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Post by Aussienot on Apr 9, 2005 23:36:45 GMT -5
Any trackers in the group? Finn and I went out tracking today, and given that we haven't tracked in months, I reckon he did ok. He indicated on three of the four articles (went right over the top of the last one and kept sniffing), but he kept his nose down, worked the scent diligently and followed both trails without a problem (well, apart from one wide corner.)
And in reading more about article indication, I did not scent the articles enough, and to be honest he's not really well trained in article indication (confesses his trainer).
My question is: Do you train the article indication apart from the tracking and then put into the trail, or do you only train articles in the context of the trail? My schutzhund books say train separately as an obedience exercise and do it at the very end of tracking training so that the obedience part doesn't dilute the training and kill the drive (Schutzhund seems quite dismissive of the articles) , my tracking books say do it on the trail and start at intermediate level so that finding the articles becomes an mid trail re-inforcer.
I'm confused. Help?
For wearing a dog out physically and mentally, you can't beat tracking. I don't really understand why it's so exhausting, but just glad that it is.
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Post by Aussienot on May 30, 2005 1:31:55 GMT -5
Ok, the answer from the best name in the game, is train articles separately. I've developed the Article game for Finn, where I place 1 - 5 articles around the floor and send him to find them. He's supposed to down with the articles between his feet, and stay there until I come to release him and put a treat on the article. Then go on to the next one.
The biggest confusion for him has been with the retrieve- he wants to pick them up and bring them back to me! But we're slowing training the kinks out of that one.
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Post by Nicole on May 30, 2005 7:36:31 GMT -5
Aussie, I actually do tracking with Sunny, not according to any rules, and it is exhausting and great fun. He is an absolute natural. I don't have any books or anything. He sniffs my footprints to get to the article. He did this on his own. I didn't teach it. When he gets close he air sniffs.
What would be great is if you could make a post about tracking for fun. Really simple for dummy's like me. I would like to make it more structured. You know like step 1, 2 etc. Please!! ;D
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Post by willow on May 30, 2005 10:02:07 GMT -5
Yes, Aussie....please do! ;D My Buddy is a "natural" too! I have tried to "trick" him by doubling back, I think it is called...walking back on your same track, and then going in a different direction, and he never falls for it, but comes straight to me on the "new" track! He does this on a dead run with his nose almost on the ground.
Guess I should also mention, that I have not planted any articles, I just have him track me, so this may be the wrong idea of tracking?
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Post by Aussienot on Jun 3, 2005 19:20:51 GMT -5
Ok, I'll try to knock something together today. I don't know much about teaching tracking but I can share what I taught Finn.
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