How do i teach my dog to track???

[hedwig]

Hi im interested in teaching my dog to track things.

at the moment im showing him favourite food in a toy, let him sniff it and i use the command smell it, i go hide it in the wind on the garden.
i let him loose and say find it, sometimes i have to walk with him and he smells it out, usually if i walk near it. and i praise saying you found it and good find.

but how can i track train him without him looking at me for help?

 

[houndlove]

More than you ever wanted to know about training your dog to track:

http://www.basset.net/track.html

It's an excellent resource.

 

[smkie]

My boss use to laugh at me because my dog loved super balls. I guess they left the oily scent where the bounced and he would shake his head at me saying you can learn something new everyday even from a beginner. Because of my lab's love for the stupid ball he would follow everywhere it rolled or bounced until he found his treasure. AFter that it became a game to throw that dang thing in the nearest cornfield or brush and without fail my pup would bring it back. When we ran our first stake i realized what he was doing. If he were not the first dog run, he ran with his head straight up, scenting where the bird was brought back by the previous dog taking a straight line to every fall. He could do just as well if he were the first dog in line but he didnt' mind a shortcut where he found it. Not that this is the way to train, but it does give a hint to the process. We scented our "birds" (training dummies_ with anise oil. It is a good scent, they like it, and remains for quite a while needing refreshing every week or so. You could take anything and scent it with that, a hankerchief tied in a knot for young pups if you don't want to use a bird's wing. Let them retrieve it a few to put together the need to find and the reward for doing so. THen Give them an easy blind, by giving it a toss where they are not looking and then turning them around and sending them for it when they can still see the white kerchief. THen after that, drag it, letting it touch here and there close together in the beginning, and then further and further apart. DO this when the dog is not present, then bring your dog in. He will recognize the scent, and seek out the path. That is what i would do.

 

[DanL]

Hedwig that isn't really tracking, that is what they call trailing. Tracking is a more deliberate activity, where the dog follows the footsteps slower. Trailing is where a dog does a sweep and picks up the scent then runs along the track until he finds his reward.

Do some searching on Schutzhund tracking. There is a way to teach it, and it's a rather lengthy explanation. It's really not that hard though, you work up slowly to following longer and longer tracks. You use food under your footsteps to keep his nose in the ground, and food at the end as a reward. The guys I train with will not feed their dogs prior to training, and if they don't do the track, they might not feed them for 2-3 days- a hungry dog will definitely follow it's nose to a food reward. Eventually you reduce the amount of food, until you have the dog tracking the footsteps themselves with no food. It's something you need to train daily for a while until the dog gets the hang of it, then you can back off to a couple times a week. I've messed around with it with Gunnar but haven't spent a lot of time with it.