Hi all, a quick question, i want to start tracking with my 5mo. old pup, what are the first steps? what mistakes should i, as a novice avoid, the puppy has high food drive, and high prey drive, so thanks for your answers in advance, AL

Ok, I'm going to describe the set-up of a scent pad for the first step of tracking training ala the Flinks method.

You'll need:
A hungry dog
A ziplock bag full of kibble, at least half his day's feeding portion
A marking flag
Sturdy shoes

Step one: Place a marking flag into a closely cut area of grass/lawn that has not had any activity on it for at least a few days. Try to walk straight into the area that you'll be using as to avoid contaminating the surroundings.

Step two: To the right of your marking flag, stomp and scuff a three foot by three foot area, staying directly in that area - be careful not to step out off that scent pad. To cover the area should take you between one to two mins. of steady stomping - listening to country music is helpful at this point.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Step three: Take the kibble and carefully spread it out evenly over the area - make *sure* that all the pieces are in the scent pad area that you stomped. Once that's done, carefully turn around and face the direction that you originally came from and walk out of the scent pad in that direction

Step four: Get hungry dog and place him on a short leash. Walk him up to the scent pad and just before you get to the food, give him whatever command you're going to use to start him tracking. I suggest walking him directly into the center of the pad and keeping your hand on the leash directly next to the collar with no slack. if needed, use you free hand to direct his snout to the food and give the command for searching that you're chosen. Let him search and eat each piece and softly praise him as he does so. DO NOT let him stiff off the scent pad, the idea is to have him eventually connect the scent of disturbed soil with food and a search command. When he's done eating walk him back in the direction that ya'll came from rapidly.

Step five: Repeat the previous four steps daily on a fresh scent pad for two to four weeks.
This is the first basic steps of tracking training for footstep to footstep tracking as taught by Bernhard Flinks.



Al, you have a high drive puppy with mega food drive. This will work great for you, have at it!

Like any training exercise, there are various ways to the end; so I would like to add a few other items to Will's primer...

1) Pick a word to describe the activity. In schutzhund tracking it's "such", (pronounced -zook-) for "find". Set a routine for the activity: ie, potty the dog before starting the activity, use the same command each time, stroke before going to the scent pad...or whatever else you feel will help the dog anticipate the activity about to take place. No corrections, only encouragement.

2) Whether you are tracking for AKC or Schutzhund, the prime goal in the beginning is to teach the pup to go forward in the track. (While some trainers will do scent pads for some time, I start quickly with short tracks, once the dog has an shown interest in putting his nose to the ground.)

3) Find the right conditions so that the dog will only be successful, otherwise it's better not to start at all! You will have the best beginners success in a field with tall grass: tall enough so that you can create a visible trench with your footsteps. (Hay fields are perfect). Make a treat scent pad, and trench for some 10-15 feet, with treats placed every foot in that trench. Stay close to the dog, but stay in the trench. The goal is to teach the dog to move forward, and having tall grass on each side will discourage leaving the track. It's like tracking in a narrow canyon! No corrections, only encouragement.

4) Continue for the first 10 tracks or so to use the "canyon" concept. Eventually put in some very gentle turns. With the tall grass on each side, these turns are very obvious to the dog and he will only have success. Don't worry about tracking speed at this point, nor the finer points of straight body tracking...your goal is to teach "go forward on the track". If the dog misses a treat, do not let him go back for it. No corrections, just prevent him from turning around. Forward is the only way.

4) After successes in the grass "canyon", move to slightly shorter grass, but still make a visible trench. Each track starts with a treated scent pad. Treat every foot or so. Jackpot the end of the track. No corrections, only encouragement.

5) Now move to dirt tracking. Again choose the right conditions for the dog to have only success. Soft dirt, in which you can leave very visible footsteps. In the beginning the dog should be able to see your steps. Heel to toe, but off set like a normal walk. Treat in each foot step, with a jackpot pile of treats at the end. If you have taught him to "down", have him eat the jackpot in the down position. No corrections, only praise and encouragement.

5) From this point on, do 4 dirt tracks for every grass track. Over the next 100 tracks you do, make the them longer and longer; start spacing out the treats, making the distance between treats variable. Corners start going from gentle curves to more defined turns. Eventually you will phase out the treats altogether with only the jackpot at the end.
You can also start teaching a food motivated "down" at articles; this should be taught separately as an Obed exercise, off the track.

If you have a food motivated dog, this activity will be a cake walk!

Leerburg has a nice video on this subject.
( http://www.leerburg.com/203.htm )

Here is a link to a good article about tracking. It really doesn't say much more than the previous two posts.

http://www.schutzhundvillage.com/nose1.html

Excellent description Will! I made the mistake of teaching airscent first. What you've described was the only way I could consistently keep Thunder's nose on the ground, using different commands.

Will do you slowly decrease the size of the scent pad before you start to move foward with the track?

Will,
What do you think about ending a tracking session with play, either using a ball or a tug toy? One of my dogs has low food drive but very nice prey drive. His tracking is improving but I'd like to increase his enthusiasm, perhaps by incorporating play. Obviously, no such worries with my puppy!

Scott,
The problem with using an item for a reward at the end of the track is that it can cause a dog to speed up on the track to get to the end and get his reward. And your puppy's Sire drags me down the track like a sled dog on Meth amphetamine at warp speed if I'd let him, so don't let that habit develop in your boy.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

For your dog with lower food drive, using a prey item/ toy intermittently as the end reward might work out ok.
It wouldn't hurt to try it and see...

Will this also work if you messed up training your dog to track and that you fill the only way to correct is to start his training over with his training?

David,
I've seen several people retrain their dog totally once it was imported using this method, so if you're patient and put the time into it you should end up with a good finished tracking dog.