What is your opinion of using a TOY at the end of a track to motivate a dog in tracking training?

Training with a toy can work for some dogs, but not all. The only dogs it will work for are dogs that are 100% ball crazy. To try and train a dog that is only has a level 3 or 4 (when level 10 is the most ball crazy dog that there is) is a mistake. It is also a mistake to try and train a level 7 dog using a toy if you are using the toy along with compulsion in obedience work. I will guarantee you that if you have an obedience training session in which you are using a lot of corrections (compulsion) in conjunction with a toy at the end of the training - the dog will not have the drive to track the next day. This is especially true if this dog knows that the only reason for tracking is the toy.

With dogs like this it is always better to use food at the end of the track. The food does not need to be during the track, it only needs to be in a bowl at the end of the track. Dogs need to understand that if they track they get their food for the day. If they do not track, then the handler takes the dog off the track. Walks to the end of the track. Picks the bowl of food up and does not give it to the dog. He takes the dog back to the kennel. Puts the dog in his crate or kennel and sets the food bowl down outside the crate. The dog is not allowed to eat that day. He can sit and look at his dish of food all day. Even a better way is to take the bowl of food and give it to another dog and let the first dog watch the second dog eat his food. This really builds drive.

Then the next day the dog will track for sure. This is a very good way to teach tracking. There is no compulsion, there is no force and the dog learns that he must track if he wants to eat.

One other thing on the use of food in tracking. When a dog is a little hectic or a short nerved dog I will use food in every foot print. When I have a dog with calm nerves I will use a food drag with food at the end in the bowl.

When a dog is fully trained you can put a can of cat food at the end of the track. Cat food has a very strong smell and dogs like it. It's easy to keep cans of cat food in the car and only open them when you get to the area that you will track. The advantage of the using cat food is that on the day of the trial you can open a can of cat food just before the track or on the way to the track (try it ahead of time so you know that he is not going to get over stimulated).