I have a 2.5 female GSD that I am interested in learning tracking with. First let me say that I wasn't sure where to post this at since I am new to tracking and trying to learn about it and how to get started in the back yard. The other thing is let me state that I don't have an interest in competition tracking at this time.

She loves to work, loves to track, we will be walking down the side street her nose will just start going on the ground. She has high prey drive. We do sometimes play hide and seek. Alls I have to say is “Go find it” and her nose is on the ground trying to track absolutely nothing; it just kicks in for her.

The reason why I want to learn how to track is to work with her, she loves to work, seems like a fun thing to do and learn.

She has all basic commands down. Very soon we are starting to train with remote collars. If anyone could point me in the rite direction, or give me some ideas of how to start to work with her with this.

Here are a few places to start....

A couple of the many Leerburg articles:
http://leerburg.com/ttd.htm
http://leerburg.com/qaschtrack.htm

DVD's to get you started:
http://leerburg.com/203.htm (I know you said not for competition,but it is a good place to start.)
http://leerburg.com/205.htm
http://leerburg.com/204.htm

And some other site I have found helpful:
http://www.schutzhundtracking.com/
http://www.finographics.com/schutzhund/tracking/tracking.html
http://www.bodeus.com/tracking.htm

Hope it helps a little

There are some great sites listed here with some very good information. There is one thing I don't hear to many people mention though. As with any training you really want to give some thought as to what type of tracking or scent work you want in the end with your dog. I don't think you can go wrong by starting out with footstep tracking as a foundation for whatever else you might want to do. When I started tracking with my dog I didn't think to much about the final product I wanted to see. I think it's good to look at the end game first and work back to the place where you want to start.

Thanks for the links, some of them I have read through but others I never saw.

I think thats the thing I am having problems with is what kind of tracking. I want to start off haveing fun with it and if it gets serious then good, if not, no biggie.

I think it would be good mind excercise for the dog and something fun to do.

I guess I am not sure what to try and do, take a hotdog? let her get a good smell of it, put her in the house, drag it on the ground for about 20 feet then see if she tracks it?

Joe, what you want to do is give her a trail attached to that hotdog. For example, and this is how I started. It's best early in the morning and before she has eaten. Go to a grassy area, stomp some grass, like a 3x3 square and put about 10 tiny pieces of hotdog. Walk her near that area and tell her to "find it". Make 2 scent areas and guide her to the next square. If you are already past this point in your training, just make the scent pad and make a footstep trail like Michael said. Keep the steps close and straight, drop pieces here and there in the footsteps. Once you've been doing this often and she gets the hang of it, spread out your steps more and start tossing slight turns in there. Remember to pull her off before she eats all the food. This will frustrate her a bit and increase her drive for the next time.

The point of this is to teach her, that where ever the grass or ground is "disturbed", there is a reward. Soon she'll be able to tell an area that's been disturbed, hence the footsteps vs a clean area. Sorry, if you're already past this, but that's a way I learned. I also learned to start slowly and keep it very simple or the dog can get confused or lost in the track.

 Quote: alex corral

Joe, what you want to do is give her a trail attached to that hotdog. For example, and this is how I started. It's best early in the morning and before she has eaten. Go to a grassy area, stomp some grass, like a 3x3 square and put about 10 tiny pieces of hotdog. Walk her near that area and tell her to "find it". Make 2 scent areas and guide her to the next square. If you are already past this point in your training, just make the scent pad and make a footstep trail like Michael said. Keep the steps close and straight, drop pieces here and there in the footsteps. Once you've been doing this often and she gets the hang of it, spread out your steps more and start tossing slight turns in there. Remember to pull her off before she eats all the food. This will frustrate her a bit and increase her drive for the next time.

The point of this is to teach her, that where ever the grass or ground is "disturbed", there is a reward. Soon she'll be able to tell an area that's been disturbed, hence the footsteps vs a clean area. Sorry, if you're already past this, but that's a way I learned. I also learned to start slowly and keep it very simple or the dog can get confused or lost in the track.

nope, I haven't done anything yet. Thanks for the tips, I will try this and work with her and give an update on our progress. Thanks!!

i'm also interested in doing tracking w/luc - i think it's something he'd enjoy and be good at, and i want some sort of mental activity for him - competitive obed. doesn't appeal to me, and i don't think he's stable enough for schH and i'm a novice handler, so....

my question - are there tracking clubs? i know there are schH clubs around here, but haven't been able to google anything similar for tracking.

do people mostly train on their own?