It is well known that dogs have a great sense of smell, they are always sniffing everything on the street and even sniff each other's behinds to get to know each other. Would you like to take advantage of that quality and teach your furry to track? In that case, you need to choose a special tracking zone where you start the workouts and start the workouts as a game
Dogs track using their sense of smell, so the best way to teach them is outdoors, in a place where there are no strange or overly strong odors to distract them. You can take it to a nearby park large enough where you can release it. The best time to do this is early in the morning, when there aren't many foreign smells yet. If you want to know exactly how to teach your dog to track keep reading this article on our site:
Consistency and effort
Before you begin, you should bear in mind that training a dog requires patience and perseverance. At first you may not get the results you expect, but with perseverance and without getting angry with your dog, you can get him to learn to track.
What should you do to motivate your dog?
Using appropriate reinforcement is the ideal way to start working on this exercise. Remember that not all dogs respond in the same way to the same reinforcement: some will be much more predisposed if you use food, but another will prefer a ball or a kind word. Of course, you should always congratulate him when he does well and never scold him if he does poorly. Remember that tracking is a very fun and positive exercise for him, do not turn it into something negative.
Don't forget that training sessions should last around 5-15 minutes a day, so if you notice that your dog is too tired to track leave training for another day. Also, you must repeat the techniques often, this way the dog will progress little by little and day after day. Do not forget that you must avoid the 15 common mistakes when training a dog, actions that harm learning and reduce good responses.
Now that you know the working time and the use of reinforcement, read on to find out how to start your dog on tracking.
Teaching your dog to track step by step
Below we will explain the necessary steps to teach your dog to follow a trail and, later, to search:
- It is very important that your dog is calm before you start. If he is very excited, it is preferable that you play with him and then offer him a relaxing walk to calm him down. Once calm, it's time to start.
- Food with a strong smell is a perfect lure to get your dog's attention and will also leave an easy trail to follow. Canned wet food is a good place to start.
- Ask a friend to hold your dog and start preparing the area without him seeing you. This step is important, because if he sees where you have left the food, he probably won't use his senses, essential to move forward in the search.
- Rub some food on the grass to leave a trail and make a path with the food, at the end of the path, leave a good piece as a reward. In this way, your dog will relate that the search always has a reward.
- Once the trail is prepared, grab your dog on the leash and encourage him to search. Use a clear command, such as "search" to get your dog used to the command.
- If he can't seem to find the trail, help him and indicate the area with your finger. Keep repeating the word "search" throughout the process.
- Finally your dog will find the trail and reach the final prize, once the exercise is over we will allow him to rest.
Secure Tracking
It is highly recommended to practice this exercise regularly to ensure that our dog fully understands the "search" command. The more you practice, the better your dog will do and the more fun the exercise will be.
Now that you know the main technique you can start to create tracking tracks in different ways, with more or less food and even with a bit of difficulty: one idea is to store the food in small jars (and open them when your dog finds it) or hide it in other places. Practicing with different smells is also a highly recommended exercise to stimulate his sense of smell and teach him to look for different things. We can even teach him to look for truffles if we practice enough.
Now you know how to teach your dog to track, but remember not to lose patience, dogs learn little by little so don't get stressed and take advantage of these moments to have fun with your furry friend.
Tracking-Related Behavior Issues
It is very important that our dog understands that the tracking exercise is carried out in specific places (in the forest, for example) and that we only practice it there. It will also be essential not to use the word "search" in other circumstances. If this is not the case, it may happen that our dog spends all its efforts tracking the streets of your city, eating any food it finds on the ground or walking with its head down.
To avoid these problems you will always follow the guidelines that we have set for you and teach your dog to stay still on command. This exercise will help you to prevent him from eating something unwanted or getting lost in the woods during one of your sessions. Don't forget that basic obedience is critical to his safety.
