[Dailydrool] scenting/tracking

[Beverly Szaton]

Cool, damp weather keeps the scent close to the ground and windless days
keeps it from drifting.So long, damp grass on a cool, quiet day is going to
be ideal tracking/scenting weather.  Light rain is even better: just a
slight drizzle. Weather that sends most of us indoors is often ideal
tracking weather.
Dry weather and heat suck the moisture up and dries the scent, making it
more difficult to track. Short grass does not hold the scent the way longer
grass and brush will.
Scent, as i understand it, forms a cone. The dog will move from side to
side (quartering) looking for the scent. Scent tends to drift and move in
accordance with the topography of the land. Ditches and buildings change
the strength and direction of the scent cone.
A Basset intent on tracking will walk through water, climb over branches
and go around trees and thistles to pick up the track on the other side.
My dogs, when just hanging out and not tracking, love super-windy damp days
and sit in the yard for hours with their noses in the wind. Who's in
season? Oooh they're barbequing a mile away. I smell skunk. I smell bacon.
I smell....I smell... oh, I love my nose...
I have watched all three sit in a row, heads uplifted, moving their noses
in exact co-ordination, like a chorus like of wet, black noses.

MomPerson to Nigel TD, Llewis and Conley (started no titles).
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