Darby on one of his first tracks. He is still learning what scent means. Typically at this stage of learning three short tracks are laid. The tracks are double laid and with lots of food drops. In the beginning the dog is of course following the food drops. At first they are wandering along the track looking for food drops and wondering what is going on. The handler is keeping them on the track on a short leash. Somewhere along the line the dog recognizes scent and their behavior changes. As the transistion is made they are following the footsteps and often time skipping some of the food drops. It helps dogs to learn tracking by starting in tall vegetation. The tracking conditions/learning conditions are quite poor this year. This year the rains have been late and sparse so the vegetation is quite low.
5 comments:
bender and I are going to start tracking this season :) once I get the hang of it with him I will give the sight hound a go ;)
Tracking is awesome! My Grey "Creel" will be starting as soon as things warm up a bit. I got to see the first VST pass in Washington state a year or so ago, a 10 year old Golden down from Canada.
The man of many talents--Mr. Darby!! Good job!!
Donna and sister, Becca
I am so excited to see Darby and Lisa starting to track! Pretty soon, you'll be hooked!
I wish I had Dr. Helen as my teacher. :-)
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