Back Story

I've already posted about how I used to track with my first Dobe, Jemma. I can't remember why we stopped tracking--it might have been because that's about the same time I started doing agility. I've wanted to get back to tracking for years but just could never get started again. I'm pretty famous for never going *back* to anything. Once I stop doing something I rarely-- if ever-- go back to doing it again. But with tracking I think the thing that stopped me was primarily because I didn't have anyone to help me with the training.

It's pretty difficult to find someone who's really knowledgeable who offers tracking classes. Sometimes clubs will offer seminars but just like all seminars, once the presenter goes home you're still left with no one to help. And unlike obedience or agility, it's hard to tell when you're not doing it right. We don't know what the dog is scenting when they track. We can only hope they're following our track. We often wind up guiding them along the track without even realizing it. And if we hit a training snag, it's hard to even identify the problem.

So, my first thought was that maybe I could get someone who I knew did tracking to come over on a regular basis to help me. There are several really experienced trackers around my area but unfortunately they were too busy to be able to committ to that kind of schedule. However, a couple of them suggested I contact Allison who is a tracking judge and Westie breeder who lives not far away. Allison has lots of experience not just with tracking but also with teaching tracking so I had the idea that maybe I could get a few people together who all wanted to learn tracking and we could bring Allison up on a regular basis. Meanwhile we could help each other with training (maybe somewhat like the blind leading the blind but still fun) and lay tracks for each other.

So earlier this month Allison came up and gave us a great basic tracking seminar and helped us get our dogs started. She suggested we track only a couple of times a week and to keep the tracks short and motivational. Her approach to starting dogs is different than the method I used 20 years ago. Instead of putting in straight tracks for beginner dogs, Allison uses tracks that are serpentine in nature. That way instead of teaching dogs that all tracks are straight and then suddenly introducing turns, she introduces the idea that tracks can go anywhere right from the beginning. It's sort of the same idea as teaching agility dogs how to turn over jumps right from the beginning rather than letting them blast straight ahead for 6 months and suddenly expecting them to be able to collect in front of a jump. I think it's brilliant.

So ever since I've been tracking Zodi about 2-3 times a week just putting in a couple of short-ish tracks and then running them right away. I think we're doing OK but it's kind of hard to tell for sure. Luckily, Allison is coming up in a couple of weeks so hopefully I won't have enough time to really wreck her until she can help fix some of the problems I've created for myself.


One of the best things about tracking, in my opinion, is that you can't force it on the dog. You have no way of knowing whether the dog is really tracking the scent or not. Most dogs are plenty smart enough to pretend to track if the handler is too compulsive or makes too many mistakes. I'm sure more than one handler has thought their dog was tracking like mad only to discover their mistake when the dog pulls them straight to the freshest pile of deer poop they can find and then joyously rolls in it.

The other thing about tracking that many people don't find out until they get started is that there's a lot for the handler to think about.. Laying tracks is not the easiest thing I've ever done. You have to be able to walk a straight line while carrying food, articles, flags and a clipboard all the while making notes, counting off how many yards it's been since you made a food drop, noticing that you just walked over a gopher hole that's probably way too much of a distraction for your dog at this stage of the game noting on your map which way the wind is blowing, whether that blade of grass is different enough from the other blades to go on your map as a marker for the turn you're about to put in and making sure you don't drop your articles all over the track. Oh and don't forget to make a note of the time you put the track in, where you put the crosstracks and what time it was and then, just as you go to run your dog you see a troop of boyscouts setting up a picnic in the middle of your track's third leg.

But for some reason that's just so much fun. And so worthwhile when you see your dog nail that turn and pull down the final leg toward the article. Who knew?