# How often do you track?



## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

How many times a week do you track each of your dogs? What is the age and title/level of the dog, if you don't mind? Just curious....

I can't decide how I feel about tracking. My dog loves it. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I feel like it's a chore. It doesn't take that much time or effort on my part, but I wish I didn't have to drive around during rush hour looking for a field!


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

Depends on who's asking. You or my training directior LOL.


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## KJenkins (Aug 29, 2005)

I try to track at least 3-4 times a week for my young dog. I'm a firm believer either you like tracking or you don't. I happen to be one of those folks that loves to track.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

LOL just me Jason! I feel like I don't track enough, but it totally varies week by week. Some weeks I don't track at all (besides club day where we always track), other weeks I've tracked 5-6 days in a row. If I lived in the country and had lots of land, I'd probably track everyday. I can't decide if I like it or not. I think I do like it, b/c the dog clearly loves it and it's relatively easy for me to setup, but living in the city there are so many other factors that get in the way. Right now I have to drive around during rush hour to find a place to track. Most of the places we used for scent pads, short tracks, and serpentines he has now "outgrown". Once I find a good place, then I have to wait a week or two to use it again. Our club tracking grounds are awesome, but two hours away.


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## jesusica (Jan 13, 2006)

At least 5 days/week. I live in the city but have lots of tracking within 5 minutes and without getting on the highway.


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## Schutzhundgirl (Oct 26, 2006)

The 2 dogs that I track with are;
Arlo, 5.5 yrs old, SchH 2, TD
Eros 4 yrs old TD

Both dogs are very confident on a SchH 3 track level of difficulty.

I track minimum 3 times per week each dog, but typically I do 4 to 5 tracks per week for each dog. I struggled with tracking for Arlo's first few years. He loves to track, but trying to refine his technique for SchH was challenging for me... mainly because I really didn't have access to fields to practice on, and I pretty much hated tracking... mainly because I didn't know enough about it to help my dog improve. I was tracking only 1 to 2 times per week, if that, sometimes going 2 weeks or more at a time without tracking. That was just not enough for my dogs. Luckily for me, last summer I was able to gain access to 300 acre sod farm about 10 minutes from my house... I then started tracking 4 or 5 times per week (including the club days), and within a few weeks, Arlo's confidence level went up by leaps and bounds, and we ended the season last year with a 97 point track at the Schutzhund Club of Buffalo's fall trial. I credit this score to my ability to track Arlo so frequently. This spring he passed his TD title, something that I once thought was so far out of our reach, we would never get there. Now I plan to try a TDX and FH with him.

I have found (and some long time SchH competitors have also told me) that tracking is something you just have to "_get out there and do..._". I have seen dramatic improvements in both dogs the more I get out and do it. Now I love tracking, and Eros did a 100 point track at our first attempt at our SchH 1 (we did not pass OB unfortunately), but if you had asked me a year ago if I thought I could get a V tracking score with either dog, I probably would've bet money that I could not... So... practice, practice, practice. 

I do sympathize with you for not being able to reliably find a place to track, that is so frustrating and does make the whole process much harder.

Finally, I would like to add that it is my own personal preference to train a dog to track at a level that is beyond the current level that you would enter at a trial... i.e., Eros still needs to get his SchH 1, but he is now doing SchH 3 length tracks with confidence. So, in theory, a SchH 1 track should not prove to be too difficult or challenging for him. Of course anything can happen in trial! But it makes me feel so much better going into trial knowing the dog's confidence level is typically far beyond what is expected at the trial.

Good luck, and I hope you are able to find some fields.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

> Originally Posted By: SchutzhundGirl
> Finally, I would like to add that it is my own personal preference to train a dog to track at a level that is beyond the current level that you would enter at a trial... i.e., Eros still needs to get his SchH 1, but he is now doing SchH 3 length tracks with confidence. So, in theory, a SchH 1 track should not prove to be too difficult or challenging for him.


That makes sense. Nikon is my first SchH dog and I'd never done tracking before. The tracks I do now are SchH1 or SchH2 length but no articles yet. We did our first track in July (took a while to get started b/c I had no one good to help me and decided to wait rather than mess it up). I think last night's track had 4 corners (trying to make the best use of an odd shaped space!). He really loves to track and "settles in" once he gets going, so I see it as better use of our time to do long tracks as long as he remains focused, which he does. At the end I have to distract him with playing ball back to the van or he's just obsessively looking for another track! Sometimes he is just a tad too amped up and then seems to settle in better if we take a few days off from tracking and focus on something else. Maybe it is more me than the dog, but I've been finding that we do better if we focus on obedience for 2-3 days, then focus on tracking for 2-3 days, and go back and forth that way taking a day off (for play and tug and fetch) in between, rather than doing a little bit of everything everyday.


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## Ruthie (Aug 25, 2009)

Bison is 4 and we are still at the beginning stages, doing short straight tracks. Right now I track once or twice during the week and once with the club on Saturday.

I was going out almost everyday when it wasn't getting dark so early. I work until 6:30 or 7:00 most days. Days that I work from home, I take a break around 4:00 and run up to the park that is about a mile away then just tack on the time to the end of the work day. 

As for liking it or not... at first I really didn't. Bison would NOT focus on tracking for anything. But, we finally found a food that he likes and he "gets" what we are doing. Now tracking is just challenging rather than CHALLENGING.







So, I am starting to really like it.


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## Smithie86 (Jan 9, 2001)

Depends on the dog.

When I was training Baer, I could (based on my schedule) track 2x per week. He was very good at tracking - I was very lucky. SCH 1 was 98 points.

I will be working Enzo 2-3 times per week.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

My first tracking dog, Tara, tracked 2X per week. She was a very gifted tracking dog, but was also 7 years old when I started her.

My first schutzhund, Treue SchH3, I tracked 3X per week. Anymore than that and she would have far too much drive. She was a very consistent 'V' tracking dog.

Nike SchH1 TR3 did best on 3X per week. I never really tried more often with her. She has extremely high hunt drive, but is not a pretty tracker for pts. We were working her towards the FH and I just didn't have the time with trying to raise and then train Vala and her 3 kids.

Vala SchH1 AWD1 I have been doing 3X per week. She is trained through a SchH3 level. Just before we did the AWD1 I actually tracked her for 5 straight days, 1 day off, another track and then 5 days off and she did the best track she ever has on Sunday earning a "V" 99. 

Right now I am doing the puppies 3X per week which means I either track 4 dogs during those 3 days or I track just about every day of the week.


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## Sarah'sSita (Oct 27, 2001)

I typically track 3-5 times per week. Now that is it dark earlier during my work week, I track only on the weekends


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## Smithie86 (Jan 9, 2001)

Part of the reaosn I am working Enzo 2-3 times is to get back into tracking, not due to him (he will track on anything). I have been on hiatus due to child and work and working on scheduling training around Cara's schedule, time with her and work.


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## Joker (Sep 15, 2006)

If I cant go three times consecutively whether its 3 days or 2 times a day and the next I wont go at all. I feel its important to link the lessons closely.
When preparing for trial 5X a week.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I've been having a hard time finding good tracking locations. On all my travels I am looking for places to track. I try to get out a few times a week. These short daylight hours stink! 
Lies, the field the SchH club has available is awesome! If only I had that closer...


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## Smithie86 (Jan 9, 2001)

What I am looking at doing is taking Enzo to work with me (based on the weather) and having a friend lay the track, track him during lunch and then take a break in the afternoon to do a little OB. Friend of mine did that with her dog due to her hectic and long work schedule and it worked well.


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Stark is just starting out, no titles.... yet.








7 months old as of November 10th, 2009

Typically we track about 3-5 times per week, depending on my schedule. I work and go to school full time so it varies.

If it was up to Stark we would be doing it 7 days a week for a few hours each day.. he loves it.

Lately I have been slacking because it is getting dark earlier (around 6pm), I have been working 40hours a week plus attending classes and working on my paper.. ugh.. I'm a bad doggy mom.. haha. I think last week we tracked about 2 times.. short tracks, nothing to get excited over. 

I was actually planning on going tomorrow morning to a new feild I found.... now I really have to go.. make myself feel better... hahahaha..


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## Bentwings1 (May 29, 2017)

Schutzhundgirl said:


> The 2 dogs that I track with are;
> Arlo, 5.5 yrs old, SchH 2, TD
> Eros 4 yrs old TD
> 
> ...


You hit exactly as I trained. At least one level beyond trial. For everything Once we got beyond Schlll we began the long rough ground tracks. I had originally wanted to do SAR BUT THEY REFUSED ME because of the Sch work. I wasn’t happy as I could already do their work so I began serious police training. We did lots of tracking but never with bad guy as reward. Even though it would only take a single command to pursue. The need for pavement tracking and very hot weather prompted experiments and learning about this. While successful my dog was not as good as the bomb dog at this. We never did get a good answer as to the reason. The blood hound people said it was because we didn’t do air scenting. However their dogs failed miserably on a hot parking lot. I think some of it was just missing what the dog told us. Doing it again today I think I would shade this specific training to some air scenting training under controlled situations. Narc dogs were better so that would be my answer. A whole new level of hard work training. One comment was that my dog being pretty good at finding an unknown track we could circle the lot and see if he finds anything then we’ll do a grid search of the lot. We never did put this to the test however.
today my Aussie would have been a good candidate for tracking. I just was not able to pursue it. She seems to just have a very deep nose and is relentless in findinding things in the grass and woods. If I drop a treat on our field she will find it. Then look for more. We have a scent game that she just loves. Oh has pockets worth sliding doors that she has to open to get the treat. I can put chicken beef and barbecue in different pockets and she will get the barbecue first every time. She is like training a half size Mal with full size energy.


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