I recently received a few Leerburg tracking videos and am a little confused about a piece of content between two of them that rival one another.

In the video Training a Competition Tracking Dog when first teaching the dog how to go from FS to FS the video instructs the trainer to track into the wind in order to make the experience easier on the dog. However, in Training S&R - Police Tracking Dogs in stage one, teaching FST to the service dog, the video instructs to do the opposite; in order to keep the dog's nose to the ground so as to avoid teaching the dog to "search" rather than "track". I realize that this is because of the quarry at the end of the track and that he produces such a strong scent down wind that the dog will almost be able to cheat in the learning phase. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

So my question is, which is the preferred method to keep a dog's nose DEEP for FST in the beginning stages? FST is what I want to do right now. The reason I have purchased videos other than the FST video is to aquire as much info as possible on scent and tracking itself hoping to enhance my proficiency at the FST and all around as a trainer making me a better candidate for RCMP K9 <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> But I need some advise on this one...

Thanx!!

i was taught to lay tracks with the wind at first for just the reason you mentioned. especially if the dog has had any area search work done. going into the wind in the beginning with a dog with search experience will undoubtedly lead to the dog air scenting especially at the end of the track...

If it's windy, when teaching the young dog - lay the tracks with they wind, it will tend to keep the dog's nose down.