Tracking, of all dog sports, is the most mysterious to trainers while, seemingly the most natural to working dogs. Each year increasing numbers of people are finding that tracking is a multi-dimensional form of training, every bit as challenging or more so than other dog training. The AKC describes tracking as non-competitive, yet we know more good dog trainers are drawn to it each year. If it is non-competitive in the eyes of the governing officials, the trainers know the only answer to good tracking is good training. They know that tracking is always competitive in the sense that any dog can only work at the level it has been taught and this means the trainer is always struggling to find a better answer. If tracking is non-competitive are we saying that the dog need not work with its greatest natural ability, aided by the highest skills in training?

Over the years and through many seminars, I have found the greatest barrier to trainers developing their full potentials is not having a training plan. They don't know where they are going or how to get there, while the alternative of having a plan removes so much uncertainty and doubt from dog training. This is not to say that a plan creates a series of automatic steps that only result in the perfect dog - quite the contrary. No perfect plan is possible where we are dealing with imperfect people and dogs. On the other hand, it does give us a starting place and road map that offers invaluable support.

By Gary Patterson

About the Author:

Gary Patterson has been training in both Schutzhund and AKC since 1979, during which time he has placed either first or second in eight of 13 working dog championships. He has personally won two national championships and his club members have won an additional two championships. Gary has been awarded the Silver Training Medal by both the German Kennel Club and The German Dog Sports Association.

Gary has authored Schutzhund Protection Training and co-authored Training the Competitive Working Dogs, a book now in its third printing and sold in more than twelve countries. He also writes for several national dog training publications and gives seminars throughout the country on tracking, obedience and protection training.

During the past four years he has held the position of North American Training Directors for the oldest and largest working dog training organization in the world. Gary is a practicing attorney and lives in Denver, Colorado where he is training director for Summit Schutzhund Club.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. Tracking Theory
III. Conditioning and Reinforcement
IV. The Track
V. The Training Atmosphere
VI. Overview of the Programs
VII. Imprinting and Novice Training
VIII. Beginning Tracking
IX. Intermediate Tracking
X. Advanced Tracking
XI. Training for Advanced Titles

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