Hello, all, I am switching over from FST-style tracking to TTD, training my Lab for SAR work. I'm just wondering if anyone else who visits this board is doing this (TTD)? I'd love to compare notes with others! Please let me know if you're out there!

My biggest question at this time has to do with making the switch, and how to make it a successful transition. If anyone has any experience, both positive or negative, with switching from FST to TTD, I'd love to hear about it.

We've done some runaways, which he really responds well to (he gets very excited), and I'm wondering if we should just stick with that for a while to get/keep him really revved up about it, and work on lengthening, before we go back to working on aging, or if we should work on aging, then lengthening?

We were up to 1.5 mile tracks at about 1.5 hours old, then I dropped back to 500 yard tracks, bumping up the age, until we got to about 3.5 hours, where the trouble started. I think it's a combination of me screwing up (of course, the dog knows what he's doing, it's the handler that has a lot to learn!) and the dog hitting his "hump" (plus it's summer time, and it's a bit warmer and drier than we're used to). Because of this, I'm thinking we need to work on drive by doing some hot tracks for a while. Am I on the right "track" (ha ha)?

I am doing TTD with my 11 month old pup. I started out doing 2 'footstep' tracks with food with him when he was 5 months old but that is it. I then moved over to the TTD. So, really he made the switch with no problems.

Thus far I am doing approx. 1 km. tracks with several turns and some articles. He is doing great at these. The 'oldest' track I have done is approx. 1 hr. My dogs biggest stumbling block is me right now. First, he goes so fast....he exhausts me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> and I have also not put the time into him that I should. I track once a week usually, sometimes it is a bit longer. Luckily, I have a great dog , so we don't go backwards when we leave it longer inbetween tracks, but I should be aging them longer. Now , of course, for me, my preference is to age them longer rather than make the actual track longer.....but it is for selfish reasons...I don't have to run as far <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

How is your dog screwing up? Is he getting disinterested in the track? Can't find the corners?

You could start out with a track that is aged and then have the person who is at the end start walking when you start to track it. That way, 1/2 way through, if your dog is tending to 'quit' or get disinterested he will hit the 'fresh' track and it will renew his interest and drive.

That is a great idea, to have the subject start out on an aged track and then move....hadn't tried that.

Basically, the dog's energy/enthusiasm level dropped off right about when the weather really heated up, even in the early part of the day when we usually work, and the vegetation dried up. As a matter of fact, one of the county parks where we sometimes train has been closed due to the fire danger because it is so dry. But, it could really be so many things, that I just can't pinpoint what is going on. That's why I'm thinking of dropping back in the training to just motivational stuff until the weather cools down and it starts raining again. Of course, I *should* be out there at 4 or 5am this time of year, but all of my training mates have been on vacation or really busy on real searches, so we've kind of slowed down on our training a bit.

As far as going too fast, I know that one! I have been dragged through stinging nettles by my "wildman"! One thing that really helped me was to tell him "easy" while pulling back on the lead, so that he would slow down long enough for me to crawl through a thicket or climb over a log or some boulders, then when I got through the obstacle, I'd say "OK, go find it!" to get him back up to speed. If I need him to stop, I say "wait" while I crawl through the blackberry thicket or untangle his lead from around a tree or his leg. Then, I say "OK, go find it!". It really helps to teach them these commands, because they learn that it doesn't mean to stop working, but just to slow down or pause until their puny human can catch up. Just make sure you don't slow or stop them at a corner. Wait until the dog has picked up the next leg before you slow or stop him.

Anyway, you can move fast if you need to, or slow down to prevent a busted leg or the loss of an eyeball by teaching these commands. It's more of a symbiotic relationship than a master/dog relationship, I think.......

Of course, I don't know what kind of terrain you're training in, but I would imagine it would be similar to what we work in here in Oregon?

I just wanted to add that talking to your dog is really important, certainly not to direct him in the scent work, but just to communicate, like if you need help climbing out of a ravine (happened to me), let the dog scramble up first (push his bottom if he needs help), and use his momentum to pull yourself up, without him thinking that you're stopping him, then when you're out, getting him back to work. You really have to talk to your dog to do that successfully. That's just an example of the situations you might get into, if you're tracking in rough terrain. But what are your plans? Are you working in fields, or forest, or what? Competition? SAR? Police work?

As you can see, I love talking about this, so I'm glad you responded.