When tracking, dogs and their owners work together towards a common goal, that is, following a scent trail to find an object or person. Learning to track helps develop a working relationship between the human and the dog. The human learns to communicate his desires to the dog and the dog learns to follow commands and communicate its findings to its owners. It is a mentally stimulating activity for dogs and can help to build their confidence.
Dog are Built for Tracking
By nature, dogs are much more adept at distinguishing odors than humans. Both humans and dogs have bony, scroll-shaped plates, called turbinates, in their noses. The turninates have a thick, spongy membrane that contains most to the scent detecting cells, as well as nerves that transport information to the brain. In humans, the area containing these odor analyzers is about one square inch (about the size of a postage stamp). If you could unfold this area in dogs, on the other hand, it could be a large as 60 square inches (about the size of a piece of printer paper). The actual size of this area depends on the size of the dogs nose, but even flat-nosed breeds have a better olfactory sense than humans. In addition, dogs' brains are built for identifying smells. In fact, the area of a dog's brain that is devoted to analyzing smell is about 40 times larger than that of humans.
Getting Started Teaching Your Dog to Track
When teaching a dog to track, start small and build on success. The dog will need to develop its scent discrimination to identify and follow a specific odor. To begin, you can show your dog a favorite toy and then have him wait while you hide it somewhere in the house. Create a trail by walking to different areas and stopping briefly before hiding the toy. Instruct your dog to find it and point to the ground where you walked to hide the toy. If you dog has trouble finding the toy, redirect him to smell the ground where you walked and encourage him to follow the scent of your path.
To begin teaching outdoor tracking, you can create a trail in a field or area of a park or forest. For training, choose an area that has not been contaminated with many conflicting smells. In general, use an area where other people or animals have not walked for about three hours. Create the path by scrapping your foot on the ground. Drop a few dog treats every few meters for your dog to find as he follows the trail. When you are finished creating the trail, do not walk back along the path you just created. You want your scent to be stronger at the end of the trail so your dog develops the sense that the scent is weaker at the beginning and gets stronger the closer he gets to the goal.
Teaching Tracking on Command
Have your dog sit at the start of the trail and focus on you. Give him the command, "Track" and point to the ground where the trail begins and where you have put the first treat. Once your dog eats the treat, have him sit and focus on you again. Give him the track command again and let him follow the scent to the next treat. If he gets lost, redirect him to put his nose close to the ground to find the path. Repeat the process until he gets to the end of the trail. As your dog gets more proficient at following your path, you can reduce the amount of scraping you do when you create the path, slowly transitioning to a regular walking pace.
Formal Training in Tracking
To learn tracking, you can also enroll your dog in a tracking course or workshop. Many cities also have groups or organizations that get together and create trails for their dogs to track. Your dog could even win awards for tracking skill level.
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Sharon Russell - Currently a freelance writer, Sharon has worked as a technical writer in the high tech industry for over 15 years. Prior to that, she ...
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