First off I know very little about tracking, I started Drago with a scent pad, Triangle rubbed in the dirt hotdogs at the points. about every three feet a bit of hotdog and his favorite toy at the end, did this twice, couple of days later I had my son, 11 years old in his "Ghillie Suit" put down a track 100 yards long and he hid in the tree line with a pile of goodies. Did it again today with very satisfactory results. Drago keeps his head down and stays pretty much in the track. I have to hold him back, he's really pulling hard and I think he would bolt and go in spastic circles if I were to drop the lead. I really don't have any training goals except to eventually be able to track and engage "Bad Guys" or my daughter's boyfriends I may disapprove of. Anyway to slow him up? Should I slow him up at all? When can I put down more difficult tracks, left turns right turns, thru brush and mud etc

To slow my chow hund I track him tired and on a half meal. I also put the food reward at the end of hte trak in a seal container so he won't get the scent in the air and charge the last part of the track.

I am also doing it just for fun

Well, personally I think you may want to decide if you want to do footstep tracking, like in sport or have Drago hunt for something, like bad boyfriends.

Footstep is as much an obedience as anything, teaching them to track in a certain style.Nose deep and footstep to footstep and you work on pace. When they hunt or track something, they use everything, and the pace can be pretty quick. What did you're breeder do with the parents?

Cadaver search

I think these are one in the same.

"Bad Guys" or my daughter's boyfriends I may disapprove of

I can only talk about sport, so if thats a direction you want to go, you'd have to ask them if anything I say contradicts how they would tell you to start him.

Since you've stared scent pads, I think you should stick to that a little bit longer. Make a box instead of triangle, do 3-4 in the same session, and scatter the food through out it. What you want is for him to associate the disturbed ground with finding food. Its ok for him to leave the pad a little, but you want him to keep sniffing the whole time.

What you want is for him to come back to the scent pad again so he learns there's nothing over there, its over here. Also, I think grass is better for this, that way there's not so much visual for him to use.

When you notice he's not leaving the scent pads, its pretty easy to pick up on from what I've seen Its real obvious by the way they're working around the edges, he's ready to start going forward on a track. The first track would be better with you trenching it. Thats just shuffling your feet, not separate footsteps with food dropped every foot or so alternating left to right.

I like Gary Pattersons Book on tracking. Its not expensive, and it lays out a good plan with three tracks thats easy to follow and tells you exactly when and how to progress. If you plan on going anywhere beyond just having fun with it, there's no substitute for an experienced trainer helping you. Tracking changes subtly, or at least for me, and changing the way you bait your track or lay it is how you progress.

http://www.siriustrainer.com/gear/books/books.htm that's do-able

If I can find the book, I'm happy to loan it to you Dennis. Give me a day or two.

http://www.fleming-plumb.ca/videos.html

EXCELLENT sport tracking DVDs!

Ditto on Gary Patterson's book also.

I've trained for sport and real world tracking/trailing/airscenting.
The sport tracking can be a nice foundation for the real stuff but doing the real stuff first then training for sport sucked big time! Very confusing for the dog.

Has anyone read "Tracking Dog Theories and Methods" by Glen R Johnson
Just wondering what anyone thoughts on this book.