Training Your Dog for Tracking
Monday, October 12th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Training tracking dogs is often the work of trainers for police departments, but hunters and even some dog enthusiasts also train their dogs how to track. Schutzhund dog clubs and some kennel clubs hold tracking competitions for club members. If tracking is something you’d like to train your dog to do, you can practice with your dog at to get him started. Some people even train their dogs to track their children’s scent, just in case you need to find them in a hurry. Dogs are gifted by nature with such an incredible sense of smell that they can easily find hidden items quite-especially with the right training and motivation.
To get started with training tracking to your dog, just use the following four steps.
- You want to start by picking out your dog’s most favorite toy. It is not important if it is a ball or a chew toy-so long as he just loves to play with it. The first step is to teach your pet word association. Just put the toy somewhere your dog can see it in the room you are training him in. If his favorite plaything is a ball, for example, repeat the word ball frequently as you play with your dog. The repetition of the word ball will soon get your dog to word associate and learn what the word ball means. Soon, just by saying ball, your dog should start looking to find his ball for a play session. When he does this, you should give him a lot of praise and a reward-that let’s him know he’s doing what you like. This positive reinforcement training will get you the fastest results. You want to keep repeating this game until your dog has shown he has really made the connection with the word and the favorite toy.
- For the next step of training tracking you will now put the ball into a different room. You should say ball (for example), and he should start looking around for the ball. Since the ball is in another room now, he can’t see it-but he will start sniffing for it. He should start searching for his ball by following his nose. Make sure to follow your dog closely enough to give him rewards of praise and a treat as soon as he finds his ball. You will need to repeat this step until your dog is a pro at finding his toy. The praise and rewards he gets for finding his ball quickly really keep his motivation level high. Hide the toy in different locations until you see that your dog has the ability to find the toy easily no matter where you have hidden it.
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- Since your dog is now an expert at finding his toy, he is ready to move on up to the next level of tracking training. To start, you want to clean his toy well enough to eliminate any lingering scents that are on it. After the ball is clean, you should wrap your son or daughters used t-shirt or socks-something imprinted with their particular scent-this will let that particular smell get onto the ball. After leaving the clothing wrapped around the ball for awhile, resume the tracking game with your dog as before. Your dog will now find his favorite ball by keying in on the scent of your child.
- Now you are ready the next step. This part is fun. First of all, instead of hiding his favorite toy, ask your child to hide in another room. Tell your dog to get his toy-he’ll do so by searching for that special scent, which happens to be the same as your child’s. Stay close to him so that you can give him plenty of praise and rewards the moment he finds your child. Be sure to make a fun game of the searching and your pet will show you how eager he is to search and find what you want him to. To improve your dog’s tracking abilities, ask your child to hide further away, until your dog can find him over some distance.
With this simple tracking training it won’t be long before you can send your dog after your child if they are late for dinner, or need to do some homework. Tracking dog training is really a lot of fun for both your dog and for you, so give it a try, and see what a great game it can be. In case your dog is a standout at tracking, there are tracking competitions at some kennel clubs.
I hope you enjoyed this article on tracking dog training. For other free helpful articles about dog obedience training and solving your dog’s behavior problems, please visit: www.BehaveDoggy.com.
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