Tracking 101
I'm teaching a tracking class starting tomorrow morning. You in the home audience can play along.
What is tracking?
Tracking is teaching your dog to follow the scent left by a person. It's a sport, not prep work for search and rescue. Several groups sponsor tracking 'tests.' Most notably the AKC and Schutzhund groups. Schutzhund tracking is much more about style and points than AKC tracking, which is judged pass/fail. The AKC sponsors three tracking tests: TD, TDX, and VST. I won't go into the details of each one here, but you can look it up.
Tracking training is almost always positive (not counting things like, 'stop eating that dead thing,' 'quit pouncing on mice,' 'don't eat the harness.'). The handler doesn't know what the dog smells so can't say absolutely that it's 'wrong.' And while you could, conceivably, force a dog to track I can't see the fun in that. People who do more disciplined tracking training often talk about their dogs 'lying' to them, for example, coming to a corner and just continuing on as if they'd found the corner when they hadnt. I can't say what these dogs are doing, since I haven't seen them, but it's very likely they don't know what they're supposed to be doing and so are just doing the best they can.
Tracking requires equipment:
- Dog (any breed)
- Non-restrictive harness
- Long line (30 to 40 feet; cotton or nylon)
- Articles (at least 4--gloves, hat, socks)
- Track markers (flags, surveyor's tape/clothespins)
As the tracks get longer you will also want water for your dog and a notebook to draw maps, note conditions, set goals and specific things to work on. If you're really committed to this whole tracking thing, you can get a notebook made of waterproof paper.
While your dog is learning tracking (which it basically already knows--lucky dog!) you will be learning:
- How to lay a track
- How to handle a 40 foot line with out breaking your dog's leg or killing yourself
- How to draw maps
- How to follow your map once you've drawn it
- How to read your dog
You could also profitably learn to identify trees and shrubs, but I can testify that it's not really necessary.
If you wondered about the waterproof paper comment, well, tracking takes place in all weather--rain and sleet and snow (not lightning, though. We don't track when there's lightning). You should learn (if you don't know how already) to dress in layers and you should learn about waterproof jackets and hats and boots. You can, actually, do all your tracking in city parks, but most people don't and part of tracking is climbing over things and crawling under things and figuring out how to get out of wherever you ended up without crossing the track.
Since this has already passed firmly into 'More Than You Wanted To Know' camp, I will save 'How I start dogs tracking' until tomorrow...
Comments
I've been tracking now for about 9 months and more recently in a tracking class. A lady at a recent seminar had "tracking paper" - 8x11 grid paper with tracking info on the right hand side. Ex. date, location, dog, tracklayer, temperature, etc. Do you know anything about this kind of paper? I know about "Write in the Rain" paper and I have some. At the bottom of this one sheet I have it says "1993 Mueller Publications" but I can't find them on the net. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated.
Posted by: Lynn | November 30, 2002 10:02 AM
What's really weird about your questions is that I have a map that the tracklayer drew for the very first title I ever got--a TD. It's a beautiful map with a great deal of careful detail including the number of the track (3), the exact length of the track (462 yards) and the word PASS at the very top. I have it framed on the wall and I took it down tonight to take with me to class tomorrow to show people what a really, really good map looks like (as opposed to the kind I draw, which do the job, but are not at all pretty--or even readable for anyone who's not me). Anyway, this map is on paper that has a spot in the upper right hand corner for date, place, temp, wind, general conditions, and so on--a lot like the paper you describe. There's no Mueller Publications notice and my guess has always been that he (the tracklayer) had these made up himself as it has his kennel name, his name, and his dogs' names in small print in the upper left hand corner. It's not grid paper so that would be easier to make (though the grid would be really nice.
Are you on the tracking mailing list? You might try asking there. If you're interested and want the address to subscribe, let me know.
Hope you're enjoying tracking. Getting back into the weekly tracking swing--something I haven't done for awhile--has been fun.
Posted by: debco | November 30, 2002 09:37 PM
A surveyor told me you can get water-proof notebooks with bright orange covers from surveyor's supply companies.
Posted by: Lisa | September 7, 2003 11:12 PM