Tracking Primer
Springer enthusiasts know how versatile our breed is. Springers find success in a number of performance events ranging from agility to obedience. We often seek one more sport that will challenge our breed. One sport that offers that challenge is tracking. What is the sport of tracking? Tracking involves training your dog to follow human scent along a predetermined path (i.e., track) walked by a tracklayer. The object of the sport is to locate articles the tracklayer has placed along the track. If you and your dog successfully complete the track in an American Kennel Club (AKC) sanctioned test you can earn one of three AKC titles, depending on the length and degree of difficulty of the track. The three titles currently offered by the AKC include Tracking Dog (TD), Tracking Dog Excellent (TDX), and Variable Surface Tracking (VST). Earn all three titles and you have a Champion Tracking Dog (CT). Tracking human scent across a field seems easy enough. Let’s consider what happens when a handler and dog work the track. The tracklayer walks across a field leaving scent that is composed of primarily three thing; ground effect (oder from crushed vegetation and soil), human scent (sin cells and breath) and artificial scent (odor from clothing fibers, bath soap, deodorant). The human and artificial scent is transferred from the tracklayer to the articles he has carried and dropped along the track. Your Springer will move his nose along the track using all of his 220 million scent receptors to follow the scent and locate the tracklayer’s articles. To make things a little more interesting, let’s factor in wind, air temperature, ground moisture, time of day and age of the track (length of time from when the tracklayer walked the track to when the dog begins to follow the track.) There are also those little problems added to a test such as woods, streams, roads, and, for VST, non-vegetated surfaces. Now, that is interesting and a bit more challenging. It is amazing to watch a handler and a dog work a track with multiple turns, obstacles and problems to solve. The handler must rely of his ability to read the body language of the dog and follow along. Handler and dog perform as a team. Tracking is one of the few sports where the dog is in control and success depends largely on the bond of trust and communication between the handler and dog. If you are looking for this kind of teamwork and bond with your dog, then let’s start tracking! written by Susan K. Hix ********************************************************************** The following list contains just a few resources available to help you get started with tracking. It is always helpful to contact a local tracking club and talk with a tracking instructor.
Tracking Books
- Practical Tracking for Practically Everyone by Julie Hogan and Donna Thompson
- Tracking from the Ground Up by Sandy Ganz and Susan Boyd
- Tracking Dog Theory and Methods by Glen R. Johnson
- Fun Nosework for Dogs by Hunter
- It Only Takes A Scent by Spencer
Tracking Web Sites
Gateway Tracking Club
The Tracking Page
Dr. P's Dog Nose Knows
Morraine Tracking Club