Tracking

[Timber]

Anyone involved in tracking with your Dachshund? Tips for training? Timber's a total natural when it comes to this, but he's used to tracking the scent of an animal, and only for a very short distance.

[Mark]

. . . if they simply *track* anything edible? :D If so, . . . ours are experts! :lol:

[Heide]

that is my 3 also then, they are great trackers of food.
If its a bug or frog though Kamper can track them really good.
:eek:

[Patt]

I wish we could do it but my are seniors. It looks very interesting and quite a challenge.

Patt

[doxunzX3]

I had one doxie that could track. Yup, not what you might want him to. It was deer, so we had to take strong action. He was such a good dog most of the time. But we did get over that hump.
Oh I almost forgot, another doxie person was showing us how to lay track with a deer leg. Dah! That was not the smartest thing in the world to do. Now in hindsite, pretty dumb on my part to follow it too. :sarcastic

[Timber]

Originally posted by Patt
I wish we could do it but my are seniors. It looks very interesting and quite a challenge.

Patt

Why's the age of your dogs stopping you?

[lotsadox]

Miller's good at tracking me. I've seen him looking for me and he'll track me upstairs and down the hall, nose to the ground knowing I went that way. It's really cute, but tracking anything else, I don't know. I had a friend a few years ago that did tracking with her Corgi's. She said they loved it.

[Patt]

Originally posted by Timber
Why's the age of your dogs stopping you?

Their ages are 14 & 15 blind, partially blind and deaf.

Patt

[Cindi]

When we first start out, we train with hotdogs :) Rub hotdogs on the soles of your feet and drop little tidbits along the way. Make a jackpot of little bits at the end of the track. YEAH, he/she found whatever you dropped that is laying ON TOP OF the bits of hotdog. As you progress you drop less hotdog but the reward is still there until finally there are no hotdogs - none on your feet nor under what you have dropped but you reward he/she once they have indicated the lost article with whatever you have taken with you :)

Dachsies are quick learners and it doesn't take long for them to learn to track. Also, always put a command to it so that they understand you want them to track WHATEVER you are pointing to...be it you, the other tracklayer or BUNNIES or even another dog that may have gotten lost. When you start out laying a track, you lay a scent *pad*. You tamp a square by turning in place - your feet will *lay* the scent heavily where you are standing (with bunnies it is where they were sitting). Then you point to that *pad* with dog on leash and say *find it* or whatever comman you choose and use the command consistently so that they learn to use their nose to pick up the scent for where you are pointing. Hopefully they pick up you or the tracklayer or the *bunny* and off they go :)

Start out with short, straight tracks - say 15 feet. If you get a good tracking instruction book it will give you directions on how many tracks to lay per day (and you will think NO WAY), how long a leash, etc. I will tell you I couldn't follow it <G>; too lazy and too hot down here. I did 5 tracks a day, maybe 3 days a week. Don't rush it as the dogs can get confused. Learn to *read* your dog.

Make sense?

Cindi

[lotsadox]

Makes a lot of sense. I read an article in Whole Dog Journal about training search dogs and they used a similar technique. Mine would probably enjoy tracking. Maybe something to look into.

[Timber]

Wow, thanks for all the info Cindi! I don't think it will be too hard to train Timber, because he already knows a command to use his nose. I've been telling him to "go find" ever since he was a little puppy. Whenever I tell him that, he gets all excited and runs up to me to see what he's supposed to find! It's cute.