Asherah the Desert Dog goes Winter Tracking

After seeing her first track, Michelle went completely straight for track two (pink). Whoo-hoo! A straight line! Yes - we do teach "how to walk in a straight line" in tracking!
Track three was a serpentine. Below is my snow-sketch for Michelle. Pick a landmark that will help you remember your centre-line, then make nice broad arcs to the left and right. For Ash, we only did two small arcs. The idea was that by track three, she would be on a roll, plus you don't want to focus on straight lines which can make a dog stop searching thoroughly. After laying the third track, Michelle went to get Ash.

Dogs are scent-focused so it is second nature for them to use their noses. By comparison, we are visually-oriented and see much better than our dogs. By baiting the track, we are telling our dogs that if they follow this track (that we point out) they will be rewarded. We don't "teach" them how to track, we motivate them to follow the track we ask.

Ash is slightly ahead of Michelle, who is off to the side and putting some tension on the line with the left hand, while prepared to point with her right hand if necessary. This track was laid at 2:14 and run at 2:50. On a warm moist winter day, a 30 minute old track still has lots of moisture retaining scent. Up ahead you can see the area where Michelle left a jackpot of treats. Articles are trained separately. We don't want dogs to rush to them, and forget about 'tracking.'

Next was the serpentine. But, just as we were on a roll, something happened! About THREE City buses pulled up to the roadside and began to release their air brakes over and over. Ash had started the serpentine, but not surprisingly, she was distracted by the buses. Working in an urban environment is a lot to ask when starting a new dog. I believe you can start a dog anywhere in terms of the surface and location, but hustle, bustle and noise does not do any favours to you or your dog. The buses were unexpected.

So what do you do in this situation? Well, you certainly don't put pressure on your dog to track, because this is supposed to be fun and not a pressure-cooker. If this had been my seasoned tracking dog, I would have worked on having her work through the commotion. We also would not want to coddle the dog. We just talked to each other and stopped training.

After the buses left was the important moment. Michelle said nothing to Ash, and faced the track. It didn't even take half a minute for Ash to think about those treats in the snow. ON HER OWN with no pressure or command (because she does not know the tracking command yet!) Ash began to explore the footsteps again, and below, Michelle and Ash crossed some older crosstracks to the jackpot at the end!

This decision to continue on her own was very important as it showed that Ash would be determined, and would take charge. She was distracted but not so much that it affected her, and she recovered to carry on completely without prompting or reminding. Yay Ash! Also - yay Michelle! Standing and saying nothing or doing nothing is hard to master!