Recently I've had a few tracks in exreemly wooded ares. I ended up dropping my line to navigate the woods and verbally commanding my dog to down on the track while I catch up. Has anyone experimanted with off lead tracking? How has it worked for you? What are the pro's and con's you have found?

High risk tracks should be performed off lead.
It takes a good balance between drive and discipline but allows proper tactics during in the pursuit and capture of a suspects.

Matt instead of dropping your lead I'd suggest that you take it off completely. It's liable to get caught on something and stop the dog. Also it makes a nice handle for a crook if your track ends in a violent confrontation.

Why don't you teach your dog to track at a slower pace so that you can follow along behind without giving down commands and having to catch up?

Matt,
Ive done this a couple of times. One was a real bad situation. The toughest part is keeping up with the critter, especially in the thick stuff. It is easy to lose sight of him in no time. Our policy doesnt allow the dog to be off lead and out of sight in an unconfined area but there are some situations that are serious enough that we bend policy a little. It is a pain tracking through the thick stuff with a long lead for sure and I just unhooked him to keep him from getting wrapped up and, as Lou put it, not to give the bad guy something to hang the dog with.

Lou, How bout some tips on slowing the dog down. Ive been trying for a long time now but I am just killing his drive when I do it.

I would appreciate some tips on slowing down a dog in tracking as well.

To date, I have tried aging the track, placing articles on the track, lots of corners on the track and just plain slowing her down by walking rather than jogging behind her.

Two members of my SAR unit have taken several seminars with Gary Murray (x RCMP) and we start our puppies in TTD rather than FST. We are having Gary Murray here for a seminar in October, so that the whole team can benefit from his experience. I would prefer a couple of options with respect to slowing her down if possible.

Natalie
http://alikamalinois.tripod.com

Most of the folks I know who do on lead trailing bet pretty good at moving through the woods at a trot or a run. I am on a SAR team and yes, we have a TON of deadfall and briars and brush and it is an art form. Droppping line and picking up at a run, that is.

It is usually just the bloodhounds (or during urban traling) that are worked on lead.

For off lead trailing they teach an alert.

I guess what I am saying is they speed up the handler instead of slow down the dog.

My first question is what are you searching for? Is it a lost child or a viloent criminal. Off lead search with a police K9 looking for the lost child can tunr bad. Off lead tracking in police work I have seen usually turns into an off leash area search. Meaning the dog uses everything, foot step tracking, air scent, sound, and sight. This can be fast and safer for the officers. Stay safe and win.

Howard wrote: How bout some tips on slowing the dog down. Ive been trying for a long time now but I am just killing his drive when I do it.

LC: Howard can you tell me what you've been doing to try to slow him down?

Natalie Heath wrote: I have tried aging the track, placing articles on the track, lots of corners on the track and just plain slowing her down by walking rather than jogging behind her.

LC: Are any of those things working? My experience tells me that the last one, "walking rather than jogging behind" the dog will make the dog want to speed up, rather than slow down. Just like not letting the dog have a bite when he wants it will make him want it more next time out.

Nancy Jocoy wrote: I guess what I am saying is they speed up the handler instead of slow down the dog.

LC: This is not an impossible situation but there are limits to how long a handler can jog behind his dog. And on difficult terrain it can be dangerous. But this question was asked by a police officer and I assumed (possibly wrongly) that he was engaged in high risk searching. There, speeding the handler up is not a good idea. High risk tracks should be done slowly and carefully so as to allow the handler to make use of cover and concealment and so that he can observe as he move forward.

Eric Patricks wrote: My first question is what are you searching for? Is it a lost child or a viloent criminal. Off lead search with a police K9 looking for the lost child can tunr bad.

LC: Good obs Eric. If you have a dog that is expecting a fight at the end of his track, you probably shouldn't be using him to search for a lost child. I've done it when there were no other resources available but you have to be very careful and stay right on top of what the dog is doing. You also need a dog that is instantly responsive to commands.

Kevin....
Generally on high risk tracks I will track traditionally untill I reach the point where I'm getting indication from my dog that we are close to the subject. I'll then let him loose to area search the remainder of the way.

Lou....
80% of our tracks are urban to subburban with the remaining 20% being more rural when we get called to track for some of our communities on the far North end of our county. In the real wicked dense stuff I would have no issue running the dog off lead.... however in our day to day tracks I'd end up with a very expensive road patty. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> I would like to hear more about slowing the dog down on tracks... that would be quite helpfull as most of our tracks also end up being less than 20 minutes old with little track scent build up. I like the pace and focus I see in the 1.5 hour tracks but slowing the boy down on the fresh tracks would nice.

Howard....
I've had good luck with the synthetic long lines being prety tangle free in the brush. I cut the "O" ring off of the tail end and have yet to get it hung up like my old cotton and nylon ones. I get laughed at alot but I also cary a machete in trunk and use it often! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Nancy.....
Pittsburgh is a tracking nightmare! Not only do the hills (mountains) and valleys (gullies) realy screw with your available scent, there are cliffs and mine shafts you have to worry abour falling over and in...... and they are both in about every other back yard! A neighboring town's handler recently "lost his dog" briefly when he fell down a 30' storm drain shaft while on a track. Luckily he was able to stop the fall and pull him back up with the long line attached to his harness. TTD works well on our urban tracks but the minute the bad guy goes to the woods it's realy tough to negotiate.

Eric....
We rarely track missing kids or Alzheimer's patients... mostly felons.

 Quote:

Natalie Heath wrote: I have tried aging the track, placing articles on the track, lots of corners on the track and just plain slowing her down by walking rather than jogging behind her.

LC: Are any of those things working? My experience tells me that the last one, "walking rather than jogging behind" the dog will make the dog want to speed up, rather than slow down. Just like not letting the dog have a bite when he wants it will make him want it more next time out.

Hi Lou,

You are correct in that the last one does not help at all. I pretty much try whatever is suggested to me in the hopes that something will slow her down.

Aging the track helps until she is confident in her ablities to track under those conditions. Then, she goes like snot again.

Placing articles and turns in the track helps quite a bit, but certification is a 2 - 3 kilometer track with a minimum of 4 turns. People who have tested have told me that there was at least one 500m leg on the track. So, she needs to learn to slow down on the longer legs as well.

Doing road crossings has helped as well.

Placing a toy at the end of the track rather than having a person to find has helped immensely. She has more than enough drive to track for a toy. If I keep the tracklayer at the end of the track on a regular basis, she gets too excited and will not slow down and has a difficult time "settling" into the track.

Another thing that I have found that helps is to run like snot behind her for the first 200 - 300 meters of the track and then she will settle into a trot on her own. The only problem with this is that I have ended up hurting myself running that fast over uneven ground (am currently in physio for a lower back injury due to this).

To even phathom running behind her for the whole track is wishful thinking at best. This is a dog that I need to bike or do some sort of weight pulling (tire pulling, scooting in the summer and skijoring in the winter) to tire out. She is not a tiny Malinois either. She is 25.5 inches at the shoulder, currently weighs 59 lbs. and still has some filling in to do.

She is an independent b*tch and has a mind of her own. She has decided that she wants to track at warp speed (well at least that what it feels like :rolleyes: ) and I need to convince her otherwise.

Any suggestions will be most welcome.

Natalie
http://alikamalinois.tripod.com