Tracking help - Page 1

My boy tracks well, but he's very sloppy on the turns when I don't put food on them. He over-shoots the turn then searches what seems like all over the place to find it again. Any training tips to clean up the turns without relying on food? Thanks, Melanie

Melanie, It sounds like he might be tracking too fast? Maybe you need to slow him way down and make him be more methodical. By that I mean you set a slower pace and make sure you know exactly where the corners are. Also, it might be helpful if you put the food reward a foot or two before and after the turn, not in the turn itself. The food before the turn will slow him down and the food after the turn will reward his correct decision. It's worth a try. Or maybe someone else has run across the same thing with their dog and can give you another suggestion. Good Luck! Debby

Melanie, When my dog got a little sloppy on turns for a short time, our trainer had us go back to very wide turns, or very rounded turns if you will. a few tracks like that and we were back on track again. Hope that helps. Good Question, Hope to see some other posative responses, I would be interested in how others have worked out this issue as well. :-)

Debby good Point !!! Our trainer also had us do that as well, food right before and immediately after. glad you brought that up I forgot to mention that part.

I wouldn't necessarily peel off the food entirely. Maybe make more turns and serpentines and arcs rather than straight legs for a bit. Get him to trust following his nose. Maybe start a turn and then about 1/2 to 3/4 through the turn itself leave some bait so he is rewarded for following the scent of the turn and then coming upon food. It sounds like he is wanting to follow the smell of the bait into a turn and not the turn itself, so when the baits gone he starts searching because he doesn't know the turn brings the bait. Use a bait with low scent and cut it up into small pieces so he can't see or scent to it and "stumbles" upon it when tracking deep in the grass. Keep him short leaded also to minimize any big cast searching. If he gets off, just calmly let him get back on and let him self discover that following the scent means finding bait...if he turns the corner and finds the bait make sure you give him praise as soon as he finds it.

may I suggest when you lay your track to turn with the wind so the dog doesn't have sent blowing in his face and stay right with him to the turn and encourage him to find it and restrain him from making mistakes. When he does the turn a down wind food reward a few steps into the turn lets him know he is on and good to go to the next reward. Only after many tracks and turns with wind direction changes can you progress to cutting back on food, as long as the dog is working well. IMO some people try to fly through tracking without giving the dog a solid foundation. If you do, you may find it comes back to haunt you in a trial and leave you wondering why. Jim D.

I have always trained trailing dogs but you might try taking heel to toe steps; a couple of steps before, through and after the turn. This would give him a good ground scent to turn sharply on. Reduce the steps as he improves. Never tried this myself so just a suggestion. Good luck....

Hey Mel! Try serpentine tracks for a little while. Lay food on the straights to slow him down. No food on the arcs. With no food on the arcs you can learn his body language/tells, when he has lost the track. He may be in the habit of not understanding that he must concentrate through out the track. Not just go straight and wait for you to point out the turn. Only let him over shoot a turn by three feet or so. Not a correction on the line but a halt of his progress. HE must figure this out on his own. To give a correction at this point may shut him down and rely on you to point out the track. Let us know what you decide to do and how it works out. Kyle

Hey Mel! Try serpentine tracks for a little while. Lay food on the straights to slow him down. No food on the arcs. With no food on the arcs you can learn his body language/tells, when he has lost the track. He may be in the habit of not understanding that he must concentrate through out the track. Not just go straight and wait for you to point out the turn. Only let him over shoot a turn by three feet or so. Not a correction on the line but a halt of his progress. HE must figure this out on his own. To give a correction at this point may shut him down and rely on you to point out the track. Let us know what you decide to do and how it works out. Kyle

Thanks everyone, great suggestions! djc- Yes he is a bit too fast, although much better than he used to be. He is usually "methodical" with food though, w/out...not so much. I'm going to try the arcs and serpentines as a couple of you mentioned...Thanks. Kyle: Thanks again... "only let him overshoot by three feet or so"...easier said than done...you know me:-) lol. I'm getting better at using landmarks though, but I did also get some chalk from Shelly, gotta start using that. Take care, Melanie