Young Eddies first track, it’s the second leg he’s had but the first time I’ve laid a trail for him, it was about 15yds on the garden and out of sight with some biscuits. He got on it and followed bang on, so what would be my next step more on the garden or short ones elsewhere?
Thanks, I’m getting some shoes sorted, should all his tracks be with him on a long lead? Or running free to start with.
Great advice. Without wanting to sound patronising at all, back garden trails of only a few yards can be a bit pointless and sometimes harder for a pups as (a) A cleave in a back garden will be wafting scent all over the place (b) it is such a familiar area with familiar distractions. You need at least 50 metres to settle the young dog in to the trail line and and to see if he is actually following the trail and not air scenting part of it, on that note, down wind trails are better for younger dogs. Personally I would always long lead to start with until you know they are competent and personally a small amount of blood on the shot site and then, if with scent shoes, maybe 50ml per 100 metres max - reducing this as competence increases. I once read of a guy who uses cleaned fairy liquid bottles!! For me this would indicate far too much blood is used. I started off using 200ml bottles but then moved on to 50ml bottles as I could be more accurate and dose just one droplet every couple of steps.
Beautiful use of the English language.
always on a line under control, there are two ways one with blood the other without, I personally prefer the without method, for a few reasons, firstly not using blood you get the dog to stick to a harder track from the off, this helps further down the line when your dogs actually tracking and the animal has not left any visible sign, when you use blood people always use too much the dog becomes lazy and expects it to be there. you can add into your tracks other excersises like marking a tree or log with only one drop of blood to get the dog to start marking them this then helps on harder tracks as the dog will show these marks, introducing this instead of using blood along the track the dog soon switches off and won't indicate for you so for my choice we always work no blood but will mark a spot just to get the dogs indicating as this is super important, not really for me because I know my dogs on the right track from her mannerisms and body language but for the person calling on me, because they often don't think your correct till the dog indicates something. regards wayne
We all do it John, why wouldn't you? Everyone is going to lay a little trail in the back garden. Having hunted with a number of breeds - terriers, lurchers, labs, followed hounds on foot - previously beagles, then harriers and now foxhounds, learning about scent is amazing. It often defies logic and often defies the books. So many variables come into play. Never underestimate your dog's nose but...at the same time...always remember that he is using his nose more than his eyes. What seems obvious to you as a handler, will be a different story for the dog. He will fail at seemingly easy things and he will amaze you with what seemed impossible. Always think from the dog's perspective. I try to imagine scent as a coloured mist - not really accurate but this helps imagine that close, smelly objects can be harder to pinpoint than a more diluted scent. Also, learn about vegetation 'wounding' or decay left by hoof prints and also how blood or flesh scent can actually improve/strengthen during a certain time frame. As your trails are aged longer, in wild places, contamination from other live game is a challenge that the dog will need to overcome - trail cams are great to show just what has passed your trail, in specific places, overnight.......you will be amazed.
...Enjoy
