Bullet, one week later...

Well, Bullet has been with us for a week now. Boy, what a difference that week can make! When Bullet came to us, he had never run a track or mock track. He also demonstrated very little prey drive when the reward was encountered. After just a single week of training, he has learned what is expected, and is running newer tracks with precision and enthusiasm. During his first week, he has completed about 15 tracks of various difficulty, including one overnight track (10 hours old), and one 8 hour old track. Both required some encouragement as they don’t hold the same interest as a very fresh track. Still, he managed to complete them. Part of training is testing the limits of the dog, and learning how hard to push. Most of our tracks have been under 4 hours old, and limited to about 100 yards. All tracks up to this point have been made using a drag of fresh hoof with blood sprinkled over the fur. This leaves a solid scent line, but still puts down very little scent. We will mix things up with some lines using just blood in the future, and then progress to hooves over the next few weeks.

The following video is of a track that Bullet completed last night. There is nothing exceptionally difficult about this track aside from the very dry ground upon which is was laid. There is almost no vegetation to hold the scent. My goal was to make him really have to get his nose on the ground in order to follow the scant trail. The trail was only about an hour old due to fading light. You can clearly see that in the beginning, Bullet was having a little trouble locking onto the scent, but once he got it locked in, he was off to the races. If you can excuse my poor camera work and lead handling, you will likely enjoy watching this talented little guy work. { In the video I note in the video that “the flags are not where the line is.” Actually, much of the track was laid adjacent to the line, I just wasn’t using the flags to mark the trail. They were a boundary marker for an underground fence. }

In addition to running mock tracks, Bullet is also learning all sorts of other useful tools. He is getting increasingly reliable at “sit/stay”, which is always a challenge for a strong willed Bavarian. His recall is improving daily, and he has advanced very well on an e-collar after just a few sessions. He is learning good manners in the dog box. He is also really fitting in well with my current pack of dogs. Full yard play time with all the dogs is his favorite activity. Every day is a learning experience, and we are doing our best to take advantage of each situation. Stay tuned to future tracking updates.

Good hunting! Brady