Hay Steve… If I’m getting this right you have an “older” dog that has only done 7 tracks total. After only 7 tracks I wouldn’t assume that the dog understands the “tracking game” and what’s being asked of him, even thought it seems he’s well on his way.

I’d back things up as suggested in a prior post and go back to putting your dog’s whole meal down piece by piece in each footstep. If your dog is hitting the piece of hot dog and his head is coming up, trying to power to the next piece your treat reward distance is too great.

Rigging your flat collar with the line under the leg is a great way to keep the dog’s head down.. The German belly tracking harness called the bottcher harness is another great piece of training equipment used to keep the dog’s nose down on the ground. You control the dog’s speed on the track.. he will learn in time how fast you want him to go.

JMO but I would stay away from using the pinch during tracking. I’m real big on tracking being compulsion free and I would hate to have any accidental corrections occur on a track, regardless of how minor.

I agree here with Matthew. 7 tracks in total is too early to start randomizing the food in the footsteps. I had food in every footstep for many months before I started to take some up.

And Anita -- I sometimes do have just one piece of food placed in between random non-food footsteps. That may be causing some of the new pulling that I am seeing on the track -- I'll change that and put down several steps of food at a time and see if that make the difference. Thanks.

I have an article question too, but I'll start a new thread for that.

Katie

Thanks for the reply Matthew. Since I'm still putting the reward in every step Should I take shorter steps? I've been taking long strides so that may have been the opposite of what I should have done. With him I don't think its a hunger issue with the way he goes for the rewards, but more earning a reward. Probably because of how I have trained things using food and a lot of anticipation and a release for the food reward its almost like he see's Track and Good Track as that release. I was thinking of seeing how he would do after a meal, what do you think?

I’d cut your stride down a bit for now.. I’d also make sure you are laying your straight leg tracks so the wind is at your back, this will help keep his nose down as well as he will most likely not smell the next bait till he is on top of it.

At 7 tracks I think it’s a little early to worry about your line handling.. but that’s another avenue to look at for encouraging a nice, slow, nose down track! :-)

One more thing! I like to maximize my repetitions when I’m working on a new tracking issue.. Often you can see much faster improvement if you lay a number of smaller tracks detailing what you want to accomplish vs. one big track.

Imagine a football field… you can lay your tracks on the Goal line, 25 yd, 50 yd, 25 yd, and Goal lines. You now have 5 smaller tracks you can bait/lay with a ton of praise and love at the end of each…vs. just one exercise!

I'll try the shorter steps and more than one track this Sunday. I go out early enough that there is no wind so I havent had to worry about that. Thanks for all the help. Steve

Steve,

Do yourself a favor and don't be in a hurry to get your dog tracking. If you rush, skip, or get in a hurry yourself you'll pay later. Take it slow and be methodical about it.

Thanks Michael. I don't think I'm rushing, I was trying to avoid making mistakes like that so I wouldnt waste time, and the replies I've gotten here have given me good direction.

Hi. I use the two line (plow lines) method as well. Both lines attached to the fur saver & one line under each front leg. I would suggest you introduce a lot of wide, sweeping serpentine turns in each direction on the track. At this stage, you still want to be up close to the dog.

Hello. Did you have the same problem with going too fast Susan? Anita mentioned the two lines working well now that her dog has slowed down. Was it part of what you did from the begining to help slow down? I can picture it for keeping him straight but I'm not behind him yet, I'm still more up next to him. Thanks for the help. Steve

Hi Steve,

That's a good question. I had difficulty using 2 lines when my dog was dragging me along. The object of using 2 lines is to keep them on the track more closely. You use them like the reins on a horse, steering left and right as needed. But when my guy was dragging me along at a fast and furious clip, all I accomplished was getting my feet tangled up. Now that he's slowed down and is more focused, he can actually feel and/or pay attention when I give a correction on one side or the other.

My big "Aha!" moment in tracking came when someone finally explained it to me this way:

"The dog knows where the track is. Even as very young puppies they can track. It's natural. What isn't natural is asking the dog to track at a constant, methodical and slow pace, never leaving the track. Even if the wind has blown a lot of the scent away from the exact track, we want him to stay on the exact track. Even if he can smell the "rabbit" off to the left, we want him to follow the exact track and go straight ahead, then make a 90-degree turn instead of dashing for the rabbit. This makes no sense to the dog. If he tracks in the wild the way we ask for sport tracking, he'd starve. If a police dog tracked like that, he'd never catch anyone.

So our job is to explain to the dog he must stay on the exact track and move methodically. How can we explain that? By making the track itself important to the dog. Instead of a juicy rabbit at the end, there are little bits of rabbit all along the track. As long as he stays exactly on the track, he gets to eat. And by guiding the dog back onto the track when he leaves it."

And this is why you must know exactly where your track is. You have to make it clear to the dog, whether using 2 lines, 1 line, or whatever, he has to stay on the track. But if you don't know exactly where your track is, you're muddying your message to the dog. He'll get confused if you praise him both when he's exactly on AND when he's wandered off the track, and he'll really get confused - and discouraged - if you correct him when you think he's off the track but he really isn't.

You wouldn't believe how long it took to get this through my head

Oh, and don't use chalk to mark your track when it's raining.

Give us an update after your next session!!!