Shandar,
I see what you're saying. I guess one of the differences in the way we are training is that I am working on scent discrimination with my dog. Before starting any track, he is given a scent article from the subject, so that he knows the specific individual's odor that he is seeking. As a result, he often follows a couple of feet or more off the actual "track", because he is following the individual's personal scent. As the track ages, and less of that personal scent is available, he follows closer to the track. In the case of an old track where there is no personal scent left, then he would follow the track itself. If I were to put him in a TDX test, he would think that he's supposed to find the tracklayer, who could easily be upwind at some point, or when we got to the end of the track, he would continue to track the tracklayer's movements after that, even tracking the TL off the test field, and I'd have to stop him to wait for the judges to approach. This would be somewhat frustrating and confusing for my dog, so I don't think it would be a good thing, unless they would be willing to allow us to find the tracklayer once the judges are done with us.

Kevin, I think you are correct in that it is very likely that the dog will miss articles on a track if he is cutting corners or air scenting to the subject; as a matter of fact, you can expect it. This is why you do backtrack to search for articles after the find is made. In SAR, articles are important; the article can be shown to the family of the subject and they can confirm whether or not it belongs to the subject at all. It can confirm whether the subject was even in the area you're searching. Or if it turns into a criminal investigation, then articles would certainly be important. Basically, articles are clues, just like footprints or other "sign". So, it is important to use articles in training, but it is not emphasised in the same way as in TD or TDX training.

Shandar, are you going for a TD or a TDX?

I am doing TD in the next month. I have only been tracking with him for 4-5 months and he is still quite young but I thought I would give it a go. He has no problems with the tracking part of it, just the article indication.

When we start a track it is by casting the dog where you approx. know the track to be. He finds the track and is off.

I started out with FST )only did 2-3 tracks this way) but I and he did not enjoy it much. TTD is by far way more fun for him (although I must admit, I find the fast pace of it challenging at times..especially on uneven ground <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> ) It is awesome watching him work and the enjoyment he gets from it. As soon as I get the harness out he goes crazy and when I get it on...his nose is instantly on the ground.

I don't plan on becoming part of a SAR team at this point but I wanted to keep possibilites open and I enjoy learning new things.

I think the 'ultimate' in TTD is much like you describe but I also think and know from my experiences and others that it can be used as a base to compete in other types of tracking.

Course, I also know that I am going to have problems if I want to title in schutzhund, but I will face that when I come to it.

I know people have been successful at taking a dog trained in FST and retrained them for TTD...anyone done the opposite?

I assumed that since this thread was posted in the "Police Tracking" area, you were involved in police work. This thread probably should have gone under "Sport Tracking".

I doubt that anyone could very successfully switch from TTD to FST. TTD just teaches the dog too many tracking habits that aren't really all too compatible with FST sport tracking, JIMHO.