I didn't put this under any of the tracking forums because I'm only farting around with tracking right now. Its just a "Find It" game at the moment. I have one of my kids dribble the round kong like soccer ball for a number yards, turn left, dribble some more turn left agian and go a number of yards, leave the ball and walk straight off the field. I tell one or both dogs "Sook" they generaly follow the path of the ball and footsteps with thier noses fixed to the ground but they are off lead. Yesterday I put the lead on them and under thier right front "armpit" and went for a drag. My questions are how much do I hold them back from thier run along the track if at all and can an aggitation harness double duty as a tracking harness?

I know they are tracking footsteps because when my five year old son left the ball at the end of the track he walk diagnaly back to me and when I let the dogs go they went nose down along that diagnal path my son made back to me and went to the kong.

for more background, my kids feed,treat and play with the dogs

are you just getting started?????? if so I would do it a little differently..... It sounds like you are running before you can walk. You need to start out teaching the dog what a scent pad is????? Then you use your own foot steps to start the track. then your going to ...... You need to get some help from somebody who tracks, in person. I was going to write the steps but it would be a book....

Scent pad? your talking about where you scuff your feet in a triangle or square at the beginning of the track? yea I got just enough info to screw up a good Sch dog, My puppers are in the entertainment business now. Really sharp obedience, Cute tricks and feats of agility. They can find thier ball in five inch grass in a baseball diamond, I just wanted to look like I was actualy involved in finding it.

Dennis -- are you charging spectators for your performances yet? I bet you could. I'd love to see a video.

Here is a good online tracking reference to start with. From my very beginner standpoint - ideally you want your "pupper" to track the footsteps calmly and methodically - so yes maybe a little slower than you describe. The way you describe threading the leash under the front leg of the dog sounds right -- not sure about using an agitation harness to slow the dog down though. I know my dog associates the agitation harness with pulling and kicking up drive -- not what you want in this scenario.

http://www.schutzhundtracking.com/

Katie

Depends what kind of tracking you do Dennis. Drive tracking is done quickly while competition is worked slowly. If you get into long drawn out tacks an agitation harness is not really a good idea; it can be too heavy and the broad chest portion can impede your dog's performance.

A search in the Sport Tracking section will give you a pile of beginner info and then some!

 Quote: Brad . Martin

Depends what kind of tracking you do Dennis. Drive tracking is done quickly while competition is worked slowly.

Ah yes Brad, I did jump to sport tracking advice. Is drive tracking more air scenting relating to Search and Rescue -- hence you want it performed quickly? Just curious.

And good points about the use of an agitation harness.

Katie

Drive tracking does involve air scenting, yes. The purpose of training a dog to track this way (tracking through drive) is to find the quarry (suspect / missing person) as quickly as possible. But I can't say for sure if it involves more air scenting than ground work. It probably depends on a lot of factors like wind, terrain, proficiency level of the dog, etc. However, in what I have seen with the RCMP both techniques are utilized by the dog when the success of the track requires them. And the dog learns through his own experience, on successful training tracks, when to air scent and when to go to ground.

Katie, if you go to the article list on the main Leerburg site you can read Ed Frawley's articles on FST (foot step tracking) vs TTD (tracking through drive).

Foot step tracking seems pretty useless anywhere other than a schutzhund competition. Also, according to Ed, it's a bad idea to teach FST if you want your dog to eventually learn to track through drive.
FST is an OBEDIENCE exercise where the dog is supposed to be precise in following the track as opposed to searching long distances with intensity to make the find. It makes sense, Ed's articles are really well written and thought-out.

TTD is used by anyone who actually cares whether or not the dog can search and find a person or articles beyond the short distance of a schutzhund field (SAR, the police, when they know what they're doing ).

I'm saving up so I can buy Ed's "tracking with the RCMP" DVDs (at least the first one on rural tracking). Clearly there's a lot more that goes into the drive training than just letting the dog run after the scent

Here ya go:

"Tracking Through Drive" vs. "Foot Step Tracking" by Ed Frawley

and

Tracking Thru Drive in America vs. Canada also by Ed Frawley


Here is the list of Ed's tracking articles.

 Quote: Yuko Blum

Clearly there's a lot more that goes into the drive training than just letting the dog run after the scent

Yuko - thanks for the info and links to the articles. Please know that I was in no way referring negatively to S&R and air scenting.

I track with my dog purely for the enjoyment of the sport of Schutzhund.

Katie