Most Popular Q&As

I have a 1 year old dog that is being trained in TTD. We are following the advise you give in your Level 1 video. My dog runs the entire track as fast as she can. Do I need to slow her down using force?

I am interested in tracking and my question is that is it your opinion that you cannot teach a dog to track for ACK titles and then move on to search and rescue work? Meaning that in teaching footstep tracking the dog is unable to or confused to be taught tracking thru drive? I haven't started any type of tracking yet. I am trying to gather as much info as possible. I would like to compete in AKC tracking and then move on to S&R but from reading your articles this sounds like it isn't the...

Hello Ed, My name is Robert Harris, I have been reading your training articles and have really enjoyed some of them, also the questions that you answer are interesting too. I know your big on food reward and ball reward so here is a question I wonder if you could answer. If a dog is trained to track by food reward, not the dog that needs his daily food to track but the dog that just needs a little help with food treats, to track and the dog is a service dog , how do you stop the do...

Ed, What do you think of the tie out test for temperament testing older dogs. More and more SAR teams are searching for ways to test for temperament in older dogs. This test is similar to the one used in SchH. but does include and aggressive individual who is to represent an Alzheimer victim who is lost. I believe it is an unfair test in as much as you may not have an individual who knows dogs well enough and forces a dog into avoidance or fight drive because he is tied up. Pacer would not...

I read all your articles. They are very informative and have helped me a lot. I have a problem (I think) with my two dogs in tracking. When they start tracking the pull as if they were on the protection field trying to get the helper. It is a constant battle to hold them back. I give tugs to slow them down and in a calm voice say such? They have their nose to the ground but want to run the track? They miss the corners and the longer the track then the female will start to go from side to ...

I've watched your three videos on tracking. I don't think I am doing everything correct. What should a beginning track look like. Where to locate? How long? Various markings? etc. Suzy wants to air sent and get to my son really quickly and not work her nose into the ground. She is interested in the prairie dog holes and coyote scat. At the end she is not interested in her rabbit fur toy but would rather go of and investigate the surrounding area. How do I find a prairie dog free or wildli...

I have read your article about introducing new dogs into the home but I wondered if you had any comments for my particular situation. My situation is this; I live with two Rottweiler's (who are my children) and I have made the decision to join the Michigan Rottweiler Rescue Club and become a foster mom. My oldest dog is an intact bitch of 8 soon to be 9 years old. The other is her son, who is neutered, and is 5 soon to be 6 years old. I do intend to spay my bitch. I am expecting to receiv...

I know that you are a busy man so I will keep this short. I am a canine handler for the Lexington Kentucky Police Department. I have been a handler for about five years and have handled the same dog for four and a half years. My Canine "Wilchek" has far exceeded my expectations in many ways. I know that all animals, people included, develop undesirable traits. This particular trait may one day get me injured or killed if not addressed. He will stop to urinate on tracks frequently. This ...

My department recently purchased a dual-purpose police dog. The dog is a 3-year-old IPO 1 Belgian Malinois and is a really nice narcotic detector and handler protector. I have been working on tracking with the dog for about 4 weeks now. Initially, I started laying 20-yard straight tracks with dog food on the scent pad and along the track with a pile at the end for the reward. The dog would track to the end with his head down. He eat the food along the way along with the pile at the end. I ...

Mr. Frawley, I have a 1 1/2 year old female Malinois. She has her TDX. I am training her for TDX and VST. She is fine on aged tracks, but doesn't do very well on concrete or asphalt. She has no problem following dragged food items on concrete or asphalt. Do you think Level II-III will help me with this? Also do you think I need Level I since she has no problems with any surface other than concrete or asphalt? I don't have a lot of money to invest and if you think I don't need Level I, it w...

Dear Mr. Frawley, I have a 3 year old Shepherd that I am training for Schutzhund. She is an extremely confident animal with her obedience and protection, however, she cannot track. I spoke to the person that I bought her from who told me that she just never "got around" to tracking with her very much. Figuring that I would need to start back at square one, I laid out a VERY short, straight track for her, just to see what I would need to work on. She becomes really anxious before and while ...

Dear Ed, I recently read your article on hard surface tracking with the Dutch police dogs. Well I thought I would let you know that we at the RAAF security police military working dogs have been working with scent discrimination for quite a while and in the early nineties we decided to get the defense science and technology institute involved to find out exactly what the dogs were tracking and we found out that the dogs could pick up skin rafts (dead skin cells) and not only distinguish th...

First I would like to say how useful your web page has been for me. I wish I would have found it long before I purchased my pup. I currently have a 3 1/2 month old German Shepherd Dog, I bought from a friend of a friend (I know that may have been bad now). She a full blooded all black, and is calm for the most part unless she is at home around the kids, then she just loves to play. I would like to train her in Tracking and Search and Rescue. I have done a lot of research on the topic an...

I have an eight week old GSD puppy that I would like to train as a police service dog. I have tested him according to your procedure and found him to be excellent. The dog has a great prey drive at this point. My question is when, and how, do I begin tracking training with him? I purchased your video on Tracking through Drive for my current police K-9 and found it to work well. Thanks, Scott K-9 Handler

Mr. Frawley, I seem to be having difficulty with my dog not wanting to hold the prey. When I try this with a puppy sleeve or with a tug she still stops playing as soon as there is no movement. I purchased your video on The First Steps of Bite Training; however, I had already created the problem. As puppy, we played retrieve with her constantly. She will hold on the sleeve and pull hard until the sleeve is slipped, as long as the sleeve is moving. She loves it when we challenge her ...

Dear Mr. Frawley My name is George and I e-mail you from Greece. I work as a decoy for more than two years and I met a problem with a soft temperament GSD I started to train her on tugs, sleeve, jan biere, and body bite suit (only a few bites). I have to admit that I even pushed her a little inside her home yard in order to give me a more defensive bark but the things became worse than before. This dog is over socialized handler addicted. Now I work her in spooky mode with me cover...

I am a novice canine handler from a mid-sized police service in Ontario, Canada. I was interested in introducing my dog to muzzle fighting to help increase his fight drive as this was somewhat lacking. I purchased a muzzle, read several training articles, and purchased your training video on muzzle fighting. The introduction period to the muzzle went fine and I began the work in a circle with other canine unit from the area. His initial hits were fairly good, high and more or less in the righ...

Dear Mr. Frawley, I was wondering if you "believe in" the z PS line of a dogs as one of the better line of police service dogs to select in choosing a patrol dog. Additionally, though I understand that all dogs mature differently, is it unrealistic to receive a police prospect at 6 months and expect him to be operational at 11 to 13 months??? I ask this specifically because I was just informed that a local (Georgia) agency currently utilizes a 10 month old dog for patrol wor...

I have learned so much viewing your web site and that is why I am seeking advise about kenneling my dog while I am on vacation. I am a police K-9 handler and I have been a team with my partner for a year now. I am taking my first vacation with my family for six days and I am leaving my dog in the care of another police K-9 handler whom I work with and my dog as a lot of positive interaction with. He will be caring for my dog at his house because he will be able to monitor him frequentl...

Our pup is 4 months old. She is almost impossible to walk down the street because she pulls so hard. She also wants to chase cars. Are these things she will get over or do I need to take corrective measures to stop them? I am just concerned with not wanting to make a mistake.