Within this series of articles I have been covering the beginning
work relative to raising a competitive working dog. The goal of our foundation
work is to raise a dog that is strong and confident, active in his drives
and highly motivated.
We ended the previous article learning scent pads. Every where you walk is a track, whether we intend it to be or not. So we put some bait on our "track" from one scent pad to another. Once the dog notices this and begins tracking to each scent pad, it is a clear indication it's time to move on to the next step.
This is of course a straight line off the scent pad. We'll continue with our magic number of three by laying three separate straight line tracks. This repetition allows us to progress faster and give the dog a more thorough lesson. In addition because they are separate it allows the dog a mental break, something that is mandatory at the beginning of all learning.
As with every other lesson, we begin by building a foundation based on drive and confidence. The scent pad lessons were the first level. We build on that by making our scent pad smaller and lead off it with heavy laying of the track. Put down the first five steps off the scent pad two to three times and bait every footprint.
The track - how you lay it, where you lay it. When, with what, going where, all of that is the lesson for the dog to learn. When you put your track down you are teaching your dog. When you are on the leash you are the partner, the support system, the coach, but not the driver. As handlers we must allow the track to teach the dog. If we did a good job of putting the right lesson down, of reading the variables of conditions and conflicting scents then the dog will end his track at a higher level from when he started it. If we misread the terrain, our dog's abilities for that day or any other possible reason for how the dog handled the lesson we must take that information and apply it to the next track. But not necessarily the track we're on today.
It's my observation that most handlers want only perfect tracks. They achieve this by only training in ideal conditions, never testing their dogs, never expanding their dog's knowledge and most frequently by trying to do the track for the dog.
A perfect track is a wonderful thing and does make you feel really good. But if I had my choice the only day I want a perfect track is trial day. Every other day my intention is to learn something new and teach something new. It may not be perfect and often it's down right ugly but we take that lesson, that information and apply it to the next track, the next lesson and we build on what we've learned.
The keys to excellent tracking are drive, confidence and the ability to solve problems independently. All three of those points are connected to the other. You can't have confidence without drive. You can't solve problems independently without confidence.
If the handler chooses to only track in excellent conditions, to never teach their dog lessons and show them problems and actually ends up working the track out for them, the handler has not given the dog the keys to success. And I guarantee your worst track will be your trial track.
So we lay the track heavy off the scent pad for about 5 paces, we bait in the heel and toe and we take our first straight legs out about 20-25 paces. In the first week of straight lines off the scent pad it is okay to put a small jackpot of bait at the end. At the end of that first week begin putting an article at the end of the track. A big, easy article.
handler is close and low on the line, dog shows a deep nose
We will go into articles with the next, well, article. For now we'll finish talking about these first straight tracks. Once your dog tracks 25 paces rather consistently, keep making them longer in steady increments. Young dogs will tell you a track is too long by literally not tracking anymore. Like an alarm goes off in their head, the work whistle blows and - oh, we're done. Obviously stay under that length for about a week, waiting for your dog's concentration level to expand.
By laying three separate legs you can do what your dog knows well on the first one. Then add a change or difficulty in on the second one. And then either expand on that change or reduce it for the third one. Which to do on that third track depends on the ability of your dog, the difficulty of the conditions and the level of change you tried to accomplish on the second track.
It is somewhere around this point that keeping a tracking notebook is a good idea. Diagram the tracks you laid, the amount and spacing of bait, the conditions and the result. It may not become apparent in the beginning but later on it is useful to go back and see where you've been, what your habits are in tracking, and what your dog consistently gives you.
Once your dog tracks consistently well to 100 paces you can drop the additional separate tracks if you'd like. Then continue pushing the distance to 200, even 300 paces for your straight legs. During this time your dog should be getting exposure to different wind conditions and cover changes. The tracks should be getting progressively older in age and the bait should be weaned off.
Weaning off the Food
Weaning off the bait is I believe harder for the handler than the dog. Partly because we use the bait to reassure ourselves where the track is. And partly because most handlers won't push their dogs to a potential problem and learn how to work through it. From food in every footstep we move to every other footstep, every third, every fifth and so on. It can be very helpful to lay the first 50 paces baiting every step, then the next fifty every third or fifth and then the next 50 every other step, and so on. By pushing the bait out in reasonable increments we teach the dog to have faith. Keep working and you will find your treat. In addition you can mix the bait up in any number of ways. For example, go ten paces without bait and then bait the next three to four steps, then fifteen paces of no bait, etc.
Sometimes we put all that bait down, the dog tracks very nicely but doesn't eat the food we so carefully place. This bothers many handlers to no end. Let it go, it's the dog's option to eat the bait or not. Our only concern is how the dog tracks and what the dog learns.
Then we have the dog that has little to no interest in food. These dogs are very difficult to track with for obvious reasons. Assuming the dog is kept lean to quite hungry and the bait is the best possible food known to humankind - and the dog STILL isn't interested in the food or tracking, we have some decisions to make. First the overall drive level and abilities of the dog for the sport need to be evaluated. Is this dog really nice in obedience? Is this dog really strong in protection? If not, please don't try to make him something he is not. If those other two phases are super, then we have to honestly evaluate how we brought our dog up in scentwork. If at some point in the dog's development a negative association was made with tracking is it something we can correct with patience and positive reinforcement? If you are having issues such as these it would be in the best interest of your dog to seek out experienced people to tackle the problem in person.
At this hypothetical point we have a dog that is tracking consistently 200 paces in various conditions, is getting progressively older tracks and is weaning off food. We should be teaching articles at the same time but due to logistical reasons we'll talk about that next time.
