Today my dog on his last track left the track 1/2 way through it and made a full sprint run to my victim. He did not move or do anything to alert the dog in any way. I was wondering if I will be causing my self problems later on by this behavior or not.
From my reading and other handlers I talk too they say to always make it fun and successful for the dog. He loves to track and we praised him tons at the end and he had his treat pile. Any info for a new handler is welcome. We did run into a spruce hen on our 3rd trail today and with a "Zooch", he ignored it and ran down the trail and found our victim behind a tree.
I do not live on a farm but there is a small place down the road where I have been taking him that has chickens and Geese. I have made him drop and wait there and just observe them. I feed him treats while he is in the down and I am hoping this helped him today just think it was a chicken.
My main goal is for this to be a SAR dog.
Thanks for any and all help,
Dale
David C.Frost Webboard User Reg: 01-23-2002
Posts: 1204
Loc: Nashville, TN
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If the main goal is to have a SAR dog, and the dog found the victim, I fail to see the problem. It could have been air currents and the dog winded the victim. He could have seen movement from the victim. In SAR the objective is to find the victim. That's a win. Now whether or not there is a problem with tracking is a different question. Are you training a bush hunter and the find was coincidental. Was the dog just running around and got lucky. What I'm saying is, just because a dog didn't do something as expected doesn't mean it's not right.
DFrost
Any behavior that is reinforced is more likely to occur again.
My pup must have caught a scent because the victim was down a hill in a gully behind a tree and we were walking along the top of the rig line. He was tracking great at a full run the deviated off the set track and made a full sprint to my helper.
Howard Knauf Webboard User Reg: 09-24-2003
Posts: 1555
Loc: Melbourne, Florida
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Air currents are tricky in uneven terrain. Depending on the current weather conditions it is entirely possible your boy got a whiff of scent which pulled him off the track and brought him to a more direct line to the victim. In which case he did a great job. Can't tell you how many times I've found people hiding in deep ditches after my dog deviated from the original track. David sees it more than I do because of where he lives.
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SAR tracking question from a new handler
#209982 - 09/17/2008 06:10 PM 
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