It might be of interest to those currently training to share 'part 2' of the article - please find below....................
Training for a tracking dog begins with the first days of his life, that is why it is so important to choose the right breeder. The breeder’s job is to prepare the puppy for his life and give him an idea of his job in the future. After the puppy has arrived in his new home, the new owner is responsible for his development. From now on, it is up to us to help the puppy to grow up strong and to evolve the self-confidence required. Developing this confidence is the most important thing for a Teckel puppy in the first two months within its new home.
In my training program, the hunting dog is learning to handle every situation and can win every time. I play a lot with the puppies. In those games, they make the experience how to respond and how to fight. For those games, I use the hides from every type of big-game the dog should recover when he is a tracking dog – red deer, roe deer, boar etc. These silly, playful games are important to me because they build up the motivation and the drive we need later on.
Between the ages of 8 and 16 weeks, I also put a lot of time in creating rules and working on the basics of the obedience. Blood-tracking is mainly nothing else other than pure obedience work. I do the priming work for the obedience with the “Place-board”. The method that I am using is called “operate condition”. In the “operate condition” the dog shows me a behavior and I reward this with his food or ignore it. The good behavior that I reward will show more often than the ignored behavior. Therefore, the dog is learning very fast and having some additional fun. In that stage, that puppy can learn sit, down, recall and begin walking to heel.
I also use the “Place-board” for preparation for the blood work. I condition the puppy to a certain odour signature within a little jar. In the first step, he learns to use his nose on the empty little jar for one second (without a hole in the lid) and further on for a few seconds (with holes in the lid). Then I take a little jar and put everything that I find in the wood (leaves, dirt and twigs) plus every kind of animal blood inside. I call this the “Mix”. In the next step, the puppy sits next to me on the “Place-board” and I present him two little jars- one jar is empty and the other one contains the “Mix”. When the puppy points at the little jar with the “Mix” inside I reward this behavior. Nothing happens when he points towards the empty jar- he will get no food. The target of this work is that the dog points at the right little jar every time and will be a dependable pointer.
In the first two months, I also accustom the puppies to a tracking collar and the leash. This is so important because they have to feel comfortable when they are working with the tracking collar. This ‘feeling’ is very closely linked to the performance he will show us in our work. Among other things, I begin to start to activate the nose of the dog. I think the best way to do this is to instruct the puppy with the food-drive. The food-drive is very good to regulate the dog during his work. The puppy learns very quickly that if you work you will get food, and the better you work the more food you can earn. From day one in my training system, the puppy makes the connection that if you want to eat you had better perform well. Another positive side of the food-drive is that I link the dog to the ground-wounding or ground disturbance.
I lay a track only in my hiking boots and put food inside of that track. I use a lot of food, normally the amount of a whole meal for the dog. I do that to slow the puppy down because they are not able to eat, sniff and run at the same time. They learn fast that slowly means precisely and precisely is the best way to fill the empty belly. The puppy soon understands the experience that the ground-wounding feeds him and that there is food in every footprint. It is a very big thing for the puppy to work the food-drive but I give the track no specific priority. I never put a reward, a hide or the food bowl on the end of a simulated line. If you do that, the result is very clear; the puppy will become too focused on the ‘end’ of the track. He likes to get to the jackpot and forgets to concentrate on his work. The journey is the reward!
My way of training teaches the dog to go slowly and precisely because the ‘route’ to the end is the ‘goal’. He learns to follow the line of ground disturbance and food trail very slowly and precisely. The first food-drives are in an environment without any distraction. It is very important that the puppy is only focused on the track. At that age, I prefer that tracks are 30 to 60 meters. This is enough and more would be too much for the concentration span of the young puppy. As I mentioned above winning and success is everything at that age.
During the 4-8 month period, I start to train the dogs on “Spurlaut”. That means that I use any chance to work the dog on the track of a hare. For the first training, I let the puppy see one hare and let him chase that hare running free. The next step is that I look for a hare that has moved on and let the dog work only the track – with nose not eyes. I use a light leash and the tracking collar for that work. I let the dog follow as far as the dog is able to hold the line, and as far as I can control if he is on or not. As mentioned in part one, a Teckel that can follow a hare trail, with voice, for 400 meters will have the natural ability to follow wounded big game.
In the education of blood-tracking I begin to change from the food-drive to the scent-shoes and train the dogs on longer tracks. In addition, I change from areas without distraction to areas with light distraction. I start to work the dogs in the wood. The ageing time from preparing the track to following-it-up will be 12 to 20 hours. In this stage, I narrow the food down to zero in the hoof-prints, but I put closed food bowls in the track and normally the last bowl and one of the deer cleaves from the scent shoes on the end of the line. This is the only sign for the dog “you are reaching the target”, no prioritizing on the end. So no playing or fuss at the end. It is very important that you know exactly where the track is because you cannot correct the dog (in the right situation) if you do not know the exact line of the trail. Therefore, you have to mark it clearly. I use chalk on the trees for example. Knowing the route of the trail precisely is crucial.
From eight to 12 months I begin to work on longer tracks with more time between preparing and following-up. I start to train the dog on 40-hour tracks. I change the game cleaves used in the scent-shoes and we are more focused on preparing the dog for the upcoming trials. Normally at that age, I begin to work the dog out of his comfort zone. That means I work the dog into mistakes and see how he behaves. For example, I lay a drag with a fresh hide across my blood trail on three parts of the line shortly before I follow it with the dog. I mark very exactly the crossing point and wait to see what happens. If the dog follows the distraction, I correct him very clearly. In the next step, I watch how his body language changes when he comes to the next crossing point.
I always correct the dogs when they leave the track very, very clearly. These corrections are vital to create a reaction in the body language of your dog. That way helps you to learn his behavior when he is on or off the track. Every dog shows in his body language if he is on the line or on a distraction. Our training helps us to understand the dog and, with that knowledge, it is easy to control him on real recovery. The most important thing is that I train as often as possible - normally every day. Because the dog is working for his daily food.
