Question for people who track with their dogs.?

Question

I have a question for people who do tracking with their dogs. I want to earn a tracking title to use towards a versatility title. Until I can locate a trainer to work with, what are the first couple of steps I should take to start getting my dogs on scent?

Answer 1

Cut a hotdog into "nickels" & again into "half-nickels".

LAY a "mini-track" by scuffing your feet as you walk along. Stop every couple of feet & put down a piece of bait. REMEMBER***EXACTLY*** where you walked (use a fenceline or along side the house?)Only 20 feet or so & STRAIGHT LINE!

Get dog-ON LEAD-& take to the starting point ,give CUE(TRRRRRRACK!) & guide w/lead along track,praising EVERY piece of bait it finds!!(GOOD Trrrrrrrrack!!!).
That'll be your VERY FIRST effort. Don't repeat until the next day & USE a different place.

Answer 2

Playing fetch will just train them to retrieve, not to follow a scent trail. Play hide and seek, sending someone else to run off a short distance while the dog is watching to begin with, then have them duck behind a tree. Give them treats to reward your dog for finding them, and both of you praise the dog a lot when it has found them. The key is to make it easy at first to build confidence.

Answer 3

Go on line and get some names of some good books and read them if yu start to try to teach your dog tracking and you do not know what you are doing you can set your dog back may months and have a hard time teaching yu dog the right way I teach Basic tracking.

Answer 4

Get a good book. I think the one we used and found best was called "Go Find" , by Davis. Do not remember the first name. Older book, worked very well!!!!!! I think you can still get it at Barnes and Noble.

Answer 5

Play fetch and reward him when he brings back the object , then make him sit while you hide the object ( let him see you hide it ) reward him for bringing it back , then same thing but dont let him look at you. reward and phrase him.