We tried something new yesterday (well, new for us anyway) - we went on a tracking course. It was a small group of dogs, six, and two instructors so a pretty good ratio and very little time spent waiting for your go at each task. We started with a brief introduction; humans have 5 million 'smelling cells' (if there was an anatomical term I missed it!) while a GSD has around 220 million, tracking involves following the ground scent (nose to the ground) rather than the air scent, weather and geography can make substantial differences to how easy it is to follow a track, dogs can sniff/scent around 6 times per second. We then discussed our first track - a straight line (well, we were beginners!) - and how to lay a track; insert a ground pole and sprinkle some treats, focus on a point in the distance (if you don't do this your line tends not to be very straight, apparently), walk 5 paces, insert a second ground pole and sprinkle some more treats (the section between the poles is the starting point for dogs and is the same for every track), walk a total of 50 paces while still focusing on the point in the distance and dropping treats every 5 paces. At the end you drop the prize - a favourite toy for example. We then went back for a 10 minute chat while the scent 'settled'. We then went back to the starting poles and put our dogs in their harnesses and attached a 10m long line, the physical indication that they are now 'working'. The next part is really hard for those that like to train their dogs - you have to trust your dogs, holding the long line about 1.5 dog lengths behind them, and give no verbal communications whatsoever! If the dogs drift off the track then you have to stop and wait for them to pick up the scent again. You have to keep the line taught the whole time to distinguish the tracking from just going for a walk. We then moved on to the more complicated ... add a 90 degree left turn at the end It sounds daft but when you are in the middle of a large field with few distinguishing features it's very easy to lose track of where the bend is! (I know because I lost mine!). We had a great afternoon, me laying the tracks and OH handling Harv for the tracking. It is amazingly tiring for the dogs and Harv slept well for most of the evening . I think we may go back for another session at a later date ... So, if you are thinking of giving it a try I would definitely recommend it.
That sounds like fun, did Harvey find his special toy at the end of the tracking? What breeds of dogs were there? x
He did Although, a quick tip - don't take a toy that is too big otherwise they may see the toy before they find it using their nose The breeds were: 2 Labs, 1 GSD, 1 Springer, 2 Bitsas. The course blurb says 'any dog, any age'.
Sounds fantastic. It is really interesting about the scent smells. We've done scent training in a hall, but would love to do something similar to what you've done.
This is what I am doing every week with Red although some weeks we don't do the Scentwork but more targeted work. We also use a piece of cloth that has been in our pocket and it gets hidden in old tyres. We then send the dog out on a long line - fascinating the way she works her way to the tyre with the cloth in. The field we go to is great but lots of rabbit poo which has been rather distracting for an eight month old lab but last week she was more focussed. It's good fun. There are 3 of us and our dogs and one trainer.
Was it in Hereford @UncleBob ? I had enquired about one and was expecting to hear re booking, which was yesterday in Hereford, I never chased it up but it is something I'd like Cass to have go at. I think it was called Scentwork Wales.
No, it was in Kempsey, Wocestershire. If you are interested let me know and I'll send the details via a PM.
Tracking sounds great, although very hard. Well done to you for giving it a go, it sounds like a great success. I have a few friends that have done tracking trials. Is that something you'll be considering?
I'm doing gundog training with Plum in a field full of cow pats! Oh it's heaven for Plum who stops for a quick snaffle every moment she can . It's especially gruesome when she breaks in to the squelchy middle . . .
Well done Harv! We did similar on a course with cold game - Poppy LOVED it! And you are right - it is exhausting for the dogs, in a good way.
Wow! I hadn't really considered tracking before... but Bramble has such a good nose. You have inspired me to look into courses
You can practice it yourself, though. I sometimes do a bit of tracking with my training group. I use a jar of hotdogs, and use a syringe to syphon up some of the liquid, which I drop along the path I have designated, with a treat at the end. You start off really easy, and continue to make it harder as you go.
Great idea! I do some basic scentwork with her, but that's subtly different to tracking. I shall give it a go when I'm back from hols
