I have a Malinois who is now 13 weeks old. So far we've been working on basic obedience and drive building. She's a smart cookie and I dont really want to start a structured tracking session with her yet.
Question is this ... when we're out and about and she finds her own scent, should I encourage her to follow it out? She has managed to pick up and follow a scent without break for about 15-20 meters at a time (especially when it ends in a water bird hidden in some reeds) Should I encourage her with a track word (like 'suh')as soon as she hits a trail? Or should I just let her be puppy and run around. I've only praised her when she's found the object she's sniffed for so far, and it really seems to make her want to follow her trails to their source.
thanks ... Jules
I dont care what my boss said ... Flurescent yellow shirts did not increase workplace enthusiasm ...
Why don't you want to start tracking with her yet? We start tracking as soon as possible (imprinting at 4-5wks old if it's our litter, the next day after arrival if the pup is from an outside litter) to get a good strong foundation and a dog that likes to track. Honestly, I would do some scent pads and then progress with short tracks and not trust her to follow whatever she might be "trailing." You never know, she might not really be following much of anything, just walking around with her nose down, so you could end up causing more problems by giving her commands (to get her used to the commands) when she does this.
Good point there ... I've had her for three weeks and now we've hit teething (yay) I've only had reservations about starting structured searches from floods of information that I get from different trainers about what the best age to start tracking is, whether starting it now when the pup has a lower concentration span will affect its performance in later life or not. I see the point of starting now to develop the dogs want to track.
Call it new mummy syndrome ... the perfectionist dont wanna get it wrong <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />
I dont care what my boss said ... Flurescent yellow shirts did not increase workplace enthusiasm ...
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