Rowdy and Heidi

[Brushpile]

Welcome back Brush! Time to get after it. My search continues...

Any luck? My contact is a good one and travels all over Europe to dog shows.

You had better believe that we are getting after it! Tracking is going well, but Rowdy is too wild to obedience train at this stage. I need to get Rowdy house trained before Heidi arrives in about 2 months. :-o

 

[Doctorbrady]

Your contact in Europe has been somewhat helpful. She will certainly be useful when it comes time to import a puppy. Breeds that I am looking at, are very uncommon, even in Europe. Trying to scour through all the necessary information in a foreign language has proved to be a challenge. I joined a German hunting forum today. Hopefully that will move me forward. Surprisingly, I was offered a puppy of the initial breed I was looking at from the Austrian club, but I have read things that give me mixed emotions. I need more information before pulling the trigger, and they respond SLOWLY to any email inquiries I send.

 

[wbpdeer]

Was Elkie and Rowdy watching the Packers put away the Lions for a huge victory.

Congrats to you Packer fans. Your QB has it going his way now that Jordy N. is back on the field.

Wayne

 

[Brushpile]

Ran a couple training tracks today. Elkie gets the track after Rowdy, and I extend the track. This is also good training for Elkie to track after another dog, since on many of her tracks another dog has been used. :-( Rowdy is growing fast and progressing well.

To keep Rowdy on track I lace the track with hotdog slices, a trick I learned from doctorbrady. I also used 3 ounces of blood and cooked heart meat for a reward.

 

[wbpdeer]

Guess you are feeling better since you got the dogs out. You got more snow on the ground than we got.

Always great to get an update on your tracking crew and their training.

Wayne

 

[Brushpile]

13 degrees here this morning. Went back to Urgent Care and had a doctor with ears. I'm 65 with a long history, I know what I need if the doctor will listen! I was better the next day!!!

 

[wbpdeer]

Your Packers started slow but got rolling once they found their rhythm. The Pack and the Cowboys will be a great matchup.

Wayne

 

[Jeff H]

I truly enjoy these dog threads and find the processes fascinating. I love dogs, always have.
I do have a novice question regarding training. How do you keep the dogs from relating to your scent as you lay out their tracks? Seems to me they could find their prize just by following your scent. Do you take any scent control precautions or is that overkill ? Is their instinctual drive for blood strong enough to override their master's scent ?

 

[Doctorbrady]

I truly enjoy these dog threads and find the processes fascinating. I love dogs, always have.
I do have a novice question regarding training. How do you keep the dogs from relating to your scent as you lay out their tracks? Seems to me they could find their prize just by following your scent. Do you take any scent control precautions or is that overkill ? Is their instinctual drive for blood strong enough to override their master's scent ?

Very good question! There is no way to keep a dog from following your scent to some degree. I use rubber boots every time I lay a track, and often use scent eliminating spray on the boots just prior to laying the track. Still, I have had my dogs follow the trail I used to exit the area after laying the track, even after 24+ hours have elapsed. That said, the dog has no incentive to follow the track that smells just like the person walking behind it. It does have incentive and desire to follow the smell of the blood and deer. This is imprinted from a very early age, and is often imprinted for generations within a breed.
Eventually, my training progresses to using mostly hoof scent with very little blood, as this is similar to the majority of our real tracks. The transition is made by using both hoof and blood for a period of time. I have never had a dog that struggled with the transition. It is a very natural thing for them to do. Also, human foot scent dissipates much more rapidly than blood or deer interdigital gland scent (which is waxy). The odor of the deer hoof and blood is much more potent and intriguing to the dog if the track is aged for several hours or more. My goal is to progress a dog rapidly to tracks that are at least 8 hours old for that reason.

 

[Jeff H]

Thank you for the explanation. It makes much more sense now and I see why you would want to progress to the aged track quickly.
You and Brush should have a dog training conclave in the off season. I'd pay $20 just to meet your dogs.

 

[Kabic]

I though I read something in the past about a way to use a ropeand a pulleys to lay a track that wouldn't have human scent.

a quick google I found this tip

Have a friend help you with the drag rope to ensure that your young dog does not just track your foot scent. Use a long rope with the bird or dummy attached in the middle. With each holding one end of the rope, you and the friend drag the bird between you far enough away that pup cannot get your foot scent. You will easily be able to see if pup follows the correct line.

 

[wbpdeer]

When you lay the line down, are you dragging a cloth or using a medicine dropper to put little drops of blood on the trail.

Do you drag liver on a line or fishing line? We ask these types of questions because we don't know. Seems like a good stiff flying rod would allow you to get the blood line away your ground scent at least 8 to 10 feet.

I do like the idea of you trackers putting on a day event. Bet you would have to limit the attendees because it would be popular no doubt.

Hunters would benefit being told how to avoid contaminating the trail (tracking blood on bottom of boots). Would be a great event.

Appreciate these tracking threads. Thanks.

 

[Brushpile]

Your Packers started slow but got rolling once they found their rhythm. The Pack and the Cowboys will be a great matchup.

Wayne

Thank you for the explanation. It makes much more sense now and I see why you would want to progress to the aged track quickly.
You and Brush should have a dog training conclave in the off season. I'd pay $20 just to meet your dogs.

You are always welcome.

 

[Doctorbrady]

There are lots crazy things on the internet . I am not sure how to use a rope and pulley on a 1200 meter track through our woods. A lot of people want to show their "better way" of laying tracks, and that is fine. The Europeans have been using hoof shoes for100 years with great results. It is a tried and true method for developing a solid tracking dog. There is little advantage to having the blood or hoof scent offset by a yard or two because the dog can still pick up the scent several yards off the line. I NEVER drag a piece of hide when training dogs as this leaves way too much scent for the dog and does not develop any track discipline. I do drag a short section of a leg when initially starting a pup on hoof scent. Layla could follow an 8 hour old 200 meter hoof drag at a full run at 12 weeks old. This is just not much of a challenge for a developed dog.
There a lots of good ways for putting down blood. I use a 3 oz "airline approved" type of travel shampoo bottle that I pick up at Wally World for a buck. It has a snap lid. I use about 2-3 oz on a typical 1000 meter track with hoof shoes. A trickle from the bottle every 20-30 yards is sufficient for a developed dog. I usually try to leave at least 50-100 meters with no blood during each track.

 

[Doctorbrady]

I do a lot of informal consulting with new trackers. I would love to do a day or two with a group of interested trackers if there was enough interest. United Blood Trackers does a great job at their yearly Trackfest. It is being held in NY this year. I should have a new pup this summer to work. It looks like one of my team is being sold to a new tracker household. He will love getting to live inside full time, and tracking for some NC hunters.

 

[Doctorbrady]

If you can't tell, Brush and I are thoroughly sick with the tracking bug.

 

[Brushpile]

Pictured next to a bowl of deer liver is a 3 ounce plastic perfume bottle that will squirt or drip blood. In the bowl is cooked deer liver for the reward, (I usually use raw but it was getting old). In the bag are hotdog slices to lace the track. Rowdy started off with liver drags but has graduated to blood. Rowdy's breeder told me to make tracks easy, successful and fun to reward and create prey drive, so I lace the track with hotdog. The hotdog makes the dog work close to the line, so they don't work the scent plume 10 feet off the track. I use hotdogs with Elkie from time to time to tighten her up.

The next step is to gradually age and lengthen the track, then add a leg drag with blood, then hooves and blood and finally just hooves with very little blood. The reward can be anything from a deer that the dog likes, such as hide, leg, tail, liver, heart, venison...

 

[Jeff H]

Do you guys ever train in an area where there is a lot of contamination ? Like a park or public hunting land ?

 

[Doctorbrady]

Pictured next to a bowl of deer liver is a 3 ounce plastic perfume bottle that will squirt or drip blood. In the bowl is cooked deer liver for the reward, (I usually use raw but it was getting old). In the bag are hotdog slices to lace the track. Rowdy started off with liver drags but has graduated to blood. Rowdy's breeder told me to make tracks easy, successful and fun to reward and create prey drive, so I lace the track with hotdog. The hotdog makes the dog work close to the line, so they don't work the scent plume 10 feet off the track. I use hotdogs with Elkie from time to time to tighten her up.

The next step is to gradually age and lengthen the track, then add a leg drag with blood, then hooves and blood and finally just hooves with very little blood. The reward can be anyting from a deer that the doog likes, such as hide, leg, tail, liver, heart, venison...

Exactly! That is training 101 in a nutshell

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

What breeds of dogs do you see to be the best blood trackers?