My 3 y/o bitch is mostly happy to track and was making nice gains. This morning (as has happened on occasion) she flat out refused to track. The grass was a bit high, but very lush with morning dew. My first track is always very short with food in each step. She barely worked that. The second track was longer with a simple right turn, 2 articles. She refused from the start. I forced her with corrections on her pinch collar. She basically crawled and screamed (she's a drama queen!!!)along the entire track on her belly and if she did stand it was to hop from footstep to footstep without using her nose, simply to avoid the correction. I put her in the van, took my puppy out for a fun track, then tried her again on a short, fully baited track, trying to end on a good note. Again she refused this very simple track. Back in the van. Drive home, lay down another track as above in our own yard. She actually used her nose for the last step, the rest were forced with pinch corrections. She's currently in the kennel to be fasted for 24 hours. Will try her again in the morning in our yard.
I have to stress how much I DISLIKE these confrontations, I have always gone with the adage that you "can't force a dog to track, they have to want to" however I know she knows and she's just plain old being disobedient! She's a sulky, stubborn bitch when it comes to taking orders, however I've improved her obedience using her kong as a motivator, and it's always at the end of her tracks too.
anyway, just needed to VENT!!! However, I would appreciate any tips you folks have on dealing with this very frustrating issue! She's supposed to try for her VPG 1 in 4 weeks and right now it doesn't look like we have a chance in hell!

Tammy

 Quote: tammy dempsey

I forced her with corrections on her pinch collar. She basically crawled and screamed (she's a drama queen!!!)along the entire track on her belly and if she did stand it was to hop from footstep to footstep without using her nose, simply to avoid the correction.

 Quote:

She actually used her nose for the last step, the rest were forced with pinch corrections. She's currently in the kennel to be fasted for 24 hours.

 Quote:

I have to stress how much I DISLIKE these confrontations, I have always gone with the adage that you "can't force a dog to track, they have to want to" however I know she knows and she's just plain old being disobedient! She's a sulky, stubborn bitch when it comes to taking orders, however I've improved her obedience using her kong as a motivator, and it's always at the end of her tracks too.

Tammy - I don't train dogs for tracking and I don't do SchH. However, I believe if you read the quotes I pulled from your post, perhaps you'll see what I see. If I was this dog, I wouldn't work for you either. Not trying to be harsh, but I can't think of a nicer way to say that's what I see in your post.

Hopefully some folks with Sch and tracking experience can give you some tips. I think the first step might be to take some pressure off this girl.

I'm only starting tracking myself, but I think that if she is refusing to track , forcing her may just make her associate tracking with a correction.

Again, someone with more experience should give their two cents but here is what I would try:

Start ignoring the dog completely. No touch, no talk, no eye contact. Crate her when she is not working or going to the bathroom. Let her stew a bit on being ignored. Dogs hate it! How long you do it at first depends on the dog.

You'll know when she is ready to start working for you because when you take her out of her crate she will absolutely be oozing with joy and doing anything to please you. At that point, lay and track and bring her to it. If she goes at it, make it the biggest accomplishment of her life with praise and reward. Then put her away and do it a few more times until she begins to understand that you are only going to pay attention to her when she works for it.

If she ignores the track, put her back, ignore her for 1 more day and try again. Each day bring her out to a track. If she ignores it, she gets put away. She will learn really fast (hopefully) that her doing Obedience and tracking is the only way she is going to win your affections.

I am not a big fan of force tracking. It sounds like she really likes her kong - have you thought about building up her drive by placing kongs intermittentlys on the tracking and when she indicates them, release her and throw/play with her with it before continuing on with the track? I have friends who did that with their dogs with balls on a rope and it really built the drive for the track in them.

Find the proper motivation for your dog… It doesn’t look like food is going to cut it. If the Kong is a great motivator, try using more of them at various points along the track and not just at the end.

I fear you have set your training back. Some days dogs just don't want to work...not unlike people. Maybe she's ill or just isn't feeling it. Give her the day off and try later. If it becomes a problem then you have two choices....find the right motivator or consider working the pup more.

Howard

 Quote: tammy dempsey

... I forced her with corrections on her pinch collar. She basically crawled and screamed (she's a drama queen!!!)along the entire track on her belly and if she did stand it was to hop from footstep to footstep without using her nose, simply to avoid the correction.

 Quote: howard knauf

I fear you have set your training back.

I want to quote Roni Hoff, moderator, from her reply to someone else with the erroneous idea that dogs can be drama queens:

"Dogs are NOT DRAMA QUEENS. They simply react .... to all stimuli, based on their genetic makeup, environment, and previous training."