Off season tracking training...the devil is in the details. Part 2: Don't underestimate your dog.

My friend was perplexed by his dog's sudden difficulty in following the fresh tracks that he was laying.  Just a few months earlier she had successfully recovered deer a day or more after they were killed, yet now she would stray off of 2 hour old training tracks.

 He had been laying the occasional liver drag during the winter, because he liked to see her track, and she loved the reward at the end of the trail.  All spring, she had been free ranging outside during the day, chasing critters in the yard and digging up moles.  Now that the weather was more conducive to laying tracks, my friend started with fresh, simple tracks to rebuild her confidence and his.  Unfortunately, the tracks were having just the opposite effect.  He was losing faith in his dog.

After hearing of the problems he was having, and listening to his routine it was clear to me where a big part of the problem was stemming from.  This talented dog had no desire to perform tracks that did not require her to work through the scent trail.  The tracks were simply too easy, and she was bored.  

I recalled that my friend had similar trust issues the season prior, and would often lay simple blood trails or liver drags before a real track to show the hunter that his dog could track a line.  More than anything he was trying to convince himself of the same fact.    On more difficult tracks with minimal blood, he even started putting down blood at the start of the track to "motivate" his dog.  I had expressed my concerns with these routines when I first heard about them, but he needed something to build his own confidence in his dog's tracking abilities, and he failed to see the negative effects of what he was doing.  These same insecurities are what led him to lay such simple tracks when he resumed training.  

So why were these routines having such a negative effect?  First let me start by saying liver drags and fresh tracks with plenty of blood certainly have their place with young, developing puppies learning to track a line.  However, more mature dogs with tracking experience do not require a "refresher" course of this nature.  In fact, the lack of challenge will bore most dogs, and develop sloppy tracking techniques in both dog and handler.  

An experienced tracking dog should not only be able to easily scent a 4 hour old blood trail under most conditions, but they are probably able to detect the handler's scent stream wafting in the air.  Most dogs I have trained will run with their head up on these fresh tracks and won't even need to use the blood or hoof scent  laid upon the ground.  In turn, this does nothing to develop good tracking technique.

When the dog becomes bored with simple tracks, as it certainly will, it will begin looking for more interesting things to follow.  In contrast, what improves a dog's tracking ability is a tracking line that requires the dog to work through one or more problems, using its nose and brains to complete the line.  Certainly a track can be made too difficult for a dog to complete, but without challenging a dog, you cannot discover its limits or abilities.

Most trackers are guilty of this error when they start training their first tracking dog.  I certainly was.  We all want to see our dogs succeed.  Working a dog through a difficult track can be time consuming and frustrating.  It is much more fun to see your dog complete a line without any help from you at all.  That said, it is a rare live track that doesn't require a team effort between dog and handler to get to the end.  Learning to work through tough lines as a team is paramount to success.

The other factor that I believe is at play is that we all want to feel confident in our dog's ability going into a real track.  Confidence is important, but it must be based upon realistic abilities  or it is misguided.  It is far better to build confidence on your dog's abilities when they are honed on tough practice tracks.  

One of the other situations that I believe leads to lack of confidence in a dog's abilities during the first couple of tracking seasons is taking too many "low probability" tracks.  When I first started tracking, there were few people in Missouri that even knew tracking dogs were available, and Kansas hadn't yet legalized blood tracking with a dog at all.   Even though I was one of the few trackers in the state, calls were limited.  Each call was precious, and the enticement of taking on a track even when the deer was almost certainly still alive was ever present.  Failing to recover an animal in one track after another leads to doubt in the handler, and lack of enthusiasm in the dog.  Now I am much more selective about the tracks I take, and encourage others to be as well.  Failing to recover an animal on successive tracks does nothing productive for the tracking team, and eventually your team will be affected adversely.  

I was able to run a practice track with my friend's dog not too long after he shared his concerns.  The track I laid was still only about 4 hours old due to time constraints.  However, the track was laid using mostly hoof scent and very little blood.  Also, about an inch of rain fell between the time the track was laid and the time we ran the trail.  As he drove to my destination, my friend asked that I put down some more blood fearing that the other had been washed away.  I assured him that it wouldn't be necessary, and declined to do so.  

When he and his dog, Elkie arrived, I made some suggestions regarding other issues that I observed, then got her ready for the track.  I asked to run her on the track myself with my friend observing just behind me.  Though the track was not perfect, his dog easily completed the trail with only a modicum of redirection and assistance.  Furthermore, her tracking drive was excellent, much better than he had been observing.  This was undoubtedly due to the fact that this track offered more of a challenge, and therefore held more interest for the dog.  

Since that track just a couple of weeks ago, my friend has implemented many of the changes that I have suggested.  His dog has improved exponentially since that time, improving with each track.  His confidence has also started to improve which should improve his deer recoveries this fall.  

The moral of the story is simple.  Don't underestimate your dog.  Require it to work through tough tracks, and assist it only when absolutely necessary to get it back on track.  Don't bore your dog with tracks that are too easy.  Find your dog's limitations and then train to extend them as far as you can.  Following these suggestions will make you and your dog more prepared to recover wounded deer and other game.  

Good hunting!  Brady