quick tracking question

ksb

Well-Known Member
i have been using deer blood to lay trails for a 10 month gwp pup. He follows the trail well without problem but i noticed that as he comes close to the end of the trail where a piece of hide has been left in cover he will leave the trail in his excitement to get to the hide. He will always find the hide and i am not keen on trying to limit his eagerness at this stage to keep him on the line. could this result in problems further into his training and working career. when i say he leaves the line early i mean that about 10 meters from the end of the blood trail he knows from the sent of the hide that it is close and will step up a gear and forget the blood trail and go straight for the hide.

thanks
keith
 
im sure others with more experience than me will post but sounds like hes winding the hide and going on air scent rather than the blood. the result is finding the hide which is what you want . sounds like hes using all his skills rather than relying on blood alone. have you laid tracks without blood or only a couple of spots rather than a trail?.
 
i lay the trail with a few drops of blood every 6-8 meters or so and maybe a little more to indicate a turn for him as he is starting out. I am happy that his prey drive builds once he gets onto the scent of the hide and it is encouraging that he wants to get the reward at the end of the trail which should make for easier training but just concerned that i may be introducing problems further into his training. i guess it is always easier trying to curb a dogs drive than to introduce drive if not naturally present in the dog.
 
I wouldnt worry about it at the end of the day the job the dog has to do is to find the dead or wounded deer. I think dogs use a combination of scents to work things out as long as the end result is quarry found then job is done
 
IMO in practical terms there is no big problems. The dog has successfully followed the trail to a conclusion of finding the hide. I agree that he is wind scenting the hide over the last few meters and if you wish you could lay your trails so that the hide is downwind so as to lessen the chance of him winding it and getting him accustomed to tracking right to the end. In the field the deer that your dog is tracking could be located upwind, downwind etc so it may well be that he will take advantage of the wind to locate. My BMH uses the wind over the last few meters but instead of rushing in uses it to approach more cautiously. I would say that comes from him realising that the deer could still be alive and kicking.
My advice would be to do nothing that will curb your dogs enthusiasm to find that hide but alter the positioning of the hide in relation to wind direction to get him to obtain experience in all situations.
 
As Gazza has said try placing the hide downwind, so he has to follow the trail to it. One thing that I have done is to put some blood on the hide, as a beast will usually have blood splattered somewhere on it as it runs and I also believe that a clean skinned hide smells different to a freshly dead or wounded animal. Yes you want the dog to tell you (point)when there are deer about that you haven't seen, but you don't want the dog to trail deer scent it needs to concentrate on a blood trail otherwise your dog can loose the blood trail if another deer crosses over the blood trail and leaves a fresher scent and the dog goes off after that one instead.


To lay a blood trail I use a puppy feeding bottle as I find it easier to select fine drops or simulate the spray from the hit.


Ade
 
Approx 1' square , there was a bit of a Wiff of it as I left it out to thaw for a few days. I could have trailed it myself

Thanks for the replies
Keith
 
Only use fresh hide or hooves. Don't put blood on the hide. A bit of hide 1" x 6"s should be more than enough. Hide, hoof placed down wind. Common mistake to use to much blood when laying a trail. No you don't have to lay the trail out to one side useing sticks and sponges. tracking shoes are good or just pull a hoof along on 2/3mtrs string. just make the track more difficult useing less blood as the training progresses.
 
Jager How often would you lay trainIng trails for your pups, I tend to train obedience every day but any books I read on tracking point to one trail per week max.
 
When I ran out of "fresh" hide I put a few pieces of his dry dog food deep in the grass at the end of the trail. He never shot forward or winded it.
Also I left the blood for over a day before I put the pup on the trail, he never had any problems. He always overshot the 90' degree turns by a meter or so but made his way back to the line.
 
Hi KSB
The chaps are right, do some of your tracks into the wind, instead of using a piece of "stinking" hide use a hoof they are easier to store frozen and you don't need to thaw them out.
Lay your blood trail, leave it for an hour before you put your dog on it and it will have thawed out by the time you come to use it, if you have access to plenty of feet let you GWP have it to chew on as a reward. Let me know how far on you are on with your training and if I can help with anything let me know
Best regards
Trevor
 
Keith
I have a Hungarian Wire Haird Vizsla, she replaces my GWP who I had to have put down a couple of years ago due to old age and ill health.
Trevor
 
ksb, If you are past the 50mtr stage with your dog once a week is plenty. Go over to useing hooves instead of skin. You don't see many deer get away laying on there side. Make the track longer and more challenging. start puting in 20+ stretches with out blood ,just the hoof. By ten months a pup should be following a 500mtr trail at 12 hours old and should be ready for a novice class tracking test.
 
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