3. Recovering the track after losing it
4. Tracking surely despite adverse weather or ground conditions
5. Ignoring cross tracks
Several years ago, one of the best and most consistent tracking dogs in the United States landed a spot on the American team that was to compete at the world championships. While out on its track the day of the championships, its handler was appalled when this excellent dog suddenly and unequivocally stopped tracking at a point where the terrain changed abruptly from field grass to com stubble. It appeared as if the dog had run into a brick wall. It simply would not pass from one field to the next. Despite outstanding scores in the other two phases of competition, its handler went home a bitterly disappointed man.
What the dog clearly understood from its training was that one does not go where there is no track. Because of lack of experience, the dog concluded from the drastic change of terrain that when the track scent changed, its track ended there at the edge of the grassy field.
In order to avoid problems like this, handlers can systematically train the dog to track confidently across all sorts of changes in terrain—from dirt to short grass, from wheat stubble to alfalfa, and so forth.
Whenever he can take advantage of such changes, the handler lays relatively simple tracks across them, always leaving some sort of reward (an article or a food drop) on the track ten or twenty paces past the zone of difficulty. At first the handler helps the dog carefully across the border between the two types of terrain, staying close to it and pointing out the track to it if it becomes uncertain. Later, the handler stays back a few feet on the long line, and obliges the dog to work through the transition in track scent itself.
As a result of just a little methodical training, the dog can gain great skill and confidence in tracking from one type of terrain into a vastly different type.
Many times the authors have encountered unusual obstacles while tracking. One of us was once obliged to shinny over a huge fallen tree in the midst of an FH track. The dog scrambled across and immediately recovered the track and set off down it. Even in Schutzhund III competition, dogs are not infrequently required to track across dirt roads, ditches or sharp inclines. It is best that we carefully teach our dog how to negotiate these small disturbances in track scent before it encounters them in a trial.
The handler lays his track across the obstacle (a dirt road, for instance) very carefully, leaving distinct footsteps all the way up to it, heavily scenting the road itself, and even laying a bait right in the middle of it. A few feet on the other side of it, he leaves an article.
The first few times that he takes his dog over such an obstacle, he helps the animal across and makes sure that it finds the article easily. Once the dog shows an understanding of its task, the handler simply gives it a lot of line. He lets the dog cross the road, cast about on the other side until it recovers the track and then follows it down to the article.
Soon the dog will develop a useful strategy for crossing obstacles without losing its composure, even when they are virtually devoid of scent.
It is a fact of life that the dog will, on occasion, completely lose the track. When this occurs in competition, the experience is nerve-wracking for the handler, as he watches his dog cast for the track and listens behind him for the blast on the judge’s whistle that will tell him that his day of competition is over. Much of the stress of having the dog go wide of the track can be reduced if we know that the dog has a strategy for recovering it.
Losing the track is expensive in terms of points, especially if the dog has to cast across a wide area to refind it. But, if it does recover the track and follow it out to the end, the judge will take note of its persistence and, during his critique, comment favorably on the dog’s ability to work independently.
We begin teaching the dog by using a heavily baited straight track. Somewhere along it, the handler simply takes a giant step off to the right or the left and then continues parallel to his original path, again baiting each footstep as he goes.
When the dog comes down the first leg of the track to the dead end, it will indicate loss of track, and then begin to cast about. The baits on the second, parallel leg will help it to locate it easily. In addition, the handler stays close by its side to keep it from circling or casting too far back and forth. Ideally, the animal will search slowly and carefully, so that it covers the area immediately about it very efficiently and without a great deal of wasted movement that will cost it points in the trial and possibly get it even more lost than it was originally.
After the dog has learned to search efficiently, the handler gradually reduces the amount of bait on both legs of this “step-over” track. It is absolutely essential that the handler know exactly where both legs begin and end. Therefore, he should always lay his own step-overs, rather than employ a tracklayer.
One of the most useful benefits of this type of proofing is that the dog will not become stressed or anxious when it loses the track during a trial, because rather than being punished for its error, it has learned a way to rectify it.
Proofing for bad weather and terrain means going out to track in unpleasant conditions such as strong wind, rain or very high or low temperatures. It also means laying tracks on sandy, rough or hard-packed surfaces and in dead or newly mowed grass.
The important thing is to help the dog a great deal initially so that it can negotiate these conditions successfully and meet them without losing its composure.
In Hungary in 1985, the competitors in the world championships had been promised lush tracking fields, so everyone worried far more about the obedience and protection phases. No one in Hungary expected weather in the high 90s in late September. Neither did they expect cornfields seared by the sun. That year the dogs worked in terrible heat on dead, brown vegetation. Competitors who finished with a passing score breathed a sigh of relief, and undoubtedly they passed because they had prepared their dogs well for such adversities.
Few of us have the opportunity to work in fields that are absolutely clean. The vast majority of available tracking sites are chronically contaminated by mice, other dogs, and scurrying rabbits, joggers or schoolchildren taking shortcuts. For this reason it is important to proof the dog on cross tracks, so that it will ignore them and continue following the tracklayer’s footsteps.
Again, the handler lays a straight track for the dog, and then arranges to have a number of different types of cross tracks “cut” it—a bicyclist, a person on foot, a car, etc. It is best if, in the beginning, these cross tracks are greatly different in age than the handler’s track. A few yards past the point where each cross track will cut his footsteps, the handler leaves a reward for the dog—an article or a bait.
As the dog passes over each cross track, it is allowed to, and even should, acknowledge it. However, it if begins to commit to it in any way, the handler gently stops the animal and redirects it back to the track without scolding or punishing it. As soon as the dog is back on the original footsteps, he encourages the animal to continue tracking.
Once the dog has had extensive practice and shows an understanding of the task, the handler can correct it if it commits to a cross track. A quiet “Phooey!” and a light slap on the back with the tracking line should be sufficient.