I just read an article of beginning tracking. The article says
"dog's nose is much better than ours, but ours is good enough to determine which emits the stronger odor. If we can smell the bait before we smell the disturbance to the ground, then this bait is not going to be useful to us in the association process. Hot dogs or cheese are not good for that reason. They smell too strong. I prefer to use just dry dog food kibble"

Does anyone have any opinions on this? Here is the article
http://www.schutzhundvillage.com/nose1.html

I used hot dogs and never saw anything that would make me think I did something wrong.

Frozen BilJac <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> The fire ants don't like it as much as hotdogs <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

 Quote:

"dog's nose is much better than ours, but ours is good enough to determine which emits the stronger odor. If we can smell the bait before we smell the disturbance to the ground, then this bait is not going to be useful to us in the association process. Hot dogs or cheese are not good for that reason. They smell too strong. I prefer to use just dry dog food kibble"

If the dog responds well to kibble then that's great. But usually a dog has to be kept from food for a couple of days before he'll show that much interest in kibble (relative to hot dogs). If kibble works then use it. but it's a pretty rare dog who is more interested in it than hot dogs.

A tip. Cut the hot dog into half the long way and then cut those halves in half, the long way again. You'll have four long thin strips of hot dog. Then cut those into small bits. It's easier than trying to get very thin slices. Then place them on several layers of paper towel and nuke them for enough time to get rid of most of the grease. That makes them a bit less attractive to ants and not as greasy to handle.

I think that it's a serious mistake to think that what smells "strong" to us also smells strong to a dog. There's no way of knowing which scent smells stronger to a dog absent electrodes implanted in his brain and even then it's only a guess. "Scent strength" is usually measured in PPM (parts per million) but that's only a physical measure. What is probably much more important is how much value the dog places on the odor.

Also keep in mind that dogs are easily able to detect the presence of substances that we can't perceive at all.

the site you have read (schutzhundvillage) is a great site, i dont think anyone would argue with armin's credentials or ideas on dog training, let alone tracking, however use what works, i personally choose to use kibble for tracking and i dont really fast my dog for more than a half of a day, if you only allow them to eat after working then they will become accustomed to it after work, be it OB or tracking.

i also dont think that anyone can assume what dogs can or cannot smell, what is attractive or not attractive to them, like lou said however, schutzhundvillage explicitly states this over and over. i do believe that you shold be careful when tracking to not use an extremely strong "bait" for food, i would personally like to use food at first and switch to toys for tracking motivation eventually.

Thanks Lou, I'll try that hotdog tip.

"Frozen BilJac The fire ants don't like it as much as hotdogs"

May I second that excellent idea! That stuff is like Food of the Gods to dogs and it's less greasy than wiener's. I've used it for years and love it for tracking.

Where do you order it from?

Do you guys mean the kibble or the treats?

It is neither kibble nor treats. It looks like wet dog food but is dry to the touch, comes in frozen 5lb packs.

It is SUPER hard to come by!! We used to have a friend of a friend who would get it for us and then she moved and we could not find it anywhere for nearly 3 yrs. We went to the Euk. dog show last week and they had a booth (yay!) we bought a case of it LOL!!!

Look for Bil Jac dealers.. call around.