Tracking Dog Training
Tracking dog training is often done by dog enthusiasts who enjoy the tracking competitions for dogs, or those who use their dog’s tracking abilities for hunting. Tracking dog training is also used by police and other agencies for Search and Rescue purposes. Dogs are naturally gifted with an incredible sense of smell, and you can train your dog to use this sense for locating certain items or people.
Obviously, the police do tracking dog training for all their search and rescue and drug dog work. Likewise you are familiar with hunters using their trained tracking dogs for that purpose. But did you know you can train your dog at home to track a lost child? That’s right, you don’t have to be a professional dog trainer to learn tracking dog training techniques and teach your pet how to find something-or someone. My next door neighbor’s Rhodesian ridgeback can find his hidden tennis ball anywhere his master hides it. He clearly enjoys the searching and finding part. It doesn’t matter how creative the hiding place is-the smell gives it away, and “Hodie” finds it every single time-usually within a very short time.
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Tracking is one of the 3 main categories of Schutzhund training. In these trials your dog must follow a previously laid out track, baited with dropped items, and follow it to its conclusion. However, for a more informal tracking session with your dog at home, you can hide items around the yard and house to get the tracking dog training started with your own dog. The basics of training a dog to track is the same-you want to train your dog to use his incredible nose to find and follow the invisible scents of whatever he is supposed to track.
There are 3 steps to the tracking dog training technique.
- First of all you will need to maximize the “prey drive”, and then teach some word association to your dog. To get started you can use your dog’s favorite toy. You want to use something the dog will be particularly excited to find if it is hidden. My neighbor used his dog’s favorite tennis ball-the one they already used for “fetch” games. Be sure to use word association while playing with your dog and his ball-or whatever his favorite toy may be. Keep repeating the name for the toy, so that your dog associates the word “ball” or “toy” with the item. Put the ball on the floor across the room and say “ball”. Before long, your dog will know to go get his ball for a play session. When he does, give him tons of praise and rewards for a job well done. You really want him to associate the word ball with getting a reward. This helps increase his motivation.
- Once he has gotten very good at bringing you the ball, the next step would be to put the ball somewhere he can ‘t see it-another room perhaps. He will have to do a little problem solving, and sniff out where the ball went. He will check out the normal place and then go looking for the ball elsewhere-using his nose to guide him to the spot. As soon as he locates the ball and brings it back to you, give him lots of praise and a reward. Keep repeating the tracking dog training preliminary steps until he is really enjoying the game.
- The next step of the tracking dog training is to add another scent to the item you are using to train your pet. For instance, if you want your dog to find your little boy or girl, you can mark the ball, or whatever you use, with your child’s scent. You can do this by wrapping a used article of your son or daughter’s clothing around the ball, so the ball picks up that scent. Before doing this, first be sure to wash any old scents off the item, so that your dog is now picking up only on the new desired scent. This way he will learn to track whatever smell you teach him to look for, rather than just for his favorite toy.
- Play with your dog and the ball (with its new scent) and let him get familiar with that smell. After awhile, he will associate the ball and the new smell, and start looking for that odor when you next hide the ball. Now, hide the ball with the new scent, and tell your dog to “get the ball”. Keep repeating the game by hiding the ball in many different places to give your dog a challenge. He will enjoy the game and should be able to find the ball no matter where you hide it.
- Now it is time for the real test. At this point the tracking dog training has prepared your dog for a tougher test. For instance, if you are training your dog using your little boy’s scent, ask him to hide somewhere in the house or yard. Now tell your dog to find his ball or toy. If he has learned his tracking well, he will soon locate your son. Follow him as he sniffs around looking for his target, and as soon as he finds what he is looking for, give him lots and lots of praise and a reward. Let him know what a good job he is doing, and keep him motivated. Continue the tracking dog training by asking your son to hide further and further away, until your dog can track him over quite a distance.
Besides the benefit of knowing that your dog can find your son and bring him home for dinner or homework-hopefully he never really gets lost-you will have created a real fun exercise for your dog. If you are serious about tracking dog training, you can even get in touch with your local kennel club to see if they have competitions. A lot of people really enjoy the sport of dog tracking, so you can see how your dog does against competition. I think you will find that you and your dog both will have a good time with the tracking training. You will get a kick out of watching your dog figure out where he needs to go to find the hidden item. This problem solving really sharpens their wits, and they clearly enjoy the challenge.
If you love your dog and want to better train him to be an even better pet, I highly recommend you use the techniques taught in the one of the best dog training books or dog training video programs. Use the step by step training systems as taught by experts will help you get much quicker and more effective results, and also help you avoid making costly dog training mistakes that will surely make obedience training your dog much more difficult. Please click here to read my complete review of what I consider to be the best dog training program available-Secrets to Dog Training Review.
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