The enemy of good is perfect. The bittersweet search for the perfect tracking dog.

I am a bit of a perfectionist.  There, I said it.  Most of the time the over achiever in me has helped me to meet the goals which I have set for myself.  Other times the same trait has been burdensome, as "good enough" is rarely satisfactory for me.  This is especially true when it comes to my tracking dogs.

I have owned some pretty darn good dogs, and trained several others.  I have also observed some of the most talented dogs in the country work.  Since I first started tracking 7 years ago, my goal was to develop a world class blood tracking dog.  That search has led me to sell a couple of dogs that most trackers would be proud to own.  Chloe, my purebred Bavarian mountain hound, was the first of these heartaches.  I spent 3 years trying to develop Chloe into an outstanding tracking dog, but she never became as reliable as I wanted her to be on difficult tracks.  Not only did we track together for 3 seasons, but we bonded for 3 years as well.  She was the greatest frisbee dog that I have ever owned, and was a sweet clown of a dog. Still, I knew that she was not likely to become the tracker that I required.  Consequently, I needed to find her an appropriate home in order to make room to continue my search.  Thankfully I found a wonderful home for Chloe with an owner who truly loves that dog.  She is no longer tracking, but produced a litter of excellent trackers, and spends time working as a therapy dog in a nursing home.  I still get regular photos of her from her proud owner, which warms my heart.  She is exactly where she belongs.

That brings me to my latest tough decision, Echo.  Echo is a beagle/healer mix that one of my kids brought home 2 years ago this month, asking if we could keep him.  I said that he could stay if I could get him interested in following a track.  He was a natural right out of the gate.  At 6 months of age, Echo recovered 4 deer in a single weekend, totally about 600 inches of antler.  All of those tracks were well over 24 hours old when we arrived.  Echo's second season was somewhat less eventful because of time constraints I had, which limited our overall tracks.  Still he still continued to amaze me with his tracking ability.  His tracking style was very effortless.  In fact, many times I almost convinced myself that he wasn't even following the track, until he would drop his nose down and point out a speck of blood.  Echo is also a thinker.  He is one of those dogs where you can almost see the wheels turning as he works through a difficult trail.  Even more, you can see his growth from one tough track to the next.  Echo is also has one of the best dispositions of any dog that I have ever owned.  He has been calm and affectionate since he was a puppy.  He is rambunctious with other dogs, but EXTREMELY mellow with every person he has ever met.  He is the perfect companion dog.  The only thing that Echo lacks is prey drive on the track.  I have said many times that Echo only tracks because he knows that it pleases me, and I believe that is absolutely true.  Echo couldn't care less about finding a dead deer.  He has no interest in the dead animal.  He just loves the praise that he gets at the trail's end.  

While the desire to please is a fantastic trait in any dog, the lack of prey drive can occasionally lead to less than perfect results.  Twice last season, Echo ran really tough tracks only to walk past the downed deer without any indication that it was laying within yards of him.  On the first occasion I saw the deer, and we completed the recovery.  On the second, Echo tracked within a few yards and then meandered off in another direction.  Normally I would have seen the deer, but this area was extremely thick.  Also, this had been a long, tough track with very little detectable blood.  I was not convinced that the deer was dead, and had other calls to get to.  I ended up pulling Echo off the track, and calling it quits.  The following day the hunter discovered the deer within a few yards of where we ended the track.  A dog with a strong prey drive would have worked the deer over until I pulled him off of it.  On several occasions, I have witnessed Echo looking back at me for "permission" to continue across an obstruction like a fence or creek.  He moved right down the track when I gave him the OK, but he could have just as easily been called off the track that he was working.  Though these examples seem trivial, they can make or break a track that we have traveled hundreds of miles to complete.

Making the decision to find another tracking home for Echo was not a decision that I could make lightly.  He was the best dog that I had in my kennel, and probably the best dog that I had trained up to this point...darn that stinking perfection!  Still, I had to continue my quest for that perfect tracking dog, and my sweet wife said that 3 dogs was my limit.  The reason that I decided to re-home Echo rather than Layla had more to do with personalities and potential than current ability.  Echo's experience and calm nature make him a better tracker than Layla is at present, but Layla has all of the qualities that I look for in a great tracking dog...fantastic nose, plenty of smarts, trainability, stubborn persistence, and PREY DRIVE.  While she did not have a great freshman year, she has shown great promise for the future.  Also, Layla is very attached to me while Echo's affability allows him to be content around pretty much anybody.  

Finding a home for Echo was an easy task.  Who doesn't want a trained tracking dog?  They are worth their weight in gold, and are as rare as hen's teeth.  Finding the right home was the most important thing, and I was blessed to find the perfect new owner, friend, and handler for my little pal.  Andrew, the new handler, drove several hours with his wife to meet Echo and have a training weekend.  I wanted to get both he and Echo on the same page, so that they could reach their potential together.   Andrew also spent an additional day working Echo on tracks under my tutelage on the day that he took him home.  He did extremely well, and I could see that this was a perfect match.  Andrew is already planning some additional training days after he has had a chance to work with Echo on his own for a bit. They already have a late spring hog hunt lined up, and plan to get their first real track together on that trip.  Also, Andrew has been gracious enough to keep me updated on their progress together, as well as sending me photos of Echo enjoying time with his new family.  At this time, Andrew anticipates only using Echo to recover game for himself and his friends, but as trackers, we have all said that.  Tracking with dogs is addictive, and soon you want to find every wounded or lost animal that you can!  I have no doubt that they will find truck loads of game together.

So what happens now in my quest?  I spent months researching dogs all over the US and Europe, and contacted many breed clubs trying to make the right decision on which direction to move.  I even joined a German hunting forum to aid in my effort.  Towards the end, I thought that I had narrowed my search to one of two rare European breeds, the Styrian Coarse Haired Hound and the Alpine Dachsbracke. However, with every inquiry I was questioned about why I wasn't looking for a Hannoverian hound.  

I had basically written off the Hannoverian hound based on some of my difficulty with my Bavarian mountain hound, as the two are closely related.  Chloe was an excellent dog, but a bit too soft for my training preference.  I felt like the Hannoverian would pose many of the same problems.  However, I made some inquiries stateside about the imports being used for man trailing and drug detection, and was pleased to find out that many of the imported dogs are extremely gritty and mentally solid.  This is not to say that Bavarians are not extremely capable dogs.  I have seen some wonderful Bavarians, but for my personality I need a strong, confident dog that has a mind of its own, but is still able to handle correction.  I am hopeful that I have found that dog.  

The dam of my new pup, Ny, is a man trailing dog.  Her littermate, Ruin, is also a man trailer who I am told is gritty enough to be used as an apprehension dog.  The sire of the litter, Bear, is a deer tracking dog with high prey drive.  After months of anticipation and waiting, I received a notice that Ny has come into heat.  The news came the day after Echo left, which helped my mood.  Currently, she is in Texas for breeding.  If all goes as planned, I should be training my next dog in my quest by Summer.  I doubt that he will be ready to run many tracks for clients this fall, but we won't miss any opportunities to get him on appropriate tracks either!  Stay tuned!  In the meantime, Layla continues to make advancements, and should be up to the task come September.

Here are photos of Ny, Ruin, and Bear (in order).

Good hunting, Brady