Tracking Guide

The dog on track duty should only employ the nose.
His instinct to guard is completely in abeyance.
The purpose of training is that the dog should use its nose as continuously as possible
and with complete concentration on the scent belonging to the initial track.
Looking for lost objects is of value because it perfects the dog's tracking work.
Separation of the training of the guard dog from that of the tracking dog was started in 1915.
The best work in tracking human beings is achieved by means of the finding of objects
and with the application of compulsion.
Colonel Konrad Most

Important Factors

Scent
Track - crushed vegetation & bugs, ground disturbance
Human - skin rafts; heredity, racial, cultural, dietary, toiletries
Skin rafts - 14 microns in size, 40,000 cells shed each minute
Sweat glands - eccrine, apocrine, sebaceous

Terms
Track - a mark left by a person or animal that has passed, as a footprint
Trail - oriented to human scent on the ground or surroundings
Motivation - some inner drive or impulse that causes an action; incentive
Compulsion - a compelling or driving force; Psychologically - an irresistible impulse
to perform some act. (A dog is considered well trained when he is convinced
that he wants to do what you want him to do.)
Inducements - to lead on to some action, condition, belief
Force - force should not be punishment; force does not teach
Avoidance training - motivates commanded behavior(the dog feels in control)
Obedience - an instance of obeying or willingness to obey; submission
Pursuit - to follow in order to chase, overtake, capture
Aggression- ready or willing to engage in direct action; bold and active; pushing
Active - causing action, motion, or change
Reactive - a response to a stimulus or influence
Concentration - close or fixed attention
Motorics - stimulus on a nerve carrying an impulse from the
central nervous system (brain), to a muscle, producing voluntary motion.
Opposition reflect - An opposed condition; resistance,hostility
Positive reinforcement is anything which, occurring in conjunction with an act,
increases the possibility that the act will reoccur.

Techniques

Levels of Training

Teaching motivation
Increasing drive
Increase stamina
Searching for the start
Teaching surpentines
Teaching corners
Teaching jump offs
Motivated article identification
Training obedience tracking
Using variable reinforcements

Commands
Track, good, bad, slow - Don't distract the dog with a lot of talk.

Profound Quotations

Self-discovery - Self-motivation Donn Yarnall LAPD

Tracking through drive is a partnership of natural abilities using the humans ability
to reason and deduce, combined with the dogs ability to smell, discriminate, and track. G.D. Murray

Natural ability and drive cannot substitute for the skill acquired through
methodical training and practice. Wm. Keohler

It takes the knowledge of not only one, but many good trainers
to give us the tools for even better accomplishments ........ Johannes Grewe

All our dogs are happy trackers; they are happy when the tracking is over. Reinhard Lindner

There are no rules without exceptions. Helmet Raiser

The tail tells the tale.

A Dog must learn before it can train;
it must practice in order to remember.

If you're not having fun neither is your dog........

References

Training Dogs A Manual - Colonel Konrad Most
Scent and The Scenting Dog - Wm. Syrotuck
Training Tracking Dogs - Wm. Koehler
Tracking from the Beginning - Gary Patterson
Training the Competitive Tracking Dog video - Leerburg
Schutzhund Tracking Step by Step

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