Joanne Fleming Tracking Seminar

I spent the weekend at a great tracking seminar in Edmonton. One of the key pieces of information I learned was a new way to set-up and approach the start including a new way to train scent pads, all valuable information for any tracker, SCH or CKC.

I am always amazed at how much there is to learn, even though I have been tracking for 20 years. The most important thing is to keep open to new ideas and methods - not jumping from one to another but incorporating the things that make sense both for you, and for the dog you are working with. The clinician was Joanne Fleming, a very accomplished SCH trainer who travels the World - and who is from Collingwood Ontario. This is her website - http://www.fleming-plumb.ca/

In my situation, I am learning the SCH technique with Caden, so it is a new learning curve for me. SCH technique involves a calm, thoughtful dog, nose-down and precisely on track. A dog "contains" its drive (hunt drive, for food) so it works intensely but doesn't ever blast off, head up down a leg, fringe, or cut a corner. OK, these things CAN all happen but in training, you aim for the ideal. It is not mechanical, it is behavioural - letting the dog know through food and praise motivation when it is right, to encourage this on track.

Caden has so much drive, that it takes a lot of technique on my part through proper set-up and handling to get the right picture. This seminar really helped me, as Joanne gave me excellent advice on bringing Caden to the track in a calm state of mind, so that he could set off right away on the right foot, or perhaps that is, the right paw!

I laid a scent pad for Caden, and contrary to anything I have done before, deliberately brought him to the scent pad from a different angle than my original approach. I used food to have him focus on me on the walk-up, then had him sit before approaching the scent pad. The previous day, I did my 'walk-up on my own approach' so that he tracked his way to the scent pad - by the time he reached it he was bolting and whining, did not spend time at the scent pad and lunged down the first leg. This simply won't do in SCH - or CKC for that matter. Caden will calm down on track to settle into a technique, but as Joanne says, if you can't do the first 20 steps well, don't keep going!

On day two, Joanne showed me how to leap onto a spot on the grass to create a scent pad with a bit of a dead zone around it, then leap back off, so there is really no track departing from it. The scent pad might have 12 pieces of really high value food on it. I brought Caden up to the edge, tossed down the food and gave him a search command. On a loose line, he explored it, eating the food. If he left, I was to continue to look at the scent pad, and keep my line loose. He returned, to continue searching and eating, and when he was in the process of gobbling up a treat, I gently backed off, so that his last thought was "Hey! I didn't get all of that food!" This would leave him with a higher desire to search more at his next opportunity. In the afternoon, I did the serpentine, and his scent pad work was excellent.

In the above photo, I brought him to the scent pad with a piece of food, tossed it down to direct his nose down and gave his command to search. This has nothing to do with the flag and Joanne will place the flag randomly before or after the scent pad - it has to do with where I am standing (edge of the scent pad) and my command to search right there for scent. As you can see, I am also facing east, while my track actually goes south...in the photo below, you can see Caden set off in the correct direction.

I had Caden on a leash because Joanne had seen him BOLT the day before. She instructed me to have my line LOOSE to give him the responsibility for finding the food in every track. If he went off, to hold my ground and let him come back to the track. It was not necessary, because with this calm, solid start, he went directly into his nose-down technique, me following at a WALK, keeping up to keep the line loose. Joanne noted the day before that when my line was tight he seemed to wait for that tightness to make decisions - knowing I was coming, in addition to it encouraging too much forward motion. As well, dogs like Caden tend to rush down a straight line, so a serpentine is a much better option.

At one point on the second arch of the serpentine he went about two steps off, but I did nothing, the idea being to show a loss of track and come back on his own - thus giving him the responsibility for tracking while I remain NEUTRAL. Here we are - you might not recognize this dog, if you have watched his tracking videos LOL. It is not him - it is ME who changed my approach, set-up and handling. Now the tough part will be to continue with these basics - lots of scent pad work to reinforce the value of the scent pad. Followed by short serpentines to reinforce the nose-down behaviour and calm approaches - not the way I walked up!

This approach would work for ANY tracking dog, not just for SCH, and I plan to use it with Jet and Ted, and try to reinforce some scent pad work with River, who is used to a walk-up. In urban you especially need your dog to take valuable information at the scent pad, to retain memory of of the scent on a challenging track.