tracking question - Page 3

ALPHAPUP,  did you not read the previous posts?  How is it not a problem if i smash a toxic shroom on my track?  Do you proof for everything?  So if i laid you a track and your dog came across an anti-freeze jackpot, with you 20' back, your dog would ignore it?

well Don ... do you proof for everything ??  for the record .. i proof for a hell a lot - one does if he actually trains ... ... and yes for some dogs that i  had police trained .. yes they learned to avoid toxic antifreeze , especially scouting out a vehicle for narcotics !! as for mushrooms .. i have 12 GSDS running around my yard which is full of mushrooms   as well as the woodlands i own  ..they don't bother mushrooms. and if you taught a canine to avoid  / ignore mushrooms off track .. why would it be a problem on the track ?? unless you don't know how to teach a dog..lord .. i can throw beef and any kind of food at a dog and have taught it to refuse food .. a mushroom is eay compared to steak and chicken !!  and did you read my  post .. teach the dog to follow the scent .. a squashed mushroom is irrelevent , assuming you taught it to leave it alone , anywhere , anytime , anyplace , and in any other context.. .. Are you bating me don or are you that inexperienced . BTW when i track my dogs they are not always on a farmland.. i train them where  deer . rabbits , coyotes , dogs , cats, people etc etc.   travel : . in city traffic/ sidewalks  , on concxrete , sand , mud , rocks , asphalt. through puddles..., well yes .. i try to proof for a lot !! ..... for novices reading the post: dogs do generalize but they do rather poorly compared to other animals.. they are  "context specific learners " in their cognitive abvilities  , less cognitive abilites for  generalizing /... what you train for &, what you teach ...  is the result you you get .. AP.  you want your dogs to eat mushrooms then  just don't spend the time teachuing them otherwise.

ALPHAPUP, I have mushrooms around and the dogs do not bother them.  My question was what people do when in their next step a mushroom was going to be crushed.  I pick them and toss them off the track if they are going to be crushed in a footprint.  I'll admit that i"m not a super trainer like you, and will be cautious not to think that my dog will generalize that we not only leave the ball shaped things alone, but we dont eat something that may be a reward in a footprint because it is crushed and different. 

Did you not read my posts above?  I think i even mentioned rabbit and deer shit.  Are you serious or do you still have a hard on over our past disagreements? 

Don, your question made perfect sense to me!

Well just to add to super trainers concern.  When I posted this question, my puppy was 4 months old.  I had him for a month and it was dry as hell.  So, in the one month I had him, he should have been proofed on mushrooms because i should have taken him somewhere in the world that had mushrooms.  Or maybe I should have bought some from the grocery and proofed him.  Yeah, that's probably what I should have done.  Because when I track in the ghetto, I dont want my dog to indicate the crack pipe, I want him to "follow the scent". 

I agree with you Don. Given the choice I would remove the shroom in way of footsteps. There are many great tracking trainers on this forum. One in fact has trained his dog to indicate an eyelash on asphalt. I'm still working with my girl to indicate fly wings on gravel................LOL!!!!!!

Randy

Naw, after having my pup for a month, he shoulda been proofed just like my whiskey.  Times like this make me wanna back my 94 civic in the shed and close the doors while she's runnin.

ok Don .. a 4 month pup... depends on how you train ... personally .. i  have started  10 week pups day 1  on varable surfaces with every kind of distraction .. it is my responsibility on / of the track to guide and teach .. the proofing comes as you know .. when the dog has learned the lesson and what's  requested. BTW secs after  birth the pup knows how to use its nose. my job is to communicate how i want it to use it's nose . that being said .. if you have not taught the dog to ignore anything on  a track  except  the indicated scent .. shame on you !!  secondly , if you are in the process of teaching the dog  on track and/ or teaching the dog  nose /scent usage off track ...  you have no business letting the pup /dog literally and figuratively getting ahead of you oncontrolled on the track  .  you know better than to surrender or   to not control the context and the paramaters of the exercise being taught  / tracking...  Don , you know he expression : there is no cure for stupidity ...  don't you don .//    BTW .. maybe that's why i have 12 GSDs living  my home at all times . i  was born and raised in the hard core ghetto streets where:   not all was in order unless you heard a gun shot or a police siren .. and where even the 6 year olds carries switch blades. ............randy .. i am unsure if you eyelash remark was sarcastic .. in law enforcement .. the dog's nose is so respected .. that given a dog can scent one molecule per billion ,,,,, a scent can be saved over time / years &  years and a  canine identifying that scent years later is merit to convict !! don't underestimate what a dog can do with an eyelash !! that's enough with other factors  to put someone away for a very very long time !!!

WTF are you talking about? It's like talking to a plant. You are reading way too much into the thread. Well I'm off to lay a track.

We have loads of mushies here , when tracking and a mushie is in the next print i just adjust the placement a bit, but if the area is smothered i just walk on the mushie, my pups just ijnore the mushie and take the bate, good luck with the pup Don