly

You might also try not to track into the wind, as this will raise the scent and push it into your dogs face,causing him to have a high head. I always start my dogs tracking with the wind at their backs.. Good luck