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| Experience Talks . . . | |
An Experienced Panel of Trainers Answers Questions . . . |
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| The following "training tips" segment is the result of questions asked of a number of experienced trainers and judges. Our responding panel includes: Penny Kurz, trainer/instructor of many, many titled tracking dogs as well as the owner of a CT miniature poodle, several TDX dogs and many TD dogs (including her newest, a chocolate lab named Pekoe); Ed Presnall, author of "Component Training for VST", owner of 3 VST titled dogs (all spaniels), owner of many more TD dogs, and instructor of many more tracking titled dogs; Barb Mattheis, owner of two CT titled dogs (a Portuguese Water Dog and a Golden), and instructor for a number of successful students; and Orrin Eldred, a licensed TD judge. Orrin has also applied to judge TDX and owns labs which he has succesfully trained to TD and TDX titles. His wife is also involved in tracking, and has applied for her TD license as well. If you enjoy this column and have ideas for questions you'd like to see answered in the future, please email us and let us know! | ||
Question 1 . . . I’ve started my dog in tracking, and while he seems to be getting the idea, and sometimes does it very well, it seems it’s not his favorite sport. Is there any way I can help to motivate him to be more consistent? |
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| Ed: Toys, motivational tools, food. Use whatever it takes to motivate your dog. Every dog is different and each will require something a little different to push their buttons and turn them into a happy, motivated tracker. I have dogs that will do almost anything for a chance to play with their favorite tennis ball. Others are chowhounds and want food, any kind of food. Another requires that I sit and spend time with him both before and after we track. The fulfillment of his demands for personal and individual attention becomes his driving force for completing the track. Try different aids and combinations to keep your dog happy. | ||
| Orrin: When I hear that
the dog has lost interest, then my first question is what
length of tracks are you doing? Then depending on the
answer, here is what I do. If you are doing short tracks
that most people do for the beginning, then more of the
same. Simple and fun, not complicated. Also, most of the
time, the beginners are close to their dogs and so I say
return to being close. Close means about 6-8 feet at the
most. If the tracks are longer and more complicated when the dog loses interest, I suggest returning to shorter, less complicated tracks. I also try to use what I think is one of the best ways to teach a dog to follow a track. I use the method that Allison Platt wrote about—Serpentines. They add some much needed variety to the straight lines that many people use that are boring. By adding something different, the dog and trainer's interest stays focused on the task. Most motivation problems rise from boredom from my experience. Fun interesting tracks keep all involved motivated. I also make sure that the dog has a special treat at the end of every track. This item is something different from any other food reward that the dog may get in other forms of tracking. So a very special treat, something that is only used in tracking and is always given after the track whether or not the dog did well or not. Always reward the dog for trying and working well. Now, you may give more of the treat for a job well done, a small treat for a not so great performance. Always give praise and encouragement after the track for work performed. |
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| Penny: Lack of consistency
is more often due to variation in scenting conditions,
immaturity in the dog, boredom, moving too fast in
training, or handler attitude. A handler's anger is the
surest way to get a tracking dog to "shut
down". But assuming they are correct in their
assessment of the situation, here goes: a. Your dog's motivation will only be as good as your motivator. Does your dog want a hot dog track or a filet mignon track? One judge I know bakes her own dog treats and dogs go wild. b. Many people make the mistake of not putting food down for the dog once it has learned how to track and the dog quickly loses motivation. Vary distances between food drops or articles (reward with food) so the dog always thinks maybe just ahead will be a reward. The dog never has to run an unbaited track until test day but it could go 700 yards before getting rewarded while practicing for a TD track. c. Some dogs love finding articles so food goes on the track beyond the article to keep them going. Dogs that don't want to stop for articles get baited articles and food out of pocket at articles. d. A handler's attitude toward the track can be infectious especially with "handler sensitive" dogs. If the handler is excited about tracking, the dog becomes this way too. Its not easy to maintain that excited attitude with a very low key dog, but it is well worth the effort. e. Frequency of tracking sometimes has an effect also. I've had dogs that worked best if tracked several times a week and one that tracked better when worked only once a month. |
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| Barb: I have seen great results if handlers just try to track their dogs with two things in mind. First, a food motivated dog is more driven if his food rations are cut back a couple days BEFORE his training days, and then something really tasty used on his tracks. Second, while you keep some things routine like when you put the harness on, etc., a trainer MUST set up different training tracks as related to terrain, length of tracks, and rewards. Dogs get "ho-hum" on the predictable! | ||
| Question 2 . . . Help! My dog was doing really well in tracking until he suddenly discovered “critters”. Now he pays more attention to them than to the track. What can I do? | ||
| Ed: It is imperative
that you teach your dog a Leave It! command when working
in urban areas. Whether working on TD, TDX or VST you
will be working your dog in areas which have been
contaminated with numerous people or animals. In these
areas, food products, liquids, chemicals, toys, other
animals or insects may be on or along your track. Working with highly food motivated dogs in urban areas will almost assure you that somewhere along a track you will be faced with your dog working by or along food products, garbage cans or trash dumpsters. With these types of dogs, you must teach and enforce a Leave It! command. For safety reasons, you do not want your dog eating or drinking anything along the track that is not provided by you. I like to teach this command away from the track by walking down a sidewalk and placing alternating articles and food drops. Praise the dog at the article and enforce the Leave It! command at the food drops. You can also teach this command in your house in the same manner. Place a food drop and an article at one end of the room and direct your dog to find the article. Again, praise the dog at the article and enforce the Leave It! command at the food drop. Once the dog understands the leave it command, converting the dog from food to “critters” using this command should be fairly easy. |
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| Orrin: Ah yes. The great critter problem. Always gets dogs and those who enjoy them. Critters are self rewarding. I do lots of training on very short grass where critters don't live. Once a good work ethic is established, a short track with some critters has to be done. Then, as other people have said, mostly Ted Hoesel, you run the dog with critters. Then, when the dog decides that critters are more important than tracking, distract the dog and bring it back to the track. Also, for the very hard headed dog, just restrain, return the dog to the track, work close and provide a distraction back to the track. Reward for returning to work, teach a strong "leave it" or "no ratting", "no mousing" or other command that your dog will understand. I suggest teaching this away from the track itself, just by going for a walk in a field. Then, when the dog decides to "critter", start teaching the command. | ||
| Penny: First try everything
to re-motivate the dog and make the track seem more
important. Carry especially tasty tidbits that can be
tossed onto the track ahead of the critter area. Use
restraint to keep the dog from catching critters and
food, praise, and pointing excitedly to the track to get
them going again. If that doesn't work, set the dog up and punish for hunting. Lay a simple track with multiple dropped articles or food piles that are clearly marked. Have someone other than the track layer plant critters in cages (better for scent hounds or "deep nosed dogs") before the marked drops or use a stuffed critter toy on a fishing pole that can be cast across the track (better for sight hounds and terriers) as the dog is approaching a drop. A dog that heads for the critter will be stopped with the lead and verbal "Out!" or "Leave It" and the handler will take the dog by scruff or collar and roughly put them back on track. The dog should then be encouraged or helped to the drop and lavishly rewarded and praised. Dogs force trained to retrieve using an ear pinch and taught to retrieve articles can even be ear pinched to the article drops. NEVER JERK ON A DOG'S TRACKING HARNESS! Make sure you can punish without getting angry! Most dogs respond to punishment by rather sullenly but very seriously tracking after one or two corrections. I did have one dog that it excited and motivated. She seemed to learn that "if I stay on the track, a mouse will come!" and she wouldn't have to leave the track to look for them. Having critters planted on her track was apparently better than food drops. In any case, she went back to tracking. |
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| Barb: I can relate to this one. My CT Golden "Flicker" is NUTS for the critters. She continually got distracted by them, especially those darn gophers that make that very inviting little yodel as a warning to their relatives. Well, we had many a track, where I "set her up" in an area where I knew they were. Then I laid short tracks and sometimes had to hold her harness and keep her on the track. But, oh what a tupperware dinner she got when she got through those fields. Then, I would turn her loose to "hunt" to her heart's delight. Slowly but surely, she got the message that when the harness was on, she could not hunt. | ||
| Question 3: I track alone, and lay all my own tracks. Do I have to get another person to lay tracks before my dog would be considered ready for a test? | ||
| Ed: Many people work
alone and train their dogs to be ready for and to pass at
tests. Working alone, it might take you longer to fully
develop the type of relationship required to completely
trust your dog. For without honest feedback from your
tracklayer or spectators to help you learn, you may never
actually see the subtle changes in style or body that are
the indications to you that your dog has identified
something different that may be happening on the track. In many cases, in training, your tracklayer will see the identifying markers and subtle changes in tracking style long before you, as the handler, do. The view is slightly different from 20 yards than it is from 20 feet. For this reason alone, it is imperative when training with others to always sit and have an in-depth discussion of the tracks after they have been run. If you train alone, you should accurately and fairly evaluate both your and your dog’s performance. If it is terrible, do not be afraid to admit it. Simply write down the problem area and work on it again. |
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| Orrin: I find that one of
the best questions asked. I have laid all my own tracks
for all my dogs ever. I don't let others lay my tracks.
Mostly because I have found that other people can't find
the track once they have laid it. When I teach my dog to
track, I want my dog on my track, not 20 feet away. I
want to know where the turns are, so I mark them so that
I can see what my dog does as they get to the turn. I can
learn a lot that way.I mark all my tracks, I use flags
before the turn, sometimes on the turn, so that my dog
doesn't get flag happy. I only run tracks of strangers at tests. My dogs have never had a problem following any person who has laid a track in a test. Since you have to be certified before entering a TD test, the judge who certifies you is a stranger most likely. So you will know if your dog can track a stranger. If you have trouble in certification, then you will have to have a few strangers lay tracks for you. So as far as I am concerned, the choice is yours. I like to lay my own tracks and since my dogs don't have a problem following other people, I don't think it is a problem. Now there are many others who feel differently about all this. I suggest that you watch your dog and see if it will follow a stranger on a very short track before being certified or a test. |
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| Penny: Well motivated dogs that love tracking and love people don't usually care who they track. Herding breeds are sometimes very finicky about who they want to track. I wouldn't take a chance either way without having someone else laying a practice track loaded with motivators. If you have a person follow in your footsteps, you can use someone that the dog does not know and the track will be almost as good as if they did it alone. You have to run a judge's track to get certified, and they really don't have time to waste on unprepared dogs. | ||
| Barb: This is an interesting question because I also track alone and find it hard to admit to the tracking community that both my CT's didn't have a blind VST track before their tests. They had blind TDs and TDXs, although very few, and they had people walking behind them for all 3, but I never felt confident letting someone "interrupt" us while doing variable surface. I made sure we got plenty of distractions, and a "judge" walking behind, but I wanted to know how my dog handled every inch of the track, so I made many mental notes and let him work things out. This may not be for everyone, because people need peace of mind to have that blind track, but it's just food for thought. | ||
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