Blood trailing questions

Stringer

Well-Known Member
Finally had a try with my six month old lab yesterday and I am fairly pleased with how he did.

I set the trail by dragging a roe pluck for about 40m and left a skin and head along with a few tasty morsels at the end. Left it for around an hour before returning.

He didn't get the idea right away, but after I had pointed out the trail a couple of times we eventually got there. He did stop a couple of metres short, a bit suspicious of the skin/head (he has been fed on a number of legs and heads in the past) but I coaxed him in with the titbits. He is quiet a quiet reserved sort of pup.

Couple of questions for the experienced trailing guys.

-Should I start the trail with and leave an occasional titbit along the way to encourage him?

- Would you try to get him to rag the skin, before trying another trail, to gee him up a bit.

Sure I'll think of more later but these'll do for now.

Angus.jpg


Thanks

Stephen
 
Well done on getting started. If the dog has a brain and a nose he will get the drift very quickly. In a training track start it as what you could perhaps expect at a shot site. For a young dog a good squirt of blood, some hair, bit of lung. Use a stick placed in the ground for your own reference as to start. Again for your own reference try and mark the trail in some way so that if the dog does wander onto another scent you know where he should be going so just stand still. Let him explore it for a bit, he must learn to distinguish between other scents and the one you want him to follow but the only way he can learn this is by scenting the two and deciding the right one. If he does really want to go on the wrong trail correct him by taking him back to the right one. As your trails get longer you can get a roll of tape and as you pass trees when laying the trail use the tape by tying a piece onto a branch.

Leaving morsels of food on the trail is a good idea especially when he realises that finding one piece and tracking along here gets me another is a good plan. Hungry dogs track better for food rewards than fed ones.
Rag the skin, feed him, make a big fuss of him - anything that makes him believe that in finding that skin all his birthdays and Christmases have come at once. No doubt labs being always hungry dogs will find food rewards attractive. My BMH is not a big eater but when out walking he found a ball on a rope that some other dog had lost. He loves this toy and throwing it is kept for the end of a track.
Labs always have that knowledgeable look about them.
 
Thanks Gazza, good post.

He does like a retrieving game (as youd expect) but was trying to keep that separate as I hope to eventually (once he is wed to deer) get him onto game. He is not a particullarly greedy lab but I am still feeding him twice a day. Maybe on tracking days I'll only feed him once and keep that until after he has had his track.

Do you work your dog on a long lead (harness or collar)? I am undecided but would it be an idea to get him on it right away?

Thanks again.
 
Stephen,

If your dog is on a 2 meals a day regime - probably a good idea for a youngster's digestion - then stick to it if you are using titbits as a training aid, and just delay the meal at whatever end of the day you are tracking until afterwards.

I'm using a harness and long leash on my BMH, and put it on just before introducing him to a trail so that it acts as a trigger and conditions him to tracking, harness = nose down = something deer to find. If you are intending to use him on game later, then the harness might make it easier to help him differentiate from the two disciplines.
 
Thanks Orion.

Had him out tonight with a wee cutting of a skin on a piece of string tied to a pole. Got him quiet wound up chasing for a minute or so then let him catch it and after a couple of times of this had him ragging it well.

Hopefully be a bit keener next time I try him.

How many times can a pluck be used and re frozen? Is there any benefit to dripping a bit of blood on the line as you drag the pluck or am I underestimating his powers of scent?

Thanks again
 
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