# like schutzhund, hate tracking :)



## ayoitzrimz (Apr 14, 2010)

I admit it, I hate tracking! I never fully got into it I guess...

When first started Schutzhund, I really enjoyed OB the most. As I learned more about drives, development of drives, grip-work, and started doing helper work I started really enjoying protection (which by the way I wasn't even that much into when working with my own dog, only after learning more theory and working different dogs did I start getting into it). 

But never tracking... it always seemed like a chore more than anything... 5am, roll out of bed, go cut up bait, take the dog, lay the track, sit around for 30 minutes while it ages, then the dog finishes the track in 10 minutes :laugh:

hehe I'm just venting here, there's no real purpose to this post... I wonder, does anyone else have similar thoughts about tracking? If you are really into it, what do you like about it? What do you dislike? What makes you motivated to go tracking? I guess I want to find ways to motivate myself and get myself to enjoy more - otherwise it's always so boring (at least to me).



So, spit some thoughts - what do you like / dislike about tracking. Do you enjoy it? Do you track at a field nearby? Or do you have to use public grounds? etc etc etc...


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

I like tracking... in that I love to see the dog work things out. I like my dog to really "track" though... not just do nose-down-obedience.
I do not get up a 5AM.
I might track at 8 or 9.... maybe in the afternoon.
Summer I hardly do anything because of the massive quantities of fire ants.

I have a park behind my house, but often use a small field on the way home, or a pecan orchard near my daughter's school.


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## ayoitzrimz (Apr 14, 2010)

gagsd said:


> I like tracking... in that I love to see the dog work things out. I like my dog to really "track" though... not just do nose-down-obedience.
> I do not get up a 5AM.
> I might track at 8 or 9.... maybe in the afternoon.
> Summer I hardly do anything because of the massive quantities of fire ants.
> ...


That's an interesting topic right there  Want to elaborate on nose-down-obedience vs really tracking? What do you mean?


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I like tracking, but finding good places nearby to track is my challenge. If I had a place to go I'd track more often, but I have to travel a few miles to a park for crappy conditions(short cover with ants all over).
Doesn't keep my dog motivated when it is like that.


This summer, I've been going to a couple homes that are vacant in my neighborhood to lay tracks. One is on 6 acres, not the best option, but easy for me to go lay it, run home while it ages and get my dog. I'd love to have some nice fields nearby!!
I agree with the real tracking vs nose down obedience...articles need to really be valued when that is all the dog is searching for.


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## ayoitzrimz (Apr 14, 2010)

onyx'girl said:


> I like tracking, but finding good places nearby to track is my challenge. If I had a place to go I'd track more often, but I have to travel a few miles to a park for crappy conditions(short cover with ants all over).
> Doesn't keep my dog motivated when it is like that.
> 
> 
> This summer, I've been going to a couple homes that are vacant in my neighborhood to lay tracks. One is on 6 acres, not the best option, but easy for me to go lay it, run home while it ages and get my dog. I'd love to have some nice fields nearby!!


See that is a problem that I have living in NYC... I have to resort to public parks. Now, when you go to a public park at 5AM it may be empty, but you really don't know what went on there the night before. 

I remember my dog struggling with finding the track on one small park next to a church. I really didn't know why he was struggling, and wasn't sure if it was the location (he tracks in new fields without much of an issue) or my track or what. Then I drove by there one afternoon and found out the church organizes youth football games for their summer camp kids on that exact same field!! 

Sure a finished dog might be able to do it, but teaching tracking on such grounds is insufferable! Other examples - I can't ever leave my track while it ages because I have had to ask people to walk around it on numerous occasions - so I sort of have to hang around "guarding" the track lol it just adds to the lack of fun...

How I wish I had nice empty fields nearby to use...


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Yea, we track at a school on weekends and there are people and their dogs sometimes crossing the tracks we just laid, you just need to work thru it. Or lately the seagulls are there to steal the bait. Always something!
I use a flirtpole with a fox tail on the end of it as my 'jackpot' end of the track, and there was a lady walking her labs~they came across my flirtpole and the dogs got all curious. Luckily the lady left it alone, but I wonder what she was thinking!


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I like tracking but I hate laying tracks so I effectively hate tracking! I hate it because it takes so.much.time! People who can track on their own property have no idea how good they have it! I'd have to drive 45 minutes in any direction to find anything comparable to what I track on with my club. All tracking I do outside of club training and trial is on "manicured" grass, aka sports fields. Half the time I show up and find three peewee football teams on the field, or I actually get to lay a track and then half a dozen people and off leash dogs show up and run all over my tracks. Also I'm not a morning person and there's no effing way I'm getting up before 5am just to track! Sorry doggies but I work full time (and not from home I there's commuting and not having flexibility), then I do other jobs on the side, then I have a family and a house and other non-dog related commitments I have to tend to and just maybe then I can think about laying a track. I would seriously pay someone to lay tracks for me. A while back I was so busy I was paying someone (just $1/mile) in my neighborhood to come over and take Pan jogging.


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## ayoitzrimz (Apr 14, 2010)

Liesje said:


> I like tracking but I hate laying tracks so I effectively hate tracking! I hate it because it takes so.much.time! People who can track on their own property have no idea how good they have it! I'd have to drive 45 minutes in any direction to find anything comparable to what I track on with my club. All tracking I do outside of club training and trial is on "manicured" grass, aka sports fields. Half the time I show up and find three peewee football teams on the field, or I actually get to lay a track and then half a dozen people and off leash dogs show up and run all over my tracks. Also I'm not a morning person and there's no effing way I'm getting up before 5am just to track! Sorry doggies but I work full time (and not from home I there's commuting and not having flexibility), then I do other jobs on the side, then I have a family and a house and other non-dog related commitments I have to tend to and just maybe then I can think about laying a track. I would seriously pay someone to lay tracks for me. A while back I was so busy I was paying someone (just $1/mile) in my neighborhood to come over and take Pan jogging.


<-- this!

I don't want to sit here and complain but all those things you mentioned happened to many on numerous occasions! 

I can't count how many times I've laid the track only to have someone step all over it, or even worse is when I already started tracking only to have some off-leash dog run up to the other end of the track and start munching on the food!!! arghhhh

And, unfortunately I have to be at the bus stop at 7AM so 5AM is the latest I can get up and go track hehe...


Comparing this to OB - I wouldn't go tracking if I wasn't trying to IPO but I would still do OB. I would still to protection. Those two I do because I enjoy them (why am I always talking about me? Because it's a given my dog enjoys OB and PR but he also enjoys TR, it's me that hates TR), but if I never have to lay another track I would not miss it lol...

But still I go, 4 days a week, working towards the IPO2...


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## wolfstraum (May 2, 2003)

I have always hated tracking.....

I have to DRIVE far to get to anything good to track....friend has a 160 acre farm I can use - nearly 50 miles away....local parks are terrible and mostly sports fields - and no dogs allowed.....puppy tracks I could do about 5 miles away on a teeny tiny 90 ft x 30 ft triangular slope.....otherwise it was 25-50 miles to friend's horse farms....

I have a hard time seeing the track too.....and I have done private/seminars with some top people (Dean, T, Ivan) who all "yell" at me and tell me the dog is fine...it is a great tracker - LOL LOL LOL It is me who sucks! Not just one dog either LOL LOL - 3 or 4 of them now!

Lee


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## ayoitzrimz (Apr 14, 2010)

Funny... looks like I'm not the only one...

Is there anyone on the forum that is *really* into tracking? I'd love to hear what about it you enjoy the most etc


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

I love to track. Hate laying the tracks, especially puppy tracks. Not as bad when I am only tracking 1 or 2 dogs, but harder when tracking 4. Funny, I enjoy plotting and figuring out how to lay the track, how to challenge my dog while not taxing them beyond their current abilities. I also enjoy planning and plotting tracks for trials. LOL

When I first started tracking was difficult (and still can be at times) because, coming from obedience, I didn't like the fact that I could not control everything my dog was doing. I had to learn to trust my dog, that she knew where she was and what she was doing. I failed my first FH because I was over thinking things. I don't care for how unnatural IPO tracking can be for the high scores even if my dogs have "V"'d a number of tracks over the years. I enjoy scent work so allow my dogs to be more natural in their tracking. When I start stressing about points is when we have more problems. LOL Anyhow, I like tracking because it is the one area in SchH that allows the dog to think, problem solve and work on its own. We may think we are in control, but on trial day we are 10 meters behind that dog and they are essentially all on their own. 

I am very lucky in that I have land to use for tracking. I still go other places like parks since I don't just trial on my home field. The dogs need to see things. My neighbor just removed his beans and corn so now I can hit those fields for a new challenge. 

Back in the 90's the USA magazine had an interview with the Japanese WUSV team. At the time they were doing quite well at the world level. The Japanese do not have access to big open fields with no people. They tracked in parks with people playing sports, exercising, running across their tracks, etc. This is what they had to deal with to train for world competition. For the most part, we are very spoiled over here.


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## TimberGSD2 (Nov 8, 2011)

I think I will enjoy tracking once I get the hang of it. I'm new to schutzhund and tracking is definitely something I have NEVER done before. I look forward to learning more and getting better as my puppy seems to really be good at it. At least when my trainer does it with her she is really good.

I am lucky that I live on property and can use that for tracking. I also live close to lots of parks, fields, and areas that I can use.


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## pfitzpa1 (Apr 26, 2011)

I "love" tracking. I track 3 mornings a week, 6AM-6:30AM (more now we have a trial coming up). My dog isn't the greatest tracker but she is good enough and part of the fun for me has been watching her turn her initial lack of interest into real drive. Learning to track has been a huge education for me, and probably the biggest lesson was patience. I was too pushy at the start because I somehow thought (more hoped) I could turn my dog into a national champion inside a few months :-(. I have learned to turn frustration into a challenge. When she does a perfect (or near perfect) track with her nose down and tail swishing from side to side, and her really pulling the line, I come away with a big smile.
On a day where she isn't tracking perfectly, watching her try and work out the track is really interesting. Trying to figure out what was different about that day/track is also fun. And some days you just have to accept are bad days. 

It is still a constant learning process and a day where I don't come away pondering something different/new is rare. 

We have a routine that helps alleviate the 30 minutes wait (30 mins was easy when my buddy used to track with me, we would just natter and pass the time).
Now I lay first (takes about 10 minutes) then bring dog out for pee/poop (5 mins), then we sit on my truck bed and watch the ducks (I drink my morning cuppa). 5 mins before tracking time I bring her out for a good sniff around, then off to the track.

I have been sticking to either grass or sand because of the upcoming trial but am looking forward to working on different types of surfaces. 
I'm also looking forward to starting blind tracks.

Dunno, there's something special about tracking for me, maybe it's the teamwork, maybe it's the challenge, maybe seeing sunrise every morning, but I really enjoy it.

I kind of had this dream that we would win all sorts of tracking championships and find lost kids in the forest etc, however once I realized we weren't going to be that, I was able to relax and enjoy tracking for the challenge and fun it is.


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## KJenkins (Aug 29, 2005)

Well I love tracking. I think there are 2 types...those who love it and those who hate it. I've not seen many that are on the fence about it. 

Because of the points involved in IPO tracking this is one phase that IMO requires more time than the other two. It is also a phase that if you know how to train tracking you really don't need much if any help....something just you and your dog can do without the need for another dog or a helper...etc. Other than at trials I probably haven't had someone else lay track for 

This is also a phase that I put very little correction on the dog. I need my dog to know that if he/she gets a little lost or whatever that they can work it out and don't need to worry about the hammer falling.


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## pfitzpa1 (Apr 26, 2011)

P.S
As an indication of the subtlety of tracking and the teamwork involved, here's an interesting article you might like to read. There's a lot more to it than just following the dog.

Leerburg Dog Training | The Tracking Line is a Means of Communication Between You and Your Dog - Not Just a Rope


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## FlyAway (Jul 17, 2012)

I don't like all the waiting around. I also don't like bringing ticks home with me, so I stopped tracking altogether.


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

I would say I'm on the fence about it. I'm not a fan of getting up at 5 to go tracking on my only day to sleep in. Or driving way out of the way to a feild to track in. Or laying the tracks, but I do love how excited my dog gets when she see's her flag. My dog loves to track, so thats the only reason I make myself go every week. I also enjoy watching the dog problem solve and really think things through.


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

Oh yes, we have a problem with crows eating out bait. One of us usually brings a bb gun to keep them away. Plus gives us something to do while we are waiting for the track to age haha.


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

mycobraracr said:


> oh yes, we have a problem with crows eating out bait. One of us usually brings a bb gun to keep them away. Plus gives us something to do while we are waiting for the track to age haha.



:d :d :d


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## TrickyShepherd (Aug 15, 2011)

Count me in. I'm right there with ya.

I hate tracking.

I'm not good at it and Duke has NO interest in eating off the wet and dirty ground in the morning. He has a great nose... but just not the drive to do it. Plus, the only place we can do it is our training grounds. I can't be there more then 1-2 a week. Other then that, there's no where in this area.

I love Schutzhund but not enough to endure the pains of Tracking. I'll train in everything else and a few other things. It's all just for fun anyways. Maybe when I get a dog that actually ENJOYS tracking, I'll get over it and do it for them.


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## szariksdad (Jun 25, 2010)

I happen to love tracking including the laying of tracks. I am lucky to have park nearby that I can track at and i do not worry about what was laid before just do a good job of leaving my scent. I also had to learn patience and trust the dogs nose. I have him now where I use FST but we change cover to make more difficult for him or he gets bored.


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## Packen (Sep 14, 2008)

Tracking is an art and a big challenge when done correctly. Main reason I love it  We track all 4 seasons, on dirt and grass in dry and wet conditions. The dogs love it too.


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

Hate, hate, hate tracking!


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