[Dailydrool] Tracking and coming back

[Beverly Szaton]

The dogs come back because they are never ever off leash. In Field work, it
is different. But in tracking, you need to be connected to the dog so that
you know he is on the track. And you know whether he is on the right track
because when practicing you better have a map of where it goes, lining it
up with landmarks and so on, or marking turns with surveyor's flags, or
clothepins with colored tape on plants and trees and bushes, or the chalk
that they use to mark trees and pipelines. The most completely humiliating
thing you can do is tell your dog he is on the wrong track when in fact,
YOU ARE. (And I have done it enough times to know.)
I start dogs wearing a non-restrictive tracking harness and a collar and
leash. I use the collar the first few times to get the head down into the
grass and into the scent. I make short, straight tracks seeded with food.
GOOD food. Chicken. Hot dog. Tiny pieces. about a foot apart.
I lay the track by shuffling my feet the first few times but with the
Bassets I have found that they learn to track a normal walking pace very
quickly. I also pull the food as soon as I think the dog is TRACKING, not
eating. You will know. He will start ignoring the food or stop going back
for it.
The hardest part about tracking is not teaching the Basset. The Basset
knows, already. The hardest part is the dog teaching YOU to read HIM, so
that you know when he does a certain thing he is tracking, and when he does
something else he is looking for the track, still working, let him work,
and when he does a third thing, he has lost the track, or quit, or is out
for a stroll and not working.
Mitchell would come to a turn. He would turn. Then turn and turn and turn.
He would go in a circle around me, snuffling as if he had lost the track.
He had not. He knew exactly where it was and was double checking to make
sure it was the right one. It took me quite awhile to figure that out, and
he did it on every turn. I had to learn that he did this, and learn to
stand still and allow him to do it. It drove me crazy.
MomPerson who misses Tracking
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