I am new to tracking and have been working, with my dog, at it for about two months. When she moves down a track she is fairly intent and she also pulls me (or tries to) through the track. At this stage as long as she has been following the track I have not become too concerned with her quick speed; I will work to clean that up later, I just want her to learn, and enjoy the work for now.

I started with squares to associate the scent to food. Second, I made triangles and a short track. These initial tracks were basically trenches, sort of one big hot spot in a straight line. The bait was laid on these tracks about the distance of a normal pace. After that I broke up the track. It was still all hot spots and single file; like a dotted line. This too wasn't really any trouble for the dog...

My problem is this; now I am staggering the foot prints but instead of making a ground sweeping action from print to print, she is only finding half the track. She stretches to get from one print to the next, only finding either all the right footed prints or the left (depending on which she finds first)! I tried keeping the prints very tight, having them touch just a bit and hope for a zig-zag pattern of her head, but no luck. I've reviewed all the material I have on tracking but can't find any trouble shooting pointers on this particular hurdle.

Is there any advise out there for me on this problem? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
Should I have started with a staggered track in the beginning? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />
Or am I just doing something totally wrong? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Thanx -B

Hi Bradley,
One thing that worked well for me was to continue with trenched tracks and begin baiting alternately on the left and right of the trench. Then when you go to actual footsteps, hopefully the dog is already making a side to side motion with their head. Hope this helps.
Scott