Hello to everyone,

yesterday I heard from my friend (Schh-trainer and helper) in Germany, there is a powder available in the US which makes sure the tracklayer does not get lost: It seems to be unvisible to the dog and does not hold any scent??

Just in case there is something like that on the market, can I please have some information...

Thanx,
Karin

OK you're either in Germany or up really late/early. Anyway its just marking chalk that you can buy at Home Depot. If you're from the states then you know Home Depot. Berhnard says that the chalk in Germany smells, ours has no odor. It is visible, but not too much to the dog. I believe it was Jerry (I'm sorry I don't remember his last name- help me out Cindy or Deanna) who told Bernhard about it.

I don't have time to look up the colors (and am only on coffee #1), but I do know that target stick points (for clicker training) have certain colors that are more visible to the dog that you may want to avoid.

I know marking chalk (if you are talking about that stuff you use with plumb lines) comes in colors cause I use it in my little squeeze bottle to check wind direction. I THINK orange cannot be distinguished from green by dogs but am not sure.

Originally posted by jeff predmore:
OK you're either in Germany or up really late/early. Anyway its just marking chalk that you can buy at Home Depot. If you're from the states then you know Home Depot. Berhnard says that the chalk in Germany smells, ours has no odor. It is visible, but not too much to the dog. I believe it was Jerry (I'm sorry I don't remember his last name- help me out Cindy or Deanna) who told Bernhard about it. Jerry Kenwick??

You need the blue powdered chalk that comes in the plastic squeeze bottles for use in chalk line boxes, and for plumb lines, etc. Not sure if there is a particular brand that has the least scent or not. Apparently it is not readily available in Europe...Germany at least...even though Home Depot has stores there. Bernhard says he picks some up every time he comes to the states.

Maybe you and a few others could get together and do a "group buy" and have someone here ship it to you?

I've always used ORANGE to mark corners, with no problems. I imagine blue would be hard to see from a distance.

Originally posted by Mike Taylor:
Bernhard says he picks some up every time he comes to the states.
So Bernhard is using chalk now, aye? This reminded me of a funny story. I attended a Flinks’ seminar in 1999. One of the people (could be Jerry, he was there) asked Bernhard what he used to mark corners. He said that he used flags (like the ones used to mark underground cables), cut in half lengthwise. Then he would remove the flag part completely, leaving just the part that wraps around the wire. Sounded good to me, so I decided to try it. Next time our whole club went tracking, I laid a track with 15 corners, made sure my hands were as clean as possible and stuck each marker as far off the track as my arm could reach. When I came back, my TD asked me in his usual blunt manner as to what the f*** I thought I was doing out there. I told him to stuff it. I then proceeded proudly to the start of the track. My dog came up to first marker, stopped, kinda confused, and looked back at me for direction. At that point I had no choice but to say nothing and let her make a decision. She chose to indicate. After that she confidently and proudly indicated every damn marker, making sure it didn’t poke her in the nose when placed between her feet. I nearly died... When I came back my TD knew better than to make a comment, just rolled his eyes... Needless to say, I went back to chalk.

Hey all,

thanx for the answers, I appreciate them very much.
And yes, I am German but living at the end of the world, in my little horror bush in South Africa.

Renee, funny enough, I did the same corner marking. But I put the stakes into the ground the day before I layed the track. Ok, easy for me, having my tracking grounds right here on my property....

Thanx again, bye for now,
Karin