Originally posted by Alan Carlson: ....I'm doing something wrong if I'm trying to make him a footstep tracker Not sure if you mean by this that there should be no reward at the end, or if you mean that a dog that shows a natural propensity for air scenting and is good at it should not be pointed towards footstep tracking, but instead should be utilized for what he is good at.
Lee, I was under the impression that a dog could be both as long as you trained footstep first. That they could air scent later and this would not damage their footstep tracking. But not the other way around. Is this wrong? We used to play hide and seek in the field with her but she seemed to use both footstep and airscent, so I quit doing this because I thought I might be ruining her future footstep work. She liked to do this with out any food in the track at all. I was just afraid it was too much too fast and I would teach her bad habits.
I went in to pay for gas...
"You don't need to lock the door with that dog in the car", he said, I smiled,...it wasn't the car I was worried about.
Lee, no reinforcement at the end if he is rushing pass the food drops and not footstep tracking. Matt, using a drag is another method but may not develop a footstep tracker. If you want a true tracker air scenting is not a good idea.
Question? What do you want to do with the dog? SAR let it learn air sent. SchH or any compatition type. If comp. you had better listen to Lee. I do everything as Lee discribes with the food. At the end of the track she gets her tug or ball as a prize. I have also found that if you let the dog work to fast, you will probably find it over shooting the corners when you get to that.
Ron
Hi Ron, she comes from a sar family in Iowa. I dont think I have anywhere near enough experience to ever compete. It's just sort of a "fun" and excercise thing for us. But I still wanted to do it right just in case I ever changed my mind. So It sounds like It might be best to stick to trying to train the footstep. I see Ed does have more of a beginer tape than what I have now. That might be a good idea. Thanks all for the help, I'll probably pick your brains more on this subject in the future!
I went in to pay for gas...
"You don't need to lock the door with that dog in the car", he said, I smiled,...it wasn't the car I was worried about.
Not to confuse you, but you have to decide if you want to teach your dog FST (foot step tracking), as in Sue Barwigs book, which is used in Schutzhund or TTD (tracking thru drive) as you witnessed with Ed's tape. What are your goals with your dog?
FST requires the dog to meticulously follow the track, TTD has the dog following a trail at speed.
Go to Leerburgs articles and read Ed's article on the difference between FST and TTD.
Matt, using a food drag promotes a lot of speed because the scent is quite strong and there are no rewards along the way, so why bother going slowly? Footstep trackers need to be quite slow and calm in order to be precise, so the food drops along the way build a habit of not rushing. Playing ball at the end can be a good incentive for a non-motivated dog (I've got one that I do it with to provide additional incentive), but for a ball crazy dog, it can be too MUCH incentive and can also promote hurrying thru the track in order to get to the "good stuff" at the end. You want the track itself to be a rewarding place to be; you don't want them to be thinking about nothing but finishing.
David Morris Webboard User Reg: 11-28-2002
Posts: 570
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I am unable to invovle a ball anywhere on the track.(ball crazy dog).I believe that the reward should be in the track. My reward at the end is no different than the drops of food in the track. I do this because I dont want the dog to be focused on the end but rather I want the dog focused on the content of the track.
Stop making excuses for your dog and start training it!
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