I have been teaching tracking my 14 month GSD and we are doing great, except that he is really quick on the track, may be I should slow him down a bit or he should be this way -? Another question is how to teach him to mark the articles that he finds on the track - "sit" or "down' or some other proper and accepted way of marking? And what is the best way to do it. Need your input. Thank you. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

If/when you start working aged tracks, and increasing the difficulty, he should slow down on his own. As far as indicating articles, it should be a passive alert, such as a sit or a down. I'd probably go with a sit.

I'll field the first part of this and then direct you to the many previous posts on the board that have dealt with training the articles (Ed has written about it too).

The classic method for slowing down an overeager dog on the track is to put in a lot of serpentines and turns. That will slow the vast majority of dogs down and teach them to be more methodical.

If that fails, many trainers will go to the prong collar. Of course this will work only for dogs that have a very strong drive to track. If this isn't the case with your dog then you don't want to risk doing something that will shut him down on tracking (I've seen it happen, too).

Pete

Maybe I'm misunderstanding. Are we talking about Tracking Through Drive for SAR (the forum that this thread is in), or are we talking about sport tracking? If we're talking about TTD, I would not put a prong on the dog. Instead, I would look at lead handling and track difficulty. Set up the tracks so that he has to work slower, and pay more attention to the signals you may be sending down the lead.

What I was actaully asking is the method to teach - should I place food under the object to be found on the track and as soon he finds it put him in a "sit" or should I do this some other way, where the object is not mouthed, scratched or picked up, but the dog indicates his find.

For what purpose are you training?

Vagabund,
Hey I found 2 methods that I found to be super in tracking from Helmut Reiser at a seminar in Germany.
1. For slowing a dog down, which was the problem with my Giant Schnauzer was a blind fold(Schutzhund Tracking)NOT POLICE SERVICE TRACKING! (I KNOW EVERYONE LAUGH <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> ) my k9 slowed down to a slow trickel and was very accurate on the track. Hell she pulled so hard and fast her ass was up to her head.I did this several times a week for about a month or so.
When the blind fold came off she tracked step for step and took her time on the starting scent pad and scored very high in all her trials, except 1 handeler stupidity :rolleyes: .Mind you! this was only a problem solver Tech. The basic ground work was already laid out.
2. For the artical I feel(opinion) teach the artical off the track any artical keys leather bullets <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> , use large objects first then go to smaller.my dog would find M16 blank bullets in the grass when she was finished. I would toss the artical out in front of her a few feet!!! while at the fuss(heel),let your dog see this! I would then give her the track command the minute she got to the artical I would platz(down)her with calm praise and a soft touch to keep her from getting flighty on me. I then did it farther away from her do the same routine for several weeks.I found out after introducing the articals to the track when she came upon them she would lay right down with the articals between her front legs.I also used this tech. for teaching the straight send away(Shutzhund Training)at the fuss then the send away command short distance then longer and when she got to the artical I'd give the platz command.Finally getting down field far away I'd send her and when I thought she was far enough I would platz her she ran like a bat out of hell! to get down field to the artical. If you teach your dogs these 2 things seperate the dog doesn't get confused! Tracking and artical indication. Keep it simple and fun I did not have to use any compultion with her and she loved doing it!
Be Safe! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Lewis and Argo

That's a great idea! I'm going to try that with my SAR training for evidence. Thanks!