hello

My rottweiler pup close to nine months old has been tracking ,food in every step ,started out using hot dog but then moved on to a small puppy biscuit one in every step,this made him work very hard you could hear him sniffing ,this worked well up until now, also I track him on close to a full stomach if I don't he pulls like a steam train.
My question.
All of a sudden it seams like my pup just wants to get to the end of the track and is not that worried about food on the track,he's pulling hard. Is it time to change to a tastier bait to slow him down?

Thanks for the help Brent

Just some thoughts...

I wouldn't track on a full tummy. You might try something taster...bits of cooked liver,chicken, cheese, whatever works.

OR, for a dog that doesn't have high food drive or is tracking & pulling....Don't feed him his meals before tracking infact, feed him his MEAL on the track. After a couple of days...he'll not miss a bit & he will be slow & methodical about tracking & getting every morsil of food.

DON'T jackpot at the end of the track, if you are now. Try a few extra peices here & there. Never at the end with a fast dog...it just makes them track faster.

They can be a little fast, as long as they seach each step & maintain the same speed thruout the track. When I was tracking her...my female was a bit fast, but within acceptable speed, & acurate. My male was slower & acurate with each step. The ideal, though, is to be on the slower side.

Are you using a tracking harness with a line run under the belly to keep his head down & on task, or even a prong with a seperate line from the harness to use as a reminder to slow up. Don't know if you dog is hard or soft...but a wouldn't put on a prong for tracking on a soft dog.

Good luck...keep at it. The pup is young.

Ana & Steve are still doing SchH tracking..they may offer some suggestions. I haven't done SchH tracking on a regular basis in 4 1/2 years.

I'm interested in any replies, as I've got a super speedy tracker as well. (Steve? Bob?)

What Anne said plus;
Lots of serpentine tracks can be useful to slow a dog down.

 Quote: Paul McGarva

hello

My rottweiler pup close to nine months old has been tracking ,food in every step ,started out using hot dog but then moved on to a small puppy biscuit one in every step,this made him work very hard you could hear him sniffing ,this worked well up until now, also I track him on close to a full stomach if I don't he pulls like a steam train.
My question.
All of a sudden it seams like my pup just wants to get to the end of the track and is not that worried about food on the track,he's pulling hard. Is it time to change to a tastier bait to slow him down?

Thanks for the help Brent

Tracking is best learned working with a mentor who has titled/competed with different types of dogs (breed and/or temperament wise). Mentor watches your dog + your handling real time and factors in the conditions (temps, humidity, grass/dirt tracks, how many tracks under the dog's belt, wind direction, track length and type, turns, corners, bait frequency and quality etc etc) with the progress of the dog. Sounds like your dog has good food drive, we use low value food for high food drive dogs initially and save the high value food for later when problems are encountered.

So if you are tracking without a mentor then you will have to describe the conditions mentioned above for anyone reading to understand the progression from foundation till the problem. It could be as simple as laying the track downwind with high value food on the track. This will cause the dog to raise nose up from the ground and try to rush. Could be many other reasons but will depend on how the progression was made.