# Tracking advice?



## Anubis_Star (Jul 25, 2012)

So we're currently working our way towards our BH, expecting to get it at the club's September trial (Berlin, 15 months).

We havent done a ton of tracking work. I will be speaking with my trainer on Sunday about doing more. But for now, I've simply been stomping out big circles in the grass, marking 3 sides with a flag, dropping hot dogs or other high value treats behind me as I stomp, and then leading him up to the circle, commanding "track", and releasing him. He seems to be doing good staying on the circle and sniffing out the treats.


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## Freddy (Apr 23, 2009)

I'm not an expert on tracking but my dog is pretty consistent. The first thing I would do is go to one flag to indicate the presence of a scent circle/start of track, and remove the others. The 2nd and 3rd flag are visual indicators of the edge of the circle and you don't want the dog to become accustomed to that. You want them to use the nose to determine that.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I use one flag and I pull the dog off before he gets all the food, so he doesn't wander around and get bored. Are you doing circle tracks or scent pads? If I do scent pads, they aren't that big (maybe 4'x4').


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## Anubis_Star (Jul 25, 2012)

Circle tracks, we've yet to do anything with scent pads. And yes, I do pull him off before he is done to avoid him losing interest.

Good idea about the flag, I never thought about that


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## Freddy (Apr 23, 2009)

I was taught that scent circles are the beginning foundation. Step 2 would be dial outs, or straight lines leading out of the circle (one per circle). Step 3, once the dog understands footstep tracking is to introduce articles separately from the track.


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## Freddy (Apr 23, 2009)

Since you are doing schutzhund/IPO tracking, you might want to consider that all trial tracks will be straight lines with 90 degree corners. Not sure how circle tracks would benefit you.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

Scent boxes, circle tracks, serpentines, stair tracks and other ideas teach the dog to work the scent carefully and not just blow down the track until they lose scent (hit a corner).


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## Freddy (Apr 23, 2009)

Agreed but wouldn't they be added once a foundation has been established?


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

Not necessarily. Some trainers do these from the start to create correct behaviors and then mix them in for the life of the dog.


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## Freddy (Apr 23, 2009)

Different strokes, I guess. We go from scent circles to dial outs to the long table. You can't exactly serpentine up there.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I would not change too much until you talk to your trainer or club. I've found that tracking is one of those things where there are dozens of ways to achieve the end goal (SchH3 or FH) but often a TD or club likes to use certain methods. I don't like tracking all that much so I tend to defer to my TD and club people for help and direction in this phase above the other two phases. One of my dogs was a breeze to track and has always been his best trial scores, another was very challenging and only really tracked a handful of times until he was over 2 years old. When I start Legend in a few weeks, I'll do what I did with Nikon because I assume he will track very similar and also that is just what I know. I've looked at some other methods where the theory makes sense, but without having someone nearby that has had success and can coach me, I'm reluctant to make major changes in our program.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

Tracking is very easy. We humans just make it difficult.  I have found for myself that creating a tracking dog first and adding OB to the track later works best. I won't always pull off perfect scores, but I do get pretty consistent tracks.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

One thing I've found is that when the track is a bit more difficult it will hold the dogs interest longer(for those dogs that aren't into tracking for food or articles, but to actually track the scent trail. If the track is super easy, my dog loses interest. Thats where the obedience comes into play, he knows he must track, even though it is boring to him.
Most challenging for _me_ is finding places to track. I have one field that I'm allowed to use....it is ok, but not great, most often very short cover. 
I wish I had several areas with different cover I had access to.


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