TRACKING – PART II

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In Part I of this series, I discussed how tracking is nothing more than giving a dog a problem to solve.  In our case, it is a “scent problem.”  When I teach my dogs to track, I teach them these three things in the following order: 

• What I want them to find (the article)
• How I want them to indicate to me that they found it (I prefer them to lie down)
• How I want them to find it (by following a specific scent)

Is tracking the dog’s ability to follow the human scent?  Is tracking the dog’s ability to follow crushed vegetation?  Unless my dogs can learn to speak English, I will never know exactly how they follow the track.  But, by using my tracking methods, it doesn’t matter if I know what my dogs are following.  I know how to teach them to “find something reinforcing.”

 In Part II, I will discuss how to lay a track and to begin teaching your dog to track.

 HOW DOES THE ENVIRONMENT CREATE PROBLEMS?

There are many things to consider when plotting not only the novice track but the advanced track as well.  I want to try to line up the direction of each leg with a natural marker if at all possible, and I need to consider the natural elements.  I leave it up to Thunder (the dog I am using throughout this article) to develop his own style to work through these problems and overcome them to the best of his ability.  I must acquire the ability to know my dog and read his actions.

If he goes off the track, is it because the wind is blowing the scent that way or is it because he is on a bunny trail?  I can tell the difference with Indiana (another of my dogs) just by watching her body posture, her reactions, and most of all, her tail.  That is her tell-tail sign of what her nose is sniffing!  When Indiana is on the track, her tail is down, in a relaxed position.  

When she is starting to get confused, her tail raises and starts to circle.  This is the signal that I know she is still working on the track, not following a bunny trail.  If she were following a bunny trail, the set of her tail carriage would be totally different.  It would be half way up and swinging from side to side.  I learned this by watching her on and off the track.

THE SUN

As you may know, the sun has a tendency to dry thing out.  When I initially lay a track in dewy grass, the scent will be very strong.  When Thunder and I go back an hour later, and depending on the intensity of the sun that particular day, the track may have started to dry out which may make it a bit more difficult for Thunder.  This is not to say he can’t do it.  He is just going to have to work harder.  The dew may have evaporated, drying out the track a bit and eliminating some of the scent.

However, if Thunder has a very sensitive nose, or if he is not in the beginning stages of learning how to track but rather is very confident in what he is doing, having the track dry out may be to his advantage.  The scent would not be overwhelming to him.

Have you ever seen a wet road that has been heated by the sun?  The mist rises from the road.  I believe the same thing happens on grass.  Could the mist be taking some of the scent along with it?  Could be.  That would leave less scent for Thunder to smell.  Depending on him at this specific moment, that could be a good thing for him, or not such a good thing.  How is he going to handle this?  He may track slower; he may open his mouth and inhale scent that way too.  Because the scent is rising, he may lift his head up and smell what is coming off of the ground and into the air instead of keeping his nose to the ground.  How am I going to help Thunder with this specific track?

THE RAIN

A wind graph

Thunder and I track in the rain because we won’t melt.  But, I believe that the track will.  If I put a blob of paint on the ground and then drip water on it, what happens?  The paint thins out and spreads.  That is what I believe the rain does to the scent.  I believe it dilutes the scent and spreads it over the ground.  It doesn’t have to be a heavy rain either to do this.

So, how is Thunder going to track in this situation?  He may go from side to side of the track for a few feet either way to make sure he isn’t missing anything.  He may also find where the strongest scent is on the track and stay there.  It is all individual to the dog.  What am I going to do to help him if he needs it?

THE WIND

Now comes the fun part – the wind.  It can blow the scent away from the track or right into Thunder’s face.  He may follow the scent off the track, and miss or over shoot a turn.  I must take this into consideration when laying the track and notice when he is trying his hardest to stay on it.  Here is a sample tracking log that I used for Turbo.

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10/9/06 Trooper Dog “Turbo”

Tracking

 WHAT DO I WANT THUNDER TO FIND? (AN ARTICLE)

What is Thunder’s ultimate goal when tracking?  The way I train, it is finding something tangible in the environment that is different.  For a TD (Tracking Dog title), it is going to be a leather glove.  Other articles will be taught later.  I want him to find something that has always been a consistent source of reinforcement.  Therefore, the first thing I do is condition Thunder to understand that finding the glove is reinforcing.  I put the gloves in my shirt so they gather my scent.

HOW DO I WANT HIM TO TELL ME HE FOUND IT?

When tracking, Thunder needs a way to communicate to me that he believes he has found a noteworthy article.  He can’t turn around and say to me, “Hey, Andrea, I think I’ve got something here, come and take a look.”  Therefore, I must take the time to teach him how I want him to communicate to me.  I prefer to teach my dogs to lie down when they find the articles.  Some people have their dogs sit, other have their dogs bring the article back to them.  In my opinion, if my dog brings the article back to me, then he must re-find the track if we’re going for our TDX (Tracking Dog Excellent) as there will be more than one article to find.  I prefer to have him “down/stay” facing toward me as I come toward him to pick up the article and show it to the judge.

Not only do I teach Thunder to lie down when he finds something noteworthy, I teach him where to lie down.  I do not want him to lie down too far away from the glove, nor do I want him to be laying on top of it either.   

I want him to indicate the glove by making sure it is between his front legs, near his front paws.

Glove too far ahead of Indiana

Glove too close to Indiana

Indiana with the glove in perfect position

ARTICLE INDICATION

The object of this exercise is to teach Thunder what to do when he finds a glove.  He must have a good “down” behavior and must have a controlled “walk with me” on a loose leash. 

LEASH HANDLING

The leash is a physical communication tool between us.  With proper handling skills, communication constantly flows back and forth.  You will develop your unique skill for each dog you work with.

For the first exercise Thunder starts out wearing a buckle collar and has a six-foot leash attached to it.  There is one glove about ten feet away from us.  We start off in heel position, I give him a cue that means to move forward, and we start walking toward the first glove.  I want the leash to be loose.  I do not want to steer him toward the glove.  He must find it himself.  If he becomes too interested and wants to rush to the glove, I stop and wait until he settles down.  I stand still and hold the leash until he understands moving forward doesn’t happen while he is aroused.(1)

(1) When a dog is aroused, he is too excited to have learning take place and cannot properly function or perform.

When Thunder is about two feet away from the glove, I cue, “down.”  Since this is a totally new concept to him, lying down when he sees a glove, I do what I must to get the point across to him.  Remember, he is always allowed to be correct and incorrect.  He learns if he is correct or incorrect by the way I respond to his decisions.  As soon as he drops into a down, I mark the behavior but I reinforce him with jackpots of treats on the glove.  I do not hand feed him.  I want him to figure out on his own that reinforcement comes only from the article. 

Initially, I try to stay even with his flank when I give him the down cue.  My moving back on a long line comes when Thunder builds up confidence.  Only you will know when your dog is ready to slowly progress to a 20 foot tracking line.

At no point in time do either of us walk past the glove. 

When I start lengthening the leash and am behind Thunder, I keep the leash taunt.  The pressure is not enough to distract or steer him.  However, I don’t want any slack in the leash either.  Constant slight pressure is enough to let him know I am still there working with him, and it is enough for him to let me know if something is wrong.

HE MUST LEARN CONTINUATION SO HE CAN TRACK A LEG

When Thunder understands to walk up to the glove and lie down in the proper position, I start teaching him the concept of continuation.  I don’t want him to think just because he found one glove that is the end of the game and the end of reinforcement.  If my goal is for Thunder to earn a TDX, then I need him to understand right from the beginning that there is more reinforcement somewhere out there on the track.  The way I train, the TDX is just an extension of a TD.

I line up five gloves in a row, about ten feet apart from each other.  I cue Thunder to sit ten feet in front of the first glove, and then cue him with “Let’s Go,” moving forward until he is two feet away from the first glove.  I wait to see what his response is.  If he immediately drops into a down, I jackpot on the glove.  If he doesn’t know what to do, I cue “down”, indicate to him that he is correct when he drops into the down position, and jackpot on the glove.  We rehearse this behavior for the five gloves, turn around at the last glove, and then practice again.

If at any point he lies down and the glove is too far away, I release him and try again on the same glove.  If the glove is too close to him when he indicates, I release him and try again on the same glove.

Thunder’s learning how to indicate the glove is not done in one training session.  How many times you practice is going to be up to you and your dog.  If the first session went great, then I will stop for the day.  If the first session when poorly, then I will figure out where I went wrong and work on it with just one glove the next session.

You need to be the judge and tailor your training session to your specific dog’s needs.

In Part III, I will discuss how I proof Thunder.