Dino's MAR Dog Training

May 14, 2009

2009-05-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

I spent a few days in Lake County during the week, and while I was there I went on a horseback ride with a few friends I was with, including the horse owner.

After the ride, I got the scent of the horse I was riding and had Dino follow the track a couple of days later. I know Dino had not tracked a horse before, so I wanted to give him that experience. This track was also unique. From the barn we went up one road, and then another and then back along the same two roads, so I wanted to give Dino the experience of following the same scent up and back along the same road. He had no problem at all and got all the turns and followed the correct roads.

Friday, May 1, 2009

2009-05-03T19:06:00.001-07:00

San Francisco, Kathy had run Riley on a course about three days prior down Ortega to Sunset, right on Lincoln and then right on 24th back up to her house.

The weather was raining, cold and miserable. I brought Dot along for the experience so she can start to pick up on the words and the track. I scented her several times with the article inside the back, and she was very interested in the smell and was giving it a good wiff each time.

Dino did great on most of the track. He had a problem on a couple of turns, which was surprising since they were simple turns. I wasn't sure what was happening. When I restarted him a couple of times from that spot, he was great. Maybe it was the rain, but we had trained in the rain several times before. It was a very long track, and it was the end of the day. I probably should have ended it sooner than I did. I kind of got lost on 24th. I couldn't see where we were at because my glasses were all wet and the raincoat hood hung low.

Wednesday and Monday, April 2009

2009-04-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

Castro Valley - Long track I had to run Dino through in two separate occasions because I didn't have time to do entire track at once. Total urban tracking through neighborhoods and busy streets.

First half of track was after five days, and he did great. Got all the turns and switchbacks with no problem.

Second half of track was after one week. Did great. Got all the turns and switchbacks. The only problem he had was eating stuff on the ground, which I corrected him for.

I was very happy, especially the second half. The was the oldest track in our practice, and he did great!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

2009-04-22T00:05:00.000-07:00

San Carlos - My sister, Lorrie, and their dog, Rocki, walked a track for me the previous night. I got to San Carlos to pick up my mail and run the track around 10 PM. It was still very warm and breezy.

I told my sister to do some cross tracks and did she ever! This had not only a several cross tracks.

Dino figured out all the cross tracks in the correct direction and did the whole figure eight loops. He also got the track going up a set of concrete stairs after thoroughly checking the driveways on both sides. Plus this was done at night. Little street lighting and little traffic, though in the day time there is mild traffic. This is hillside suburban streets.

I was very happy.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

2009-04-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

I set up a nice figure eight loop to do Dino's first cross track. I set it up inside a parking lot of a small shopping center. The lot was big enough for me to park at one end and then loop across the street to another center and then come back toward the current lot while passing over a couple of busy blvds, also which I had not done before.

Dino totally nailed the track without a flinch on the cross track, which I was surprised. He crossed both blvds dead on. The track was less than 24 hours.

The problem I did have, which I was not totally surprised about is that it was about 70 degrees and in the middle of the day. In the past he has run toward the nearest shade, but this time I was prepared. It was not that hot, and he still has to work even if he a little uncomfortable. He went toward some shade spots in the beginning, but I had to be firm with him. I firmly told him "Wrong" which he hates. I firmly told him "get to work" and "search." He went out of the shade and continued on the track. He did that a couple more times, and each time I did the same thing. He clearly knew where the track was. He followed it to the "T" all the way through. He did attempt to go into the shade a couple more times, and I did the same thing.

I intentionally kept the track short just to work on the cross track and working in heat. He got lots of play and treats at the end. I hope I made it worthwhile to him. I have to do more of that.

Approximately April 13, 2009

2009-04-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

I rewalked the Castro Valley hill track again with Scout and then, 48 hours later, I ran the track again with Dino. Again, he was hesitant in the beginning, but this time we ran the track in early evening, so he may have remembered the last track, because heat was not a problem. Eventually he got into the track and he got all the turns and switches. He did have a problem when we got to the top of the track where there was access to an open space area, but I think this was based on seeing two other dogs in there and wanting to go play with them. I did correct him with "wrong" and eventually we got back to the track.

He followed it down the hill and got the switch across the street to the one way road. He got the cross over to Rolando, but he missed the first time of the cross across the street. I think he was distracted by some kids he saw ahead of him, but once I brought him back and I was more firm with him to "get to work" he got the street crossing.

On one corner near the end he missed the left turn and crossed the street, but he then did indicate loss of scent and we check all the corners and eventually got back on track. He followed it all the way down the hill and made the cross across the street. I ended the track just after that cross since the track had been long. We played with the rawhide and he got treats.

Friday, April 3, 2009

2009-04-03T11:58:00.001-07:00

Castro Valley - Well, we went to do the track in CV, but we were not able to get out there until after 1 PM, and by then it was pretty warm. Since I had to leave that afternoon to go to Sloughhouse to shoot a dog show that weekend, I had only this time to do the track before leaving.

We started the track and within two blocks Dino was running into the shade and not wanting to work. Since he had never ever done that before, I realized something was definitely wrong. I remembered that most, if not all, of our training has been late afternoon or evening, by the time I can get out there. He had always done really well during those time. I remembered, also, all the time we worked in the rain, and he was great and having a good time. His coat is thick and wavy, but I had not realized how difficult the heat was for him to work in.

I will remember to arrange cases in early AM or late afternoon and evening when it is cooler. Since that was a good track, I will go back and lay it again with Scout soon. I would love to test him on that.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

2009-04-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

San Carlos. Went to San Carlos to teach Lorrie how to lay a track with Rocki. Weather was very windy and cold.

We went down Cordilleras, up Alma, left on Alameda, left on Lupin and then back to Belle next to St. Charles.

Track aged by a couple of hours. I went to pick up groceries and came back. It was dark and cold and windy. Dino overshot the Alma turn but caught the mistake and came back and went up Alma. Made the turn onto Alameda. Went along Alameda. Had a bit of a problem on the street before Lupin, but after a few minutes he got the direction. He overshot slightly the turn onto Lupin, but then got it corrected. Went along Lupin and made the cross to Belle. Had a bit of a problem back onto Cordelleras, but eventually he got it and made it back to the house where the scent article was waiting for him.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

2009-04-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

San Francisco - Kathy had laid a trail the day before that started at Allison's ballet studio on Vicente. She emailed me that directions that night.

Dino did great. He was very focus along the way. He was a bit distracted by the beach, but we got back to the track. We went up Taravel to Sunset without a hitch even with all those distractions and Muni cars and traffic. We went along Sunset Blvd to Yorba and then made the turn to cross back to Vicente.

Weather was clear and cold. We got back to the car by dark

Friday, March 20, 2009

2009-03-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

http://www.lostandpound.com/pet.php?id=8520

The previous afternoon I received an email flyer from Lost and Pound regarding a lost cat in San Francisco. I had signed up to receive notices that get posted within the Bay Area. I sent the owner an email and told him about Dino and that I would come out for no charge to his area and help him look for his cat.

I got a phone call from him in a couple of hours and he said he was interested in me coming out with Dino to do a search. I said I could come out by 10 AM on Friday. I told him to put up as many flyers in his neighborhood around his block as possible and to have more flyer available for him to take with us as we walked around.

When I got there I saw the neighborhood. The front and the back are two totally different environments. The front was all concrete and very little vegetation. Very high vehicle traffic and high pedestrian traffic. The front doors opened directly out onto the sidewalks. The backyard was a mini jungle with high weeds and trees and lots of vegetation. The back fence was falling down. The two side fences were high and solid. We checked the backyard and garage for any cats or scent, but nothing. We went out to the front and I gave Dino scent from two spots in the apartment where, according to the person, Jamal, only Choco lays.

For over the next two and a half hours we walked all over the neighborhood that was very similar to Jamal's front. Only sidewalks, no or very little vegetation, high pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Also, all the buildings are right up next to each other with no spaces for cats to crawl into. Absolutely no crawl spaces under the buildings. Everything is closed up. We maybe saw two tiny holes where cats could get into and maybe two small spaces between buildings in the area of four to five blocks. There was a community garden that we walked through that had several hiding spots, but basically even that was open and kept clean and clear. Even the small green house was clean with an open door.

We walked up to GG Park, but even there was high pedestrian traffic with cleared out brush and bulldozer traffic. There were a couple of open homeless pads that Dino seemed interested in. In the entire area, there were no cats, no squirrels, and barely even a bird. Everybody we talked to had not seen a cat in the neighborhood. If there was a cat anywhere there, they would be in the backyards where they could travel safely from yard to yard.

On Sunday morning, I got a call from Jamal that Choco had been spotted by the tenant below him that lives behind the garage. He had seen the cat as it was traveling into or out of the garage which leads to the backyard. Jamal said he had noticed food was being eaten from the bowl of food he had left out just outside his back kitchen door on the second story. He also noticed cat paw prints in the garage in one of the storage areas. That would be almost one week that decides to come back to figures a way back. I said to get a trap just in case, but first try to put the food just inside the back door and see if she will run in. If she doesn't, then get a trap and see if that would work.

Friday, March 20, 2009

2009-03-22T05:47:00.000-07:00

Castro Valley, Ca - This track was 48 hours old. Time was around 7 PM. Clear and cold. No rain over the last couple of days. Sunny and warm during those days. Neighborhood is suburban with 80% sidewalks, medium car and light foot traffic. Some small mom/pop stores along the way. Some churches on blvd. No map.

I have been practicing letting him go along a way even if I know he is going in the wrong direction. I want him to figure out when he is along the same way. A couple of times he went the wrong way, and I let him go about a half a block, and he was still full tilt that the scent was there even after checking him a couple of times. I found this odd. I figured that either the scent was there and had blown, or he was following the Cocker Spaniel that had just walked before us. Either way, after half a block down, I stopped him and said "Wrong" which he is very sensitive too. I have been reading a VST training book and the current section is about "magic words" to give along the track to ask or guide the dog. I am working on getting those words that are meaningful to him. After a couple of minutes of standing there and figuring out what to do, he turned and walked behind me and went back to the corner where we turned and continued down the correct way. I think it was the Cocker Spaniel that he was keying in on, and I have also noticed that in the beginning of tracks, he is more distracted. He definitely becomes more focused as we move along the track.

After that first time, he got all the turns and street crossings dead on! I was thrilled. Another thing tried was to gently guide him to a stop at various parts of the track to have him confirm if he is on the right track and going in the right direction. The VST book says to ask something at this point for either to confirm they are in the right direction and give a sign like pushing harder in the harness. I thought about saying something like "Tell Me" to let him know I am asking him if he is sure about his direction. Another "magic word" would be if you know/think he has overshot the turn because he indicating loss of scent, and to tell him to go back to the last place he knows where the scent is. I thought of "go back." I haven't tried that yet, but that would also come in handy.

On some of the intersections, even if I thought he was going in the right direction, I would have him "check" the other corners to practice the indication of no scent and then have him go back to the place where he had it. On each of the intersections he went back to the correct direction.

He was pretty strong on the last leg, but there was grass and weeds and a dirt trail all along and he seemed pretty firm on that.

As we approached the article at the end, he was pulling me toward it even though it was hidden behind a set of stairs. He got his treat bag and rawhide bone.

I was pretty happy with that track, except for the beginning, but there seems to be a routine of the beginning, so I know now more to keep asking him and questioning him more in the beginning until I see he is more focused.

Friday, March 13, 2009

2009-03-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty good day. I met Mary Fisher from the Finding Paws Yahoo group in Palo Alto on the Standord campus. She brought her female Tibetan Mastiff, Chein Mo. I had never been the Standord before and Mary was regular there for many years. In addition to laying a track for Dino, I also got a brief tour and background of the campus.

I was surprised that dogs were even allowed on the campus, since so many colleges don't allow dogs on the campus. In addition to Chein Mo, there were two off leash border collies with their owner.

So, we started at the top of The Oval and then went straight into the campus. We wove all around the campus in and out and in front of buildings and grassy areas. It took us about 45 minutes to walk it.

I have started to do something different to wean myself off looking at and relying on maps. Actually I started this the night before when I did a track with Dino through a neighborhood in Hayward. I had the map when I made the track just in case I needed, and I brought it with me, but I never used it the whole track. Some of the turns I remembered. Many I did not. Some of the landmarks, like particular houses and fences I remembered and then I could tell we were on track, but many I did not. I wanted to start doing this to get myself into the blink track mode, rather than just suddenly jumping into it one day.

I felt that I had provided enough training to Dino at this point to start to see what would happen if I put more responsibility on him and the training I have provided. It was pretty scary to me, and I think pretty scary to Dino. I know that he knows that I am the one setting the trails, and that I have the map. I acted like I didn't know the way or have the map. Sometimes I would follow him down a street for a short distance when I knew the track wasn't there because I wanted to see how it would take for him to indicate he was out of scent. I wanted him to start to tell me he was out of scent rather than just wandering down the street and waiting for me to tell him. Plus, I have noticed that sometimes it does take him a bit longer to get the down the street to tell me there isn't any scent if the scent has blow down that way from the track. So, we have been practicing all these different things.

So, back to the Stanford track, we started the track at 4:30 PM and got finished after 5 PM. We stood at our cars talking to each other for about another half hour. I got scent from Chen Mo and put them into plastic bags and gave Mary three more sets for her other dogs. I then put out one of the scent articles with treats at the end in one of the bushes.

By the time I got Dino in his harness and up into the campus away from the start/finish it was after 5:30 PM. The crowds were starting to thin out compared to when we set the track an hour earlier. He did very well and followed the track for most of the way. I thought it was a very difficult track, though the age was only a couple of hours old. There are a lot of people and a lot of buildings and a lot of bicyclists. Also, there are a lot of squirrels all over the campus. Those and cats are two of Dino's major distractions. He would literally stand still and stare straight up into the palm trees looking at the squirrels. He actually got a couple of people to look up into the trees when they saw him standing still and looking up. I was pretty embarrassed. I had to tell them that he was looking for squirrels 50 feet straight up.

Three different times he had a hard time finding the track, and I am not surprised. These spots had especially high traffic and spots that go off into four, five or six different directions. What we did was to just repeat the areas over and over and over until he made the decision that one direction was better than another (Like going to the eye doctor and they say, "Better one or better two.) Once he found the spot, his attitude went from playing and having a good time to "hunkering down and working." Tail down, nose to the ground and following the scent. During these times I didn't interfere by taking him off and testing other directions. I let him get into working the track and not disturb him. I know he had to really work on this track because of all the distractions of the very friendly people, squirrels, food all over the ground, water fountains and lots of good scents other than what he was supposed to be following.

One thing I didn't like was that I had to tell him many times to "get to work" because he was very distracted many times and sniffing here at all kinds bushes and I know he is not following the scent. I am sure that had a lot to do with the environment.

As we moved along in the track, I found him more and more focused and less distracted. He was able to correct himself and get himself back onto the track without much coaxing or direction from me. I have noticed that changing more and getting better.

About half way through the track we took a break, drank some water and had a snake. He definitely was rejuvenated after that and ready to keep going.

The second half was going really well. I would see what he would do if I gently stopped him to have him check what direction and if he was going in the right direction. He is getting used to that, but I know sometimes he thinks I am stopping him to change directions. If he continues to pull in his harness I let him go, if he changes direction, I let him do that. Sometimes he was going in the right direction and we go back to that. It is all a lot of practice, practice, practice in various situations.

We made it almost all the way through the second half, which was tough because we went right through some of the busiest, student centered parts of the campus. LOTS of traffic.

Right near the end, we were on the track and we came out from the middle of the building. We were on the top of a set of stairs that went in front of us, and to the right and then a hallway to the left. Dino immediately took the right stairs and I followed him. We were walking down the walkway. I thought we were in the right direction, but then Dino veered off to the left. Since I was 100% positive where we were I followed him. I knew were near the end somewhere but there were multiple buildings all around us and I couldn't figure out which was the correct building. I had Dino check all the different spots, stairs, hallways and then we headed back up again in the direction I thought we already were. I followed Dino and then we were back in front of the bookstore again. I let Dino find the track again that led away from the bookstore and then he stopped. He didn't take the way again like he took the first time. He definitely was confused where to go. I had him check various directions, and then he headed down toward another building. I let him go that way. We went back to another area where we were that led us out to the stairs again, the same spot. This time we went forward down the stairs into another building. Still nothing. I had Dino check all kinds of areas all around and he indicated nothing. So, we went back to the stairs again. It was getting pretty late (after 9 PM) and there were less and less people around and I couldn't figure out the way out. But I knew it was somewhere and I had a dog that could track, so I figured we would keep looking. We went back to the stairs and had Dino check the directions. He did seem to indicate the right side again but less enthusiastically, so I decided to go that way again. This time he headed straight down the path, with his nose to the ground and then we found our way out to the main street. So we were pretty close by, just about 50 feet from the end. But, since it was dark, there was not way to tell or recognize where we were. That way, I did have to rely on Dino's nose, which got us out.

He found the treats, but the scent pad had been removed. He got all the treats in the bag and then played with the rawhide toy. It was almost 9:30 by the time we got back to the car and I let Scout and Dot out to run around.

That was a very good track and very challenging. I never followed a map and most of the time I didn't know if we were on the track until I recognized a building or fountain. Other than that it was hard to know. I really had to rely on Dino's skills and see where he was at. I was very happy with what he did.

March 2, 2009

2009-03-03T05:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Dino did his oldest track at 42 hours. I was totally thrilled, and he was 95% dead on the track. We are still working on corners and teaching him to indicate to me what direction the track goes at each corner. Donna has taught me to anchor him at a corner and have him check which direction. I give him a few seconds at each corner to determine which direction. Then he can either do in that direction or I have been teaching him to stand, bark and face in the direction of the scent. We then go in that direction.

I have also noticed that he will go down the street in the direction of the scent, but sometimes he is on the other side of where we walked. This is fine because after that amount of time the scent can easily be on that side also. I have been trying to show him that sometimes the scent can be stronger in some areas than others. I am trying to show him that means that is the actual spot the animal walked rather than where the scent just blew to.

If he wants to go in a direction, whether it is the right direction, I let him check it out so he can follow through with what he might be smelling and learn that. I think he seems to noticing that the scent can be in a variety of forms, especially as the scent gets older and older.

I know that at the age of 42 hours, the scent can be all over the street and be in different forms. I want to teach Dino how this looks to him and how to determine the direction of the animal with all this going on.

I set another track last night in another neighborhood with a lot of corners and high vehicle and foot traffic.

February 27, 2009

2009-02-27T16:11:00.000-08:00

I have not been able to post for several days.

I met with Donna and Ben on Monday in Pinole for a training session and to have his dog, Bodie, tested. He is a really nice dog. A nice herding mix. I brought Mercury and all three dogs, Dino, Annubis and Bodie did a training with him in the park.

We set a track with Annubis at the beginning and then, at the end, we ran Dino through it. We have been working on corners and I have been teaching him about positive and negative indications. I have taught him to come and sit in front of me for a negative and to stand and bark facing the direction of the scent.

Donna said that I need to anchor Dino at the corner and have Dino check the direction of the wind and then show me what direction by facing in that direction, giving me his indication and then heading in that direction.

At the end, I ran Dot through a track with Dino's scent and cat food. I walked Dino through three tracks and then put him back into the truck. Then went back to put down the cat food on that scent. I then brought Dot out to run the tracks. She was pretty into it. I am doing her on a straight as the first track, and then doing curves in the last two.

Yesterday morning I ran Dino through a 38 hour old track that I had put down with Dot in a neighborhood in SL. It was straightaways and corners. I anchored him at each corner and had him tell me what direction, had him stand and bark. He even gave me negative indications on some spots that he found didn't have scent.

On one corner, he was sure the scent was in a specific area. I let him go because, actually the scent was across the street so he could have been picking up some scent. He went about two houses and then backtracked and started looking again. He picked it up across the street and went in the right direction. I guess I do need to let him work those things through. I can let him go down the direction he feels firmly about and then let him figure it out. Who knows? He could be smelling the scent, and then it diminishes and disappears and then he figures it out. This will get better with more experience.

Last night I laid another track with Scout in another neighborhood in SL. Some straightaways and lots of corners. I will get it to another 38 hours and work Dino on that for a few tracks. We should have another training on this Monday.

Feburary 20, 2009

2009-02-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

Wow! I have not been able to post anything for several days because I have been working Dino on tracks everyday and I wanted to spend the time to do those tracks instead of writing in his blog. I knew I would be able to catch up.

He has been doing great. We have been working all VST urban tracking in neighborhood in this area. We have been working on corners and we have been learning the negative and positive responses. He has had the negative response, but we have added the positive response.

It has been raining like crazy for several days, so we have been getting some great experience tracking in pouring rain. I don't think we have done that at all, this is has been good (except for getting soaked!)

We started doing tracks six to eight hours old and focusing on corners and practicing when scent is there and when it is not. For a positive response I have been teaching Dino to "stand" and then "bark." I wanted to do something that is totally different than his negative response, which is coming in front of me and sitting.

Last night we did a track that was about 26 hours old, which is his longest. He did great on the scent following, however, we had some issues how doing the negative and positive signals. This is one of the things I am going to change, which I figured out by this morning. I think he has become so focus on getting the treat, that he is forgetting about what he is supposed to be doing. I have seen this before when I trained Scout. She started to do that, so I know it is not unusual. What I have decided to do is to fade out the food reward for the negative response and just acknowledge and verbally praise. I will continue the food reward for the positive response since he is still learning that. I am still teaching him that and rewarding him to teach him the response of the stand and a bark.

I kind of figured this out when I got kind of frustrated with his non-response to a negative. He was just standing there doing nothing even though I repeated that corner several times. I started to walk back to the car and I felt like "No, this is what he wants. To get out of this and not have to do this." So I took him further back on the track before the corner and this time he got the turn across the street all on his own. I thought, "He does know where it is, but for some reason didn't take it." I thought maybe he was intentionally doing a negative to get the treat, though other times he does a turn. I do feel like sometimes he does a negative just to get a treat. So, that is why I am not treating him anymore for a negative. I feel he understands that part since he has been doing it successfully for several months. I will focus on reinforcing the positive response.

I will continue to work on corners over and over until he gets that down. A solid positive and negative will be the key to a search, at least from what I have seen so far when working with Donna.

I also am gradually increasing the age of the track. I am not increasing the distance because I think that is fine at this point. We need to increase the age of the track faster. I have found that is where the challenge is for the dog. It seems to change a lot as the track ages. The distance is not such a challenge because there will be times for breaks and not a lot of tracks will be really, really long. I would rather work on the age of the track and the difficulties those cause along with the variety of the environment.

Monday, February 9, 2009

2009-02-10T10:25:00.000-08:00

I met Donna yesterday at 9 AM in Pinole to working on some practice trails with Dino and Annubis. The previous day, after the lost cat case in Davis, we met in Pinole at this same spot and laid a track for Dino for Monday morning. Donna wanted to see where he was at since she had not seen him track for several months. This would have been the oldest track, but it was a much shorter track. We laid the track at 2 PM and came back at 9 AM. That is 19 hours.

Per Donna, Dino was following the track and he knew where it was but that he was deviating from it to check out other things. I think that stems from me working him on a loose long line for a while to make sure that I was not influencing him. We tightened up the line, and if Dino went off track, I would give him a mild tug on the line and tell him "get to work." He did go back to the track.

He followed the track all the way around and found the cloth. We both made a big deal of that.

Next we met at a spot a few blocks away for Annubis to follow a track that a friend of Donna's laid a few days ago. Prior to meeting me at the spot, Donna laid a blind track for me and Dino to do later after Annubis' track.

Annubis did a great job on his track. He followed it all the way around, even though a the bedding area of a herd of goats.

We went back to the start of the blind track. We were practicing on corners to see what Dino knew about how to handle an intersection.

After the track, we figured on a few things that I need to work with Dino on:

1. A positive indication of scent. He has a negative scent indication.

2. A cue to tell Dino that it is OK to go into the street. I had worked a lot with Dino for stopping at curbs while going for walks. I find him hesitant about going into the street to follow the track.

3. Not allowing him to go off the track to sniff other things while on a trail. Part of this will be helped by me holding the long line tighter. Not tight enough to direct him, but enough to keep him working if he starts to stray.

4. Practice working on corners and working on a positive and negative indication. Practicing on how to handle an intersection and work all the corners to determine where there is scent and where there isn't scent.

5. Work more on older tracks in regards to hours and shorter more simple tracks than what we have been doing.

6. Set up scent articles at the end or along the way for him to find an indicate. Put the cloth article with treats inside. This should also help to refocus his attention to the track and finding things along the way.

7. Make an indication to doing a scent-specific track and an area search. Maybe using a different word or Donna suggested using a bell on either Dino or myself.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

2009-02-09T02:53:00.000-08:00

Well, since the last post I moved out of Junction City and back to the Bay Area. I did spend a couple of days in Redding after getting over the mountains with my trailer trying to figure out my next move. I figured to go back to the Bay Area, and I found a mobile home/RV park in San Leandro where I have been parked for almost a couple of weeks.

I did a good 4.5 hour track with Dino on Saturday night, and I still need to post that. However, I wanted to post about what happened today in Davis.

Donna had a call for a lost cat in Davis in an area with a bunch of apartment complexes all around. I got there about an hour late due to a misunderstanding on my part on the time. Donna already had Annubis follow a trail around the area and through some of the neighborhoods. I got there and they were on their way back. Donna had me bring out Dino, put on his harness and see what he could come up with along with Annubis as we did a perimeter search of the apartment buildings. Dino went right to the "bag of scent toys" and started looking around. He found the owner's apartment door with the traps and toys. He was very excited. We then started walking around the complex with Annubis and Donna in the lead. We walked around the pool and around the buildings. I was behind Annubis and Donna as we checked the different bushes and hedges when Donna said "Get back. The cat is right there." She ran back towards me to get the dogs out of the way. The cat ran out of the bushes/shed and the owner went to pick her up. She carried her back with tears running down her face. It was incredible. Donna had me bring Dino to the area to have him indicate the area where the cat was. Dino went right for it and then came back and jumped on me, which is what he should do for a cat.

I think I am going to change the "down" indication for the dog I have been using to have him use the same indication for both dogs and cats when he finds the source. He does it naturally and with a lot of enthusiasm. I don't think he really cares if it is a dog or cat or whatever. What is important is that he found the source.

January 19, 2009

2009-01-25T17:00:00.000-08:00

From: Donna Holsten Donna@findingpaws.com
To: Jackie Phillips
Sent: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 4:55 pm
Subject: Re: Dino's First Three Hour Old Track

OK, this is why it's the "calculus method." :-) When I was taking calculus, I got low marks on every test, because I just "didn't get it." But when we moved on to the next subject, the previous one became *totally* clear. So... In trailing, you can use that theory by pushing the dog in one area until it just starts getting confused, and then back down to a comfort point. Then, stretch a different area, until the dog just starts getting confused, back down slightly, and stretch something else. For example, if, right now, he's able to do 3-block, 2-turn trails, with no problem, then every time you go out, add 30 minutes "age" to the trail, until he starts to get confused. That might take you up to 8-hour old trails within a few weeks. Then, if he's getting confused at 8-hour old trails, back down to 6-hour old trails, and stay there. Increase the length of the trail, by no more than 10% at a time--however far you can go, before you notice him getting bored, and you start having a really hard time keeping (or retrieving) his attention. Then, back down. So, now, you're at, say, 6-hour old, 3/4 mile trails, with 2-turns. Now add on turns. Then, add on surface complexity. Keep going, until you've maxed out all the variables. Then, go back to the beginning, and work on age again. He'll zoom right up with the age, and what *was* tough (8-hour old trails) will now be old-hat, because he's been at 6-hours for *so*! long, that he'll be ready to zoom up to 16-hours in no time.Anyway, there are tons of ways to train, but that's how I'm doing it with Anubis. We're still on "short distance, low complexity" trails, because his "trail age" seems to be going with no stopping point...D.

January 19, 2009

2009-01-23T17:43:00.000-08:00

Weaverville. Main Street. Clear and cold. Started walking Dot at about 12 noon. Roads are paved with heavy foot and vehicle traffic.

I parked down at the far end of town near the propane store. I walked Dot up the frontage road, behind the Round Table and continued up the street. We tried to stay on the concrete sidewalks that line the buildings going up. These are small mom/pop shops with a lot of foot and vehicle traffic. We crossed the next side street and walked over the grassy area and made a right alongside the car wash. We crossed in front of the car wash and continued up the sidewalk of the small stores. Once we got to the Ace hardware, we made a right turn and went diagonally through the paved parking lot out to the Main Street. We continued up Main Street, across a creek and past several more small shops. There was some vegetation, dirt along the way. Once we got to the next cross walk across Main Street, we made the right turn and then made another right and headed back down Main Street on the other side. We continued down the street, basically staying on the concrete sidewalk. Some of the stores were recessed back from the Main Street, and we tried to go closer to the building when possible, trying to act like a dog that might be wandering down the street.

When we got to the front of where the strip shopping mall starts, we jumping down a four foot tall wall and crossed the vacant dirt lot into the parking lot. We made a left turn alongside the edge of the lot and walked toward the back of the building where all the back doors are along with all the trash and dumpsters were. There was another dog coming toward us off leash, so I had to walk Dot off to the right a bit, but otherwise I was trying to go straight down without going close to the dumpsters along the sides of the buildings.

We got out to the side street, crossed the sidewalk and then crossed the street and then made a right down the street back toward Main Street. This road had no sidewalk on the left side. We walked down into the dirt parking lot of an abandoned building and then crossed Main Street to where Dino was sitting in my truck. Before leaving, I rubbed a towel all over Dot and rubbed a paper towel over her.

I went back around 4 PM and parked the truck alongside the abandoned building just across the street from where I first parked the truck. I took out the towel and placed it around the corner and in front of the abandoned building. This way Dino would not see the truck as he came down the street at the end and found the towel.

I took Dino out and put on his harness and got his treat bag and rawhide bone. I tried a different type of treat/reward for "no scent." I wanted to see if it made a difference. I fried some hotdogs the day before. I walked Dino across the street and up about 20 feet to where Dot's track starts. I moved off to the side a bit so we weren't directly on the track and showed him the scent pad and said "take scent" and "search." He put his head down and started searching.

He followed the scent up the street and was generally pretty good about following the scent and maintaining interest. However, I did find him to become distracted by the hotdogs. He seemed to be more interested in trying to get the hotdogs than sometimes following the track. I believe I found him veering off the track and intentionally going for a "no scent" area just to get the hotdogs. He was not doing that previously when he was getting just kibble as a treat. In response to this, I tried to do something different. When I saw him veering off to either the left or the right and not using his nose but using his eyes instead I told him "check" to tell him to keep his nose on the ground. I found him lifting his head regularly to try to find the track. When I saw him doing this I told him "check." This continued up the street. He would track for a short distance with his nose to the ground, and then he would lift his head looking for the track. I would say "check" until he put his nose on the ground. I would verbally praise him when he put his nose to the ground. When he lifted his head, I would tell him "check" and then verbally praise him when he put his nose on the ground. I think this practice gave him a better idea of how to find the scent because by the time we were going back down the street, he was much more focused on the scent on the ground and was veering off the track less and less.

We got back all the way to the parking lot of the supermarket and got to the back of the building with all the dumpsters. He was much more focused and following the track. We got out to the street and he found the scent down the street. He was getting excited as we got closer to the towel, and starting to lift his head. I continued to say "check" to keep his nose on the ground. When we got to the towel, he jumped straight up. He got his bag of treats and I threw the rawhide for him for several minutes. It was dark and cold by the time we were done.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

2009-01-18T16:44:00.000-08:00

Downtown Weaverville and surrounding residential areas. Weather is clear, sunny and cold.

I parked in parking lot next to Nugget Restaurant. I started walking Scout at 1:30 PM. I walked her across the street, up Main Street and made a right turn at the next side street. I tried to keep her leash loose and have her act like a dog walking by herself so my scent would be as far away. Next time I want to use a long line to get further away from the scent dog.

We made a left up the next street. This street was a paved road with no sidewalk or shoulder. Houses and open property all along both sides. At the back parking lot of one of the stores we made a left into the lot and walked along the left side of the lot and down a driveway to Main Street. Here we made a right onto Main Street. We walked about ½ block and then crossed Highway three and made a right up Highway Three. At the next block we made a left up a side street. Paved road with dirt sidewalks. Residences all along both sides. Halfway down the street we crossed over to the other side and continued down to the end. We crossed the street with the Court House in front of us. We made a right onto the sidewalk and walked up the street along the left side of the street. We continued all along this street which was a paved road with no sidewalks, just dirt. Residences all along both sides. Some to these houses had dogs in their fenced yards that barked at Scout as we walked by.

Halfway down the street we crossed over to the right side of the street. We walked about another half block and then crossed over again to the left side and went down another side street with the local hospital on the right side. In front of the hospital we made a left turn down a side street. Save paved road with only dirt shoulders. This street had a light creek running along side the right side. One house on the left side had a mule and a horse in their yards.

We continued all the way down on the right side and about one building before Main Street, we crossed over again to the left side with the Court House on our left. We made a left at the building and walked down to the end of the block. Here we made a right across Main Street to the other side and made a left down Main Street’s busy tourist area with all little mom and pop shops and museums. Half way we made a right into the parking lot of a bank and then made a U turn and came back out. We made a right turn and continued down Main Street. We walked all the way down a couple of more blocks and then made a right turn into a parking lot and then walked down the lot and came out the other side onto another side street and made a right. This is a paved road with dirt shoulders. We walked down this road and into a small bus stop and then back out. We made a right again and kept going the same direction. We walked halfway down the parking lot and made a left turn and then a right at the edge of the lot. We walked down a dirt embankment and then back up to another paved road and made a left back in the direction of the car. I put Scout back into the car and then went to a coffee shop to do work.

I had intended to start Dino at the two hour mark, but I got delayed and we didn’t start until the three hour mark. I was pretty nervous because this would be the longest track and the oldest track he had done.

I started Dino out a bit further up Main Street then where I started Scout so that Dino would come across her scent. I told him “take scent” and “search” about 30 feet before where her track started. I did see him looking over at the truck across the street before he found her track. Once he found her track, though, he kept his head down.

He got the right turn onto the side street off Main and then got the left turn up the next side street. He had his nose to the ground along this road. I tried something to practice on the “no scent” indication and told him “check” on a driveway across the street. He went up and checked around and then came back and sat in front of me. I clicked and treated.

We continued up the street and he got the left turn into the parking lot behind the bank. He veered off to the right to check the rear door of the bank and then came and sat in front of me. I clicked and treated. He continued on the track up the driveway and then made a left instead of a right onto Main street. He went about 15 feet and then came back and sat in front of Me. Click and treat. I told him search and he got the track up Main street. At the next corner, he check right and then left and came back and sat in front of me. Click and treat. I told him “search” and he got the straight across the street. I think he is kind of hesitant about going across street because I have always had him sit at curbs before going across a street for safety. He is cautious before he crosses a street, and since I will always be with him on a track, I figure I can work around that.

He crossed the street and went straight. He came back and sat in front of me, and then when I told him “search” he insisted upon going that way again. He did that a couple of more times. I did not click and treat each time, instead of told him firmly “search.” After a couple of minutes he got the right turn up Highway three and kept going.

He got the left turn up the next street and crossed the street to the appropriate side. He continued down the street, but missed the next cross over. I let him run out of scent and he came back and sat in front of me. Just treat to start to wean him off the click. I told him “check” and “search” and he found the cross over. We went up the street and he crossed over, but kept going straight into the parking lot of the court house. He stopped on his own and came back but didn’t sit in front of me. He made the correct right turn and went up the street, past a couple of barking dogs in their yards. He continued up the street and got the cross over halfway up the street.

One more block up he suddenly veered off to the right and went into a vacant lot where there were two big dogs barking behind a large fence. I let him go to see what he would do. He became very interested in some of the garbage laying around and I gave him a firm “ACHK” and “get to work”. For some reason he like that yard and looking again. He got another “ACHK” and “get to work” This time he followed the trail out to the yard, saying “Hi” to the dogs in the yard as I said “get to work” and made the right turn down the side street past the hospital.

I intentionally pulled him off and said “check” toward a parking lot next to the hospital to see what he would come up with. He sniffed around and around and then went back out to the track on his own and then made the left turn onto the side street.

He went down to the creek to drink some water and came back up and sat in front of me. I did treat since there wasn’t any scent down that way. We continued down the road and he was kind of distracted by all the smells along this road, but he did keep going and stayed on the trail. As we walked past the mule, he did acknowledge the mule but kept going which is very different since he loves horses and usually wants to go visit them.

He missed the veer left and kept going. I waited to see, and he kept going and finally stopped. He turned around and sniffed the air and came back and sat in front of me. I kind of felt like he has to admit that he has made a mistake and that he has to acknowledge it. I think that takes a mature dog to do that. He could keep going and hope I don’t notice, but I guess eventually he knows that I do know where it is because I set the track. So I guess that is all part of the practice part.

We came back and he found the cross over to the court house. He got the left turn back onto Main Street and then at the next corner he missed the right turn. He continued straight across the street and then stopped on his own and came back and sat in front. We went back and he checked the next direction and came back and sat. We crossed the street and he checked the next direction and came back and sat. We went back and this time he got the right turn. He stopped at the curb, hesitated and then crossed and then made the left turn down Main Street alongside the shops.

He didn’t catch the right turn into the bank’s parking lot, so I said “check” and pointed to the lot. He got the to the end and came back and sat in front. He check the sidewalk along the bank’s door and went back to Main Street and made the right again in the correct direction. He went down the street and crossed the street and made the right into the parking lot and down to the end and out onto the side street and made the right and went down the street to the bus stop. He checked that and came back out. He made the right along the track.

He missed the left turn into the parking lot and kept going straight up another road. He stopped and came and sat in front of me. We went back to the track and this time he got the turn into the parking lot and the right to the dirt path and up to the street and made the left toward the truck. At this point, the rawhide bone dropped out of my pants, which I think distracted him and he missed the cross over. He kept going straight and eventually stopped and followed along the track, and down another way. He eventually stopped and came back and go the track again.

He followed it up toward the towel. When he found the towel, he got very excited, and came back and jumped on me. I had him go to the towel and “down” and then I gave him the back of treats and played with the rawhide.

I was thrilled by this track. It was the longest and the oldest in a very high traffic VST area. I couldn’t have wanted more from him.

January 13, 2009

2009-01-15T18:39:00.000-08:00

Lowden Park, various side streets and Main Street, Weaverville. Approximately 3:30 PM that I started to walk Dot. Parked in long thin parking lot alongside the park. Weather was clear and cold.

I walked Dot down the street which was a paved road with some sidewalks, but none at this point. Just a dirt side road. Walked down the street onto a concrete sidewalk, crossed the street and then turned right into a small business park. Made a U turn back outside the business park and back out onto the street. Crossed the street at the point of coming out of the business park and onto the other side which was a dirt sidewalk. Made a right to continue down the street past residences and business stores. Made a left at the corner to make a diagonal across the parking lot and out onto Main Street, which is a busy street with concrete sidewalks and a mixture of small shops and residences. We went down the street and then main a left onto a side street all with residences and dogs loose inside chain link yards. No concrete sidewalks, just dirt sidewalks. We walked all the way up the street to Lowden Park and made a veer right into the park. We walked up the paved road and then made a left into the parking lot of the park. We crossed the paved lot and walked alongside the nursery school buildings and into the park. We walked along the paved path into the park and then cut across the lawn toward the bathrooms to see if they were open. They were not. I circled the building checking all doors. When I found nothing open I continued up the paved path and into the large grassy area at the far end of the park back toward the parking lot where the car was. There was a gate from the park into the parking lot. I put Dot back into the car and then went to do some computer work at the other end of town.

Approximately, 1.75 hours later at round 6 PM I came back with Dino. It was dark. I reached for my handy dandy flashlight, and found it did not work. After cursing left and right, I decided to do the track and see what happens. I did not have a back up flashlight.

I took Dino out, put on his harness and got his treat bag and rawhide ready. I took a large towel and rubbed it all over Dot and put it next to a treat just inside the gate in the park. I took off Dot’s collar and put it in my pocket.

I took Dino across the street without giving him any kind of word yet. After walking a few feet along the track I said “take scent” and showed him the collar and said “search.” He immediately put his head down and started looking. When he would check areas and find no scent and he would come back and sit on his own, I would click and treat. I wanted to see if he would start to do this on his own with my saying to see if he understood the indication.

We continued down the street, and instead of crossing over the next street, he made a right turn. I let him keep going to see what he would do, and after about 50 feet and he made a U turn and went back up to the street all on his own without even asking for a treat. He found the scent again in the correct direction and kept going. I was so thrilled. I verbally praised him without distracting him.

He made the right into the business park and the left turn but then he missed the next left turn and kept going toward the dumpster. I let him go to see what he would do. He made the right U turn and went back to the track and followed it back out to the street.

When we got to the street, he made the cross to the other side and made the right turn back down the street. He followed it all the way down the street and made the left turn diagonally across the parking lot and out onto Main Street.

He followed it down Main Street and got sidetracked at the Mel’s Drive In and started to go into the lot toward the ordering window. He stopped on his own and came back to me and sat in front. I clicked and treated. I was surprised because people and food are his number one and two distractions. I praised him and told him “check” as I pointed toward the ground and he got the scent again and continued down Main Street. The whole time the long line is totally loose and dragging behind him. I have no guidance system at all.

He did miss one of the diversions I made into a small lot to test his “no scent” indication but I didn’t bring him back because the trail was still there he was following. Sometimes I have brought him back just to say “check” and see if he picks it up, but if he is steady on the trail, I don’t stop him. I let him keep going.

He followed the track down Main Street and made the left turn down the side street and made the cross to the other side of the street. He was trying to find the track when a young boy walked right up to him and wanted to play. The mother was right there so I couldn’t say anything to him. The boy wanted to keep playing, but I finally told him that Dino was working and needed to keep going. He wanted to go with us but, thankfully, the mother said “no.” We kept going up the street toward the park.

Here we came to the dogs loose in their yards behind the chain link fences. Dino had a tough time and was very distracted, but I kept telling him “check” as I pointed toward the ground. He tried very hard but the dogs were putting up a good display of barking and carrying on. We made it past the three houses and kept going up the street.

At the right turn into the park, Dino lost the track. By this time it was pitch dark with few street lights, so I had to be careful where I was walking. Dino crossed the street and wanted to keep going, but he stopped on his own and sat in front for a click and a treat. We went back to the track and tried again. We tried a couple more times back and forth on the corner and finally he found it going up the street toward the park. We had to veer off to the right a couple of times to get out of the way of cars, but finally we got to the park’s parking lot.

He followed the track up into the parking lot and crossed the lot to the other side but then lost it and made a right instead of a left. He kept looking and then found it again in front of the nursery school and followed it up into the park. He got it into the park and then lost it at the point where three paved paths come together. For some reason he insisted on going off to the left without stopping. The only reason I could see was that the car was visible off in the distance. He checked several other areas all around and I kept telling him “check” over and over as I pointed at the ground where the scent was. He would get in for a couple of feet and then raise his head and go off to the side. He would find it again, raise his head and then go off to the side a couple of feet. Finally he found it and went straight toward the restrooms. This was across thick uncut grass in a busy park with a track of an age he had not seen, so I was thinking it was just lack of experience. But I did like that he kept trying and didn’t stop.

When he got to the restrooms, he went right past them and kept going up the paved path. Here he made a couple of detours first off to the right and then the left toward the playgrounds. We had done tracks in those areas in the past, but I don’t think that was it. I kept having him “check” the ground and finally he got it straight through the trees and into the grassy area. Here it was pitch dark with only light from a distant road. I noticed that he would follow it for a couple of feet, then lift his head and veer off to the left or right. Then he would come back, follow the track for a short distance and then veer off again. I kept saying “check” over and over to keep his nose on the ground instead of lifting his head. He seemed to be paying attention and focus on the ground.

Here we both got lost in the darkness and I had made a mistake in the beginning when parking my car again the second time. I thought I had parked the car in the same spot as when I walked Dot, but I discovered that there are two identical looking gates from the park to the parking lot, and I had parked at the further one when I walked Dot and I had parked at the closer one when I walked Dino. The towel was left at the wrong gate compared to where the track was. We lost the track coming through the grassy area with the trees and when I realized I was in the wrong spot, I decided to just find the towel and get it over with as soon as possible. We found the towel and Dino jumped straight into the air. It was very cute. I gave him the bag of treats and threw the rawhide bone.

That was the first time I had combined those two tracks together. In the past I had done the track around the park and the track down on Main Street and up to the side streets. I decided to combine the two and then do the track in the dark. Plus the track was older than he had done in the past. I thought everything went great. I need to have a flashlight that works and I need to park the car in the right spot

Saturday, January 10, 2009

2009-01-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

I am trying to train Dino everyday to see if that makes a difference for him. In the last couple of day, I have noticed his focus becoming much better and his interest is very high. He seems to love doing this.

Weaverville. Started 3:15 PM walking Dot. Weather is clear and cold. Street is residential with no sidewalks. Sometimes no shoulder. Sometimes shoulder closer to houses. Lots of deer in the area. Several loose dogs on the trail. Narrow two lane road.

I parked the car in the parking lot of Tops in the rear alongside the side street. I walked Dot up the street, no shoulder on road. We went straight up the road. When there was a place to walk off the road, we would walk onto the vegetation or paved driveways. We walked all the way up the street, which was about one 1/2 mile to the top, which was a dead end. Along the way, there were three loose dogs (luckily all friendly!) that ran from their properties over to visit with me and Dot. When we got to the end of the road, we back track about 20 feet, and then crossed over the street. One our way back down, we went up to side streets, and then came back down the same way.

I was trying to set up some spots for "running out of scent" compared to "no scent." There seems to be two different types of "no scent" however I use the same indication with Dino. There are the "we are going along the right track and suddenly there is no scent" like the animal turned and backtracked. Then there is the "no scent because we missed a turn or veered off the trail." One is a mistake on his part, the other is not.

I walked Dot all the way back down the road, and along the way we ran into two more dogs loose on the front lawn with full access to the road. Luckily, we were on the other side of the road, and the dogs stayed in their front yard. I thought there might be an invisible fence, but one of the dogs did come out to the road after we passed.

At the bottom of the road, we walked into the yard of a vacant house and around the front tree and then back out to the road. We walked along the side of the road, and the truck we clearly visible from where we were. I thought that Dino might key into that later on, and I could use that as a distraction. I have started to plant a towel with the scent laying dog along the trail for him to find instead of having him always go back to the truck.

I put Dot back into the truck around 3.45 PM and went inside to the store for over an hour. I came back out around 4:45, which would be about one and a 1/2 hour from the start of the track. I planted the scented towel across the street down in a dip so Dino couldn't see it. He would have to smell it in order to find it.

I put on his harness, treat bag and got his rawhide bone out. I walked him up the street over Dot's first track, but I did not tell Dino anything. We got about 50 feet into the track, I took out Dot's collar, and said "take scent." He reached up to sniff it and then immediately put his head down to follow the track. He followed it all the way up the street, getting most if not all, of the side tracks up driveways and around light posts. He did seem to be picking up the scent from the other side of the street, which I expected. This is the first time I have laid the two "coming" and "going" tracks this close. I tried to hug the sides of each lane as close as possible to make it easier. He would pick up his head and start to scent something from the other side, but then he would come back to the track he was one. Only one time did he cross over to the other side. He went up a side street. I let him go. He stopped on his own when he noticed there was no scent. He came back and sat. I clicked and treat. I brought him back out to the road and said "check." On his own he went back to the first side and continued up the road in the correct direction.

He went all the way up to the top of the dead end road. He went way past where the scent stop, but I did not say anything. I wanted to see what he would do on his own. About 50 feet where I turned around with Dot, he started weaving back and forth and lifting his head and looking around. He checked one more ditch off to the side, and then he came back and sat in front of me. I clicked and treat. I turned around and started back to see if he could pick up where I crossed over with Dot. He got that immediately, and started back down the road on the other side.

He followed the road pretty good all the way down going into the weeded and grassy parts where I walked with Dot. I missed one of the side streets where I turned up with Dot. Dino continued all the way down. One of the dogs loose in the yard was still there when we came back down. I picked up a rock just in case I needed to use it. Luckily, the dog stayed in his yard. Dino was distracted a bit, but I told him "search" as we walked past the dog, and he tried to keep his focus. We got past the house and kept going.

One thing I wanted to mentioned that I noticed different today was that a man walked past me on the walk up the road, said "hi" to me and kept walking. Dino took a brief glance at him and kept on the track. This is totally different than in the past when Dino would go up to anybody and everybody to visit, and then it would take some time to get him back on the track. I noticed this as we walked past the man, and I verbally praised Dino.

He missed the left veer into the yard at the bottom of the road, but I sawed that he could see the truck from that spot and started to head in that direction. I stopped him and brought him back. I said "check" as I pointed toward the ground. He picked up the scent and went into the yard. He missed the right turn around the tree and kept going. I didn't stop him. He went all the way up to the house (about 75 feet), looked around and then came back and sat in from of me. I clicked and treated. I brought him back to where he had the scent and said "check." He picked it up again and followed it out to the road. Again, he saw the car and wanted to go back to the car. This time, I gave him a firm "ACHK!" and said "get to work." He got back on the trail, and again veered to the right toward the car. Again I said "ACHK!" and "get to work" and pointed toward the ground and said "check." We were only a few feet away from the towel. He picked up the scent of the towel and ran toward it with full excitement and then ran back to me and jumped on me (which is his sign he found a cat). I brought him back to the towel and said "down" which he did. I gave him the treat bag food and played with the rawhide.

January 9, 2009

2009-01-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

Junction City Park, approximately 4 PM. Clear and cold. I walked Dot from the car down the road toward going out of the park. Walked on driveway going out of park toward highway. Made left hand U turn back into park and around left side of old baseball diamond. About ½ through baseball diamond, I made a right hand turn across diamond. Once out of diamond went up slight hill and made a right toward playground. Went through playground, across the dirt road and made a left next to horse stables. Walked up fire road alongside stables. Stopped and turn around in the same direction. Made a right turn back toward dirt road and another right back in the direction of the car, but instead kept going straight up road alongside the right of the horse arena. Left towel with Dot’s scent about ½ way up the right side of the arena. Finished walking Dot at around 4:25 PM.

Went back into Junction City to go to post office and drop off boxes at storage unit. Came back to park at around 5:15 PM. Drove up along the left side of the horse arena and backed car up into side road, which is undetectable to Dino down on the track.

Put while towel with Dot’s scent back in the location of where I stopped her track along the right side of the horse arena. Took Dino out of car, put on harness, got rawhide bone, treat bag and clicker. Walked him down the short hill in the direction of Dot’s scent. Within about 20 feet of the scent, I told Dino “take scent” and showed him Dot’s collar. He came up, sniffed the collar, and I said “search” and then started looking for the track. He went forward on his own. He went back and forth looking. I thought he had the track, went in that direction, then veered off to the right and started to sniff in the bushes. He came back on his own, picked up the track and headed in the right direction. He was following it straight, and then when it turned right, he kept going straight. I let him go and then he turned and stopped on his own, looking around. He came back to me and sat in front of me on his own, which is his indication that he has run out of scent. I clicked and treated him. I brought him back to the area where he had the scent, and said “search.” He was looking around and around, and then picked it up in the correct direction down the dirt road.

He followed the track down the road and made the left turn down the next dirt road in the direction out of the park toward the highway. He followed it down the road on his own and when we came to the spot where I crossed the road diagonally with Dot, Dino crossed it on his own. Instead of turning left and continuing down the road, Dino kept going straight into the bushes. There was a worn footpath there. He got about 15 feet on the path, and then turned around and stopped. He looked back at me and then ran back and sat in front of me. I clicked and treated. I brought him back out to where he had the scent and said “search.” He picked up the track again and followed it down the road toward the highway.

He got the left hand U turn back into the park and into the baseball diamond. He missed the left turn after going into the field and kept going straight. He stopped by himself about 20 feet and then came back to me and sat in front of me. I clicked and treated. I brought him back to the point where he had the track and said “search,” and this time he got the correct turn and headed alongside the left side of the diamond. He missed the right hand turn and kept going straight. This time, I had to stop him because he kept going. I brought him back on the track before the turn, I pointed to the ground and said “check.” This time he got the right turn and started going fast across the field with his nose on the ground. I usually have the long line loose, but this time he got so far ahead, that it got tight. I have learned not to let him get going fast because then he gets so excited that he misses the turns. I had to keep the leash taut to slow him down.

He followed the track out the field, up the slight hill and got the right turn towards the playground. He was going straight into the playground and through the trees. Then he suddenly went off the track to the left. I let him keep going. Shortly, he stopped on his own and came back to me and sat in front of me. I clicked and treated. I brought him back to where he had the track and said “check” in different areas. He went off in another direction of the park. This time I had to stopped him and bring him back. I brought him back to the area of the track and said “check” and this time he got the track again and followed it out of the playground and across the road and made the left turn along side the horses, which are a major distraction to him. He veered off to the right to see the horses. I said “ack!” and “get to work” in firm voice and he came back to the trail and followed it up the fireroad. When he got to where the scent stopped, he stopped, looked around and came back to me and sat in front. I clicked and treated.

He followed it back down the fire road and made the right turn back onto the dirt road and then straight up the road toward the towel. He did go back and forth a couple of times on this road, obviously looking for something. He went off to the side on both sides and came back on this own. I said “check” as I pointed on the road. He went up the road, veering off to the left a bit and then raised his head in the direction of the towel and went straight toward it. When he saw it, he got very excited and ran back to me and jumped on me. I took him back to the towel and had him lay down. I gave him the treat bag and played with his rawhide all the way back to the car.

I was pretty happy about the age of the trail, which was an hour and a half by the time we finished. There definitely is a difference in how he works the VST trails in town and how he works the rural park. His confidence is much higher on the non VST trails. That is why I want to continue to do more of the VST trails. He seemed very strong in many areas, though I didn’t like him missing the turns that he did. He did get several of the turns and got many of the areas where there was no scent. Those were good.

December 28, 2008

2008-12-28T23:15:00.000-08:00

I have one more post to catch up on for a track I did with Dino a couple of weeks ago, but I have had to not do a lot of tracking training with Dino in the past couple of weeks. I had to spend a couple of weeks finishing my book to send to the editor. That is called "Renting with Rex." The website is www.rentingwithrex.com. The blog is www.rentingwithrex.blogspot.com. I finally did that today so I can start some more tracking training. Plus, it has been raining and snowing non-stop for over two weeks. Tough to want to get out in that weather. It has been so frigging cold. But that is also good practice for the both of us, so really no excuses.

I ordered Ed Presnalls's "Mastering Variable Surface Tracking: The Componet Training Approach" (book and workbook. I am looking forward to getting that. I think that is best to focus my training on VST with Dino. If he can master that, he can do any location.

Onto 2009. Should be a great year. Lots to look forward to!

I would like to mention that Donna lost Loki on Christmas Day to an accident, which she has not explained yet. What a big loss. He was a great dog with a lot of training and experience behind them. Donna needs to figure out what she is going to do without a dual purpose search dog. She has Anubis, but he is only cat detection. I don't envy her position at all. I don't know what I would do if I no longer had Dino. Way to tough to suddenly go through that. Way to young. Dogs shouldn't die young. Their lives are too short anyway, even if they die of old age.

December 14, 2008 From Discussion on PetHunters Yahoo Group List

2008-12-15T11:06:00.000-08:00

December 15, 2008
Reply:

Very good ideas. I like the three second rule, especially in training to give the dog a chance to check things out and explore, and to give him the benefit of the doubt during a case. I have been trying to give him the benefit of the doubt since the has the nose and I don't, and that is why I am training him for this work. He has skills I don't have. I want to build the trust I will need to give him eventually on casesHowever, when he pees on a bush or goes to visit somebody who, he feels, might have food, I use "get to work," in a firm voice, which I got from Donna. Thank you very much for your feedback. I appreciate your time.

Jackie Phillips

December 15, 2008

Hi Jackie,

Larry Allen told me when I was working Buck that he uses the three second rule. (this was a lot of years ago so he may have changed since.) He made a good argument for it.
It is consistent so hopefully the dog will develop it as a pattern
you can use it on searches or training
you want the dog to maintain momentum
you don't know what the dog is smelling it could be something bad for the dog. He used fertilizer as an example that you would not want your dog sniffing.
My friend Lisa Harper worked with some folks and came back with the take home lesson that you should not let them stop at all. They told her to use a zero second rule.
I think you want to do what works for you and your dog and the situation. For example if I am at training and the dog is off the track I probably will not give her the whole three minutes to process. Likewise if we are looking for a track or working a cat and she suddenly decides to visit the local fire hydrant she gets zero seconds to process. On the other hand if we are running a track suddenly the dog hooks and stops to sniff something I give her a few seconds check the area visually and / or ask my walker to check the are area carefully we have found some nice clues that way.

Training is the time to experiment with what works for you and your dog. Be consistent with what you are doing and monitor the results.

Laura

December 14, 2008

I like that idea. I need to remember that we are both learning this. I have tried to keep the tracks at an hour old, and I have tried to just work on one thing at a time, like indicating that there is no scent, which is our current project. I may need to go back down to shorter times and shorter tracks. Thanks for the reminder. Thanks for the feedback.
Jackie Phillips

December 14, 2008

Jackie,

I'm not very experienced with dog training as Dakota and Montana are the first dogs that I EVER had in my life...So I have done a lot of stumbling along the way. But here is what worked for me when Monty was getting distracted. I simply went back to short fresh trails to remind him what he was supposed to focus on...it worked for Monty and I.
Now when he get on the scent he gives me a bark that says to me "I got it Mommy....it is this way!"

Some of the more experienced trainers may have better suggestions...but I hope you find this helpful or at least encouraging.

Vicky

From: Jackie Phillips
To: pethunters@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2008 3:28 AM
Subject: [pethunters] Training Question

OK, I have a training question. And this may apply to both training and actually working a dog on a case.OK, first in training, when you know where the scent is. Say you walked the dog laying the scent along a path or sidewalk and off the path are various parking lots, yards, etc. How much time do you allow a dog to check out each of these areas before you pull him back to the track. Since you know the scent is not there. Several minutes? Or do you not pull him back at all? In a real case, you won't know where the animal went, and you want to encourage the dog to check all these areas thoroughly. On a real case, you would allow the dog to check the area for as long as they choose, or until they give the indication of no scent. How does that translate to training when you know where the scent is? Dino is real good about checking various areas along the track, and I don't want to discourage him from this at all. But he is also easily distracted, so I don't know how much time to give him to check out all these areas and try to keep his focus. Does this improve with his maturity on tracking?Thanks.

Wednesday, December 9, 2008

2008-12-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

Lowden Park, Weaverville. Weather was clear and cold. Started walking Dot around 3:30 PM. Many people in the park including a couple of loose dogs in the playground.

I walked Dot around the back corner, near the fencing and then out to the street. We crossed the street, walked down the sidewalk and then crossed again back toward another opening into the park. This part I thought might be tough for Dino because this spot goes off into three directions. We took the turn to the right, around the baseball diamond and then through a gate, into the field, across the field and then back out and through another smaller park. The car was off the the left in another parking lot.

I put Dot into the car and then I took Scout out and walked her on a cross track across Dot track just coming out of the baseball diamond. We walked around a bit in that area, and then we walked back again across the same track and back to the car.

I waited about another 15 to 20 minutes so the track would be about an hour old. I took Dino out, put on his harness, got his bag of treats and his rawhide bone. We walked another way into the park not near Dot's way into the park. We came across Dot's track, I showed him the scent pad, said "Take Scent" and "Search." He lifted up his head just barely and then put his head down and immediately started searching. He followed the track along side the wall up to the open field. Prior to getting to the field, he went into the fenced field about 15 feet, stopped, turned around and came back to me. I had him sit and clicked and treated because I felt he indicated on his own that there was no scent in that area. I said "check" and pointed to the ground, and he followed the scent as it continued around the outside of the fenced field.

He followed the scent into a completely enclosed pitching practice area. It was small, and he got to the end and turned around on his own and went back out without a hesitation. I thought about clicking and treating but I didn't want to distract him. He went back out to the open field and there he seemed to get confused which way. He started to back track and then came back to me and looked up at me. I said "check" as I pointed to the ground. It took him a couple of times before he picked up the scent again. he followed it around the fencing of the park. Toward the end of the park where there was a left turn to go out onto the street, there was a man walking a large German Shepherd off leash and Dino became very distracted. I don't know if he wanted to play with the dog, or if he was concerned that the dog was off-leash and running around. Since I didn't know what the man was going to do, I took Dino a bit further up closer to the fence and said "check" to give him something to focus on. The man walked the dog away from us in the direction we just came. Dino had a tough time getting back on the track in this area. He kept going off in a direction I knew the scent was not. I brought him back to where I knew it was and said "check." Finally, he got the scent on the way up to the opening to the street. He seemed very focus again. Then the man with the GS came back in our direction inside the park, and Dino lost focus again. He missed the turn off the sidewalk and across the street. I had to bring him back a couple of times to where the scent was and restart him. Finally, I just brought him across the street and said "check" and he picked up the scent.

He seemed very focused along the sidewalk, and he "check" several spots along the way and then came back to the sidewalk. Then he went right past the spot where we turned to go back across the street. I let him go around 15 feet, and then brought him back. Just before the turn to go across the street, Dino stood still and turned his head and body toward the park just at the spot where I had crossed with Dot. I was ecstatic. I clicked and treated and praised the hell out of him. He seemed pretty happy. We went across the street back to the park.

He followed the track back into the park around a set of restrooms to the right side. This is where the footpath goes in three directions that I noted earlier. He didn't want to go to the left, but he was insistent to go further, which was a concrete set of bleacher seats. I had to stop him at the end of the leash about three times. I couldn't click and treat because he wasn't indicating that the scent was ending. I brought him back to the spot into the park and tried it about three times. He seemed confused which way to go. I told him "check" as I pointed at the ground. He was going around and around. Finally after a couple of minutes, he got the right directions. I verbally praised him.

He got the track into the baseball diamond, across the field and back out. At this point, he could see the truck and started to go toward it, which I thought he might do. I brought him back to just outside the field and said "check." He picked up the scent as it went straight, through a smaller park and picnic area and he got the left turn to go back out to the parking lot. He got lost just inside the gate. I brought him back and said "check" and then he got it out the gate and toward the truck. I let the long line go, as he ran to the truck. He ran back to me and then ran to the truck. When I got there, I had him down (his signal when he finds the scent source) and I gave him his treat bag and played with this rawhide for several minutes.

I think what I will do from now on is to open up the truck and make him go into the truck to where either Dot or Scout are to go actually to the scent and show the animal, not just the truck. He may get confused that he is going to the truck and not the animal down the road.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

2008-12-03T21:16:00.000-08:00

Weather was clear, sunny, no breeze and a bit chilly. Ground was dry. Area is surburban residential combo with some sidewalks and some areas with no sidewalks. Houses and buildings are right along the edge of the street. I specifically wanted to work on spots where Dino would run out of scent and train him on that area. Time was around 11:30 AM.

I had John walk Dot along the edge of the street where there weren't any sidewalks. I had him walk up a private driveway, stop at the top and then turn around and walk back towards me. I had John walk along the edge of the next building and around the edge of the small parking lot and back out to the sidewalk. Then he walked along the edge of the next building, which let out to the main street. We made a right at the corner and walked along the main street. At the end of the street the corner had a paved parking lot. I had John walk Dot diagonal across the parking lot to the next street. We made a right up the street. About 50 feet up the street, I had John stop with Dot and we talked for a few minutes, standing in the same spot. I wanted to see how Dino would respond to a scent pool. We continued up the street, which had no sidewalks.

There were a couple of short driveways along the way, and I had John walk Dot up the driveway, stop and then walk back. At the next corner, we walked diagonal across the paved parking lot to the next street. We then crossed the street to a sidewalk that walked along Lowden park. We walked all along the side of the park, a distance of half a city block. At the next corner, we crossed the street, staying on the same side.

At the next driveway, I had John walk up the driveway to the corner of the garage and walk back to me. I saw a cat sitting next to the front door of this house. I wanted to keep in mind if Dino would pick that cat's scent up.

We walked down the street back to the car. Along this street there are several fenced front yards with loose dogs. They were barking at Dot as we walked by. See Dot's blog on that training session. We got back to the car. I had intended to take Dino out and work him on the track, but we had to make a quick restroom break first. We got back to the same spot about 1/2 hour later.

Started track with Dino about 12:45 PM. I put his harness on and got his treat bag and rawhide bone and started up the street. I walked up first the driveway that was the first dead end of scent. Dino walked past where the scent was and kept going toward another field. The property owner came out to ask me what I was doing. I was trying to describe the training I was doing with Dino, but he couldn't understand. He kept saying "I hope you find the lost animal you are trying to find." I did click and treat Dino as I saw him stop and come back to me and sit in front of me showing there was no scent. We walked down the driveway and made a right toward the main street.

He got the scent that followed around the edge of the next parking lot and he came back out and followed the scent in between the poles back out to the street. We walked past the next building, which was on the corner of the street we were on and Main Street. There was a woman sitting just outside the store's door that was also there when John and Dot walked past earlier. I told her what Dino was doing. She said, "For real! That is cool!"

We made the right turn onto Main Street. I was trying to practice in areas of what to do when there was no scent. I would intentionally have Dino "check" areas that I knew had no scent, and then I would have him come and sit in front of me, training him that his indication was to do that when there was no scent.

We walked down the street, and I had him "check" different spots. He got the "around the trees" out in front of the auto parts place. He definitely was following the dog scent and not my scent.

When we got to the corner, he followed the scent into the parking lot and he started to go into their back lot, which had no scent. He did seem to slow down a bit and seemed a bit unsure what to do. I had him come back and sit in front of me and I clicked and treated. I would like to see on his part somehow that something has changed, liking lifting his head, a searching for the scent back and forth in order for him to understand that something has changed in order for me to click and treat. I don't want to click and treat if he keeps going and I have to stop him and take him back. That is not an indication that something has changed.

I walked him back out to the sidewalk where the scent was and said "check" and he followed the track diagnonally across the parking lot and to the street. He made the right turn onto the next side street. He followed the scent up the street and then made a sharp right turn into a type of loading dock. He walked up the short set of stairs and then came back. I clicked and treated. An employee of the gas station on that corner asked what we were doing and I explained Dino's training. She thought that was "a great idea."

Dino continued on his own up the street and went right past the scent pool without a hesitation. There were a lot of ins and outs along this street. The buildings were various distances from the street, so Dino was going around and in and out of the yards checking everything. When we got to the lumber mill when I had John go up a driveway and then come back, Dino went up the driveway and kept going past the spot, and then started check the buildings in the immediate area like he had lost the scent. I had him come back to me and sit and I clicked and treated. We went back to the spot where John had stopped and said "check" and Dino started back down the driveway toward the street.

He made the right turn back on the street and continued the scent along the edge of the building and then made a right turn into another driveway of the same lumber business, which John and Dot did not go. He was checking along the buildings. I didn't stop him or reset him because the scent could have easily floated that way. He did follow into the yard with pretty good enthusiasm so I couldn't click and treat. I brought him back outside the yard and said "check" as I pointed toward the pavement and he followed the scent alongside the building of the lumber yard and continued up the street. There was another driveway and parking lot of this same lumber yard a bit further up. Again, he went into it sniffing around. I don't want to discourage him from checking things. However, since it is a private place, I can't really encourage him and allow him to sniff all over the place where there isn't any scent. I did bring him back out to the sidewalk and said "check" and he followed the scent along the sidewalk. I think I will allow him to check an area maybe for a few minutes at a time and if he doesn't find anything, then bring him back out. I am not sure. Maybe I will post a question to the Yahoo group.

He continued up the street, which was a semi busy street with sidewalks. He got the right turn diagonally through the parking lot. However, he then missed the left turn across the street to the park. Instead, he kept going straight toward a Scout House. He made a right turn into the back of the Scout House and around the back. He then found an old pudding cup and started to eat it. I quickly pulled him back. I brought him back to the spot he got crossing the parking lot. This time he got the left turn across the street toward the park.

He followed the track all along the sidewalk along the park. He crossed the street on the same side and walked right past the house where John walked up the driveway and where the cat was sitting. I didn't see the cat this time. He followed the track down the street, past the houses with the barking dogs and straight to the car. He got the treat bag and I played with the rawhide toy.

From a Discussion on PetHunters Yahoo Group, November 22, 2008

2008-11-26T21:44:00.000-08:00

----- Original Message -----
From: Jackie Phillips
To: pethunters@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 11:43 PM
Subject: [pethunters] Training Question

OK, I have a training question. I will admit, that I haven't checked Kat's book to see if this is in there, but I am not at home right now, and I wanted to post this to group before I forgot or got distracted by other things. I promise I will check Kat's book when I get home later tonight.

I have taught Dino a specific alert when he finds a cat. I have taught him to run back and jump on me with his front feet. I say "Show Me" and he runs back and jumps on me with his front feet. I have found myself using this same indication when he runs out of scent (if he has made a wrong turn) to tell me he has discovered this. I say "show me" and he runs back and jumps on me. Should I have different indications he makes to me for different things? What might be the different indications I would run into (for example, running out of scent, finding a cat, finding something else)? What other indications do people use for their dogs to tell them different things? I didn't want to try relying on me reading his body language. I want to use very specific indications he makes to me with all the different things we will come across.

Thanks. Jackie

Victor Totis wrote:

Hey Jackie

The short rule when your are teaching dogs is that you can have as many cues (word, body language, equipment, etc) that represents a single behavior but only one behavior per cue. For example people often use "down" to mean lay on the ground, stop jumping on me, stop jumping on company, get off the couch, get off the counter etc. It is not fair to the dog nor is it a very efficient way to communicate with your dog, and it usually becomes a training nightmare resulting in dogs that choose to do "None of the above." So from a working the dog standpoint yes you can have many things become the triggers for the dog to come back and jump on you. Having said all that I would not do that with my dogs. 1) I want the trained indication to ONLY mean that the dog has found the strongest source of scent of the target odor and worked it to the source. That way, me the handler is not confused about what my dog is telling me. If my dog works to a gate or door or hole in the ground and lays down I can have some confidence that my dog believes that the source is there. 2) If my dog finds the wrong thing and shows interest in a clump of fur or the wrong cat or whatever w/o the trained indication I know it is probably not the animal we are looking for. (Not that I don't walk up and look good an hard and poke at it and just confirm that for myself every time.) 3) If the dog looses the track I try to shape a natural behavior stronger so I turn that cue which may be difficult to read into something less subtle. For example if the dog naturally slows down or lifts her head when she gets out of scent I might praise her and encourage her to stop and look at me. Until I get a dog that stops and turns and that look says "we need to go back and find the trail". Along those lines it may also be telling me that I need to step up to the plate think about what I am seeing and help to get her nose back into the right place. Just the way my dogs and I try to work together nothing is written in stone others on the list may have different ideas/opinions.

Laura Totis
www.ljttraining.com

Laura put it pretty well. I have Loki trained (theoretically) for a jump-alert when he finds "that specific" scent source--whether that be the live animal or a scent article. He does a return-sit (and nose-poke at the treat bag) for a negative trail indication. We're switching to a stay-sit for cadaver. Those were all his natural responses, and I'm encouraging them. When he loses scent, he hesitates and looks at me--so I'm encouraging him to come back. When he finds cadaver, he actually doesn't like it, so he kind of stops and "loiters". Anubis has different alerts--he has the "pull mommy on her face" alert when he finds a cat, and the "eat it" alert for cadaver. ;-) OK, he's *supposed* to have a sit for cats and a touch-touch alert for cadaver, and he does sometimes, when he's not too busy pulling me down and/or tasting (ewww).We train for perfection, so that when we're in reality, if we get 50% we're doing OK. Do I always, every single time, get those alerts? No. The other day, I was out looking for a cat, and we found five others, plus a dead mouse part and a spot on the street where a squirrel had been hit (a small amount of squirrel fur in the spot), but not the owner's cat. Anubis found one cat from across the street (we were knocking on a door to check a yard, and he pinpointed it across the street, up the driveway, and at the corner of the house...in the dark!). I read his body language on that one--his radar-dish ears swivelled around, he turned into a doggy-statue, and I knew he'd seen/smelled something. Another cat, we were walking by a car, and both dogs tried to make like rabbits and dive underneath. Sure enough, a cat was under there. So I didn't get the "trained" responses, but we still found all five other cats!On a more complicated case--let's take the case of the cat-daver I found along with two others a month or so ago, in the middle of the woods. For something like that, you do need a clear response for each indication. If she was an indoor cat, we'd have wanted to try and follow a trail to get a direction to start the area search. I'd want to be pretty clear when Loki was telling me that her scent stopped, vs that he smelled "live kitty" somewhere nearby, because that would be two very different responses from me. One would set a perimeter of search, the other would set a *target area* of search. Then, when we're searching, and we hit a "hotspot," I definitely want the dogs to be able to tell me, are we looking at a spot under a bush where a coyote has had a dinner, and there's blood I can't see (sit or touch-touch), or are we looking at a spot where that cat was sitting 10 minutes ago, and the scent source is still so strong that it may as well still be there (jump)?So, like Laura said, there's no "rules" on how to do it, but there are things that work better for simple reasons... :-)

Donna

November 18, 2008

2008-11-25T21:23:00.000-08:00

Day was clear and sunny, approximately 11 AM. Track is layed in a surburban location with a combination of sidewalks, no sidewalks, parks, busy streets with heavy foot and vehicle traffic on one side, open parking lots on the edges of parks, empty lots.

I had John walk Dot down a side street with no sidewalks. Regular foot traffic from the main street to a park. I walked on the opposite of the street, directing John where to walk. I had him walk to the end of the street, cross the street and make a right away from the park and along the edge of an empty parking lot. I then had him cross the paved parking lot to the other side. I had him make a left when he reached the edge of the lot and continue along the side of the parking lot. Along the side of the parking lot is open space, green grass and trees. He continued to the end of the lot and then crossed the lot again to a wooden bus stop. He walked past the bus stop and made a right in front of it and continue along side the edge of the parking lot, now a driveway leading out to the street. I had John walk toward a large wooden gate that led into an open space and then walk away from the gate and go back along the same paved street that led out to the main street.

Before we got to the main street, I had John take a left into a parking lot of a retail store. We walked down to the end of the lot and then made a right turn and another right turn back out to the main street. We headed back down the main street, back in the direction of the car.

The main street is heavy vehicle and foot traffic with retail stores on the right side and a sidewalk. I walked as far to the left as I could without walking in traffic. We walked all the way back to the car, crossed the street again and back to the car. John sat in the car while he read his paper and I put Dot back in and got Dino out.

I got out Dino's treat bag, his rawhide toy and put on his harness. Instead of going down the track that John and Dot started on, I took Dino to the park at the end of the street and make a left into the park and walked him around a bit to get him distracted from the track. We walked back out to the street to where the track was. I walked Dino back up the street a bit, crossed over and then we were on top of the track that John and Dot put down. I walked a few more steps and then I showed Dino the scent pad, said "take scent", he reached for it to sniff it, and said "search." He immediately put down his head and started looking.

Instead of following the track down the side of the street where I knew it was, he went off to the right side and headed toward the parking lot. I thought about restarting him, but I decided not to. I wanted to see what he was following. He walked through some short grassy weeds and back out to the parking lot. He followed the parking lot along the right side and eventually came to the the point where John has crossed over from left to right. He was on the right track. I was totally thrilled. I am glad I didn't restart him. He followed the edge of the lot all the way, crossed the lot to the wooden bus stop, check the inside of the bus stop and came back out to continue down the driveway. He found the track leading up to the wooden door/gate and then came back out to the street. He was "checking" spots here and there and I praised him. He followed the driveway out to the street, missing the side parking lot leading to the retail store. Now, I bet he was smelling the scent from the street after John and Dot walked back down the main street, but I wanted to show Dino that the scent was also someplace else. I took him back to the parking lot and said "check" as I pointed to the ground. He picked up the scent in the lot and followed it to the top of the lot, but he had his head raised and was visually checking around, not with his nose to the ground like other times. He followed the scent to the top and out the parking lot, but he made a left instead of a right. I didn't say anything and I let him keep going. He stopped on his own about 50 feet ahead. He head came up and he stopped and looked around. There is where I want to add a new cue for him that I want to teach him. I want to teach him a new indication that he has run out of scent, like a sit or a down. I haven't decided, but it is so common, that I definitely needs a clear signal.

I said "Let's go" and we headed back to the lot where he was correct. I said "check" and pointed to the ground. This time he went up onto the grass in front of the store and then came back toward the lot and the street. He made the right turn in the correct direction this time and was back on Main Street.

All the way down the street, back to the car, I had him "check" areas off to the side like stairs and driveways and any nooks and crannies along the way. I want him to notice the difference of where the trail is and is not. And that is OK to check these areas to be sure it is not there. He seemed to really like this and be very confident. He walked all the way back to the car, crossed the street, but he kept going along the sidewalk past the car. When he was about 20 feet past the car, I brought him back to the corner where the track changed. I said "check" and pointed at the ground. He picked up the track again on a path through some bushes and back to the car. He did something I had not seen him do before. He checked a couple of cars along the way and walked past them and then got to my car. I was really glad he did that. I think I will practice that more often, having him check cars. I have not done a lot of that.

November 14, 2008

2008-11-22T18:13:00.000-08:00

Clear, sunny, cold, dry morning around 11:30 AM. Breeze was very light. Neighborhood is a combination of rural and surburban with a major highway/throughfare on one side and a large empty lot with a house in the back on another. Car was parked on one of the corners of the block.

I had John walk Dot down the short side street away from the car and toward Main Street. At the corner we made a right. I was walking in the street on the side streets with no sidewalks or as far to the left on the main streets with sidewalks and trees and cars in the street.

The Main Street is heavily traveled with cars, semis, RV's and a lot of foot traffic. Along the right is house and businesses with fences right up to the sidewalk. Every house had a fence. We walked up the street and then when we came to a business with a parking lot around the back, I had John walk Dot close to the fence that borders along the back of the lot. There was a large dog tied to a chain barking at us, so we cut from the fence back to the building along the other side. We walked back toward the sidewalk and Main Street. We continued up the street and when we came to the bank, we cut through the parking lot and I had John go diagonal through the lot while I stayed far off the the right. He crossed the lot and then crossed a small concrete barrier with plants and then made a right back out to the side walk and then made a right back in the direction of the car. There were no sidewalks on this street, so I had John walk close to the edge of the street. Then I had him cross the street in my direction, around a power pole and back out to the street, staying on this side while I crossed back over. A little further down, I had John cross back across the street and I went to the other side. John and Dot walked all the way down the street back to the car.

I put Dot into the car and John sat in the car to read his paper. I took Dino out and put on his harness, got his bag of treats and his rawhide bone.

Started Dino at 11:50 AM. I walked with Dino in the opposite direction to go around another block and hit the trail from another direction. We walked around the block and when we hit the location of the corner where John and Dot made the right hand turn onto Main Street from the side street, a few feet before, I told Dino "Ready, Ready, Ready" to get his attention that something was going to happen to get his attention. He was focused on me. I showed him the scent pad and said "Take Scent" and he reached out the sniff and then I said "Search." He immediately put down his head and started looking. He followed the trail up the street. I thought he might catch the scent of the the cat that lives on the corner, but he went right past it.

When we got to the parking lot with the fence that goes behind a business, he made the turn right away and followed it all the way around (no barking dog on a chain this time), and he got the left diagonal back to the side of the building and back to the street. He followed it up the street again. I remember him checking nooks and cranies along the way and I would say "good check." When we got to the bank, he made the right turn, but he went the direction of my track instead which was along the side of the bank, instead of John's which was along the building on the other side of the driveway. I thought about leaving him alone, maybe thinking he was following parts of John and Dot's scent. But then I called him and he came back in my direction. I said "check" as I pointed at the driveway where John and Dot walked. He followed the trail up the driveway and then along the back of the building instead of diagonal. This time I didn't restart him and he followed it back up along the parking lot in the correct direction.

At this point, he got a little confused, and when I saw what I did, I don't blame him. Instead of crossing the small concrete barriers that John walked over, Dino wanted to go straight to the sidewalk. At first I called him back not seeing my mistake. I brought him back to the middle of the parking lot where he was correct and had him going again through the parking lot to the street. He still went straight for the street instead of crossing the concrete barriers. I noticed what he was doing. He was picking up the scent from when John and Dot had made a right back onto the street which went in front of him, though about 50 feet ahead of him. This time I didn't restart him and let him go to the street and praised him. He made the right turn back down the street toward the car.

Instead of being on the left side of the street where John and Dot walked, he walked on the right side where I walked. I didn't correct him because the street was narrow, barely enough for two cars to pass with no parking on either side, so I figured he easily could have been picking up the scent that blew to the other side.

I did walk right past the power power (which had a U shaped driveway around it, and this time I called him back to a spot before the short U around the power pole and said "check" as I pointed at the ground, and he started again onto the driveway, checking various spots around the edge of the gravel driveway. He came back to the top of the driveway and back onto the street again and made the right turn back to the car.

He crossed the street on his own, which is the side that John and Dot were walking on. He was checking various nooks and crannies along the way with me praising him.

Instead of going straight to the car, he made the right turn back down the side street and back to Main Street. Of course, I didn't restart him since that was the way that John and Dot walked. I followed him down to Main Street and he made a left turn where there wasn't any scent. I let him go as far as he wanted to (about one house distance) before he stopped on his own. I said "Show Me" and he came back and jumped on me with his front paws. At this point, I think I need to distiguish between running out of scent or no scent and another indication. But I didn't do anything different with him, I was thinking this to myself.

I did repeat "Search" since we had not found Dot yet. I did see him glance in the direction of the right turn back out onto Main, but then he went in the direction of the car. He walked up the the car, sniffed the side and then jumped with his front feet onto the bumper of the car. I praised him and then gave him his back of treats and played with his rawhide.

The time was about 12:40 AM, about an hour since the start of when John and Dot walked by. I was pretty happy with this. He was very focused and got very little distracted by his environment which he has done in the past. I have stopped clicking and treating during the track and he remains very focused. I think that worked best during the inital training, but now verbal praise is good and the treats and toys at the end since he now seems to understand cleared what he is doing. I will put a post onto the PetHunters Yahoo group asking about the different indications people use for "cats", "end of scent" and "anything else".

November 14, 2008

2008-11-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

Time was about 11:30 AM. Weather was sunny, clear and dry. I had John walk Dot around a neighborhood block. I walked to the far right as I could, closest to the street, away from John and Dot who were closer to the houses and businesses on the inside of the block.

The first leg of the block was on the busy main street with a full sidewalk of about four feet wide. I had them walk almost down to the end of the block. There was a gas station on the corner, and I had him take the driveway just before the gas station which led down to another business behind the gas station and then which led out to the side street. If we had made a right turn just after the gas station, we this same street would be to my left. We walked past the other business on this side street and then down past several houses. The sidewalk did not continue. There was no sidewalk, just a thin, gravel path about two feet wide that led down in front of all the house. At the street at the end we made a right, staying on the same side. We walked all the way down to the end of the block, close to where my truck was parked with Dino. The sidewalk was still a dirt and gravel path with fenced yards on the right and a strip of grass about three feet wide on the left. To the left of the grass was the road, which is a medium traffic residential road.

I had John sit back into the car and I put Dot back into her crate in the truck. I took Dino out, put on his harness, got his treat bag and rawhide bone. I wanted to take Dino away from his focus on the car, so I walked in the opposite direction, crossed the street and walked back up the street. Across from the gas station, I crossed the street again and walked down the side road with no sidewalks. We walked just past the gas station to where the scent track started. I took out the scent pad, said "take scent" and Dino reached up to sniff the paper towel. I said "search" and he immediately put his head down and started looking. He started on the track right away. He followed it straight down to the end of the street and made the right turn. I noticed him doing "checks" along the way, and I would praise him verbally in a light voice so as not to distract him. Down this leg we had some light trouble because three dogs behind their fences raised a huge ruckus when we walked by. I told Dino "leave it" and kept moving along. I had to tell him a few more times because the yard and fencing was about the length of two houses. He did keep going and tried to focus. Once we got past the house, I praised him for "leaving" and told him "search" to refocus him on the track. A person who walked by while this was happening said "He did good there." I said "thank you" because I thought he did really good.

On a couple of gates all the way down this street he would stop and look up at me. He didn't go further inside, just stopped and looked at me. At one house, I saw a cat in the window, so I figured he was smelling cats in those yards. I didn't say anything but "search." He continued down the street, all the way down and crossed the street a bit early from where John and Dot crossed. He may have seen the truck, so I brought him back to the sidewalk and where the track was and said "check. " He continued down the sidewalk and crossed again just about four feet early. He ran to the car, put his front feet on the rear bumper and then ran back to me, jumping on me with this front feet. I gave him his bag of treats and played with this rawhide.

The distance was still pretty short and the age was only less than an hour. He was doing something still new which was having a second scent with the other person walking the dog and my scent nearby. That is all new to him. I want to test his abilities on VST and see where he is and where he needs improvement. I would say I can slowly increase the age of the track and slowly increase the distance. But I will do this slowly since he is still very distractable and I want this to be only positive and fun. Since this is my first tracking/trailing dog, I want to have a chance to evaluated each performance to try a lot of different things to see what works with him and what doesn't. This is very experimental, especially since I am doing this alone. I want to study more VST books to see what I can pick up.

November 13, 2008

2008-11-17T18:52:00.001-08:00

It was around 10 AM. Weather was clear and sunny. I had John walk Dot around the Tops shopping center before we went to lunch. I told John not to walk near me so my scent would not mix much with his scent and Dot's. We walked down the middle of the parking lot with him walking through the base of the trees. Then we walked past a semi parked and then past another truck and then straight toward the end of the parking lot. He walked through some concrete planters and then toward the end of the lot. He walked behind a stack of bags on pallets of potting soil and then he followed all along the end edge of the parking lot which borders on the edge of an open space with grass. He walked all the way behind the entire center, which is an outdoor strip mall. Then we walked out to the sidewalk and made a right back in the direction of the car. The total time to walk the center was about 15 minutes. I put Dot back into the car and then went to breakfast.

About an hour later we came back to the same spot. I parked the car in the same spot because that is where the track it, plus it is a secluded spot so Dino can't see the car from the track, which has triggered an early run to the car in the past. I put on his harness, treat bag and rawhide bone.

He had a difficult time starting and find the track. Later I figured a few things. Either he was still too close to the car so it was confusing that he knew where Dot was. Or the parking lot where we started had so much traffic that it was too difficult for him since we had not had too much experience on VST. Too much time had elapsed for his level. Or he was very distracted by all the activity in the parking lot: all the people walking around, all the dogs barking and walking around. I think it may have been all of the above. I would like to come back to this spot and specifically work on this parking lot and subsequently walking in front of all the stores, which has more traffic. That would be a good track all by itself.

So I continued to tell Dino "Search" as we walked along the track and telling him "check" along the way and pointing at the ground where I knew the scent was. I did not rescent him on the scent pad. I knew he had the scent. He just couldn't find it or was too distracted. I kept walking along to where the semi had been parked. In this location, the traffic was dying down a bit, but still a bit heavy. He did seem to be looking and searching for something, but not dead on it yet. As we got closer to the edge of the lot and the open space, he seemed to be more focused. Once he got to the pallet of potting soil he seemed to be following something. He continued on the track all the way along the edge of the lot. He got the change behind all the stores from where I had John walk from the edge of the lot to a chain link fence along a loading zone. He followed the track along the outside of the delivery truck that was still parked in the same area. He followed the track straight out to the sidewalk and he made the right turn back toward the car. He followed it all the way to where the car was parked. He jumped on the car with his front feet and then ran back to me and jumped on me. I gave him his bag of treats and played with the rawhide.

By the time we got back to the car, it was over an hour and a half long. Based on his ability on the track once we got out of the parking lot, I do believe my assessment of the parking lot was correct. I didn't realize how different the two locations were until I saw his reaction to both. I do think the parking lot was more difficult for him due to the heavy flow of traffic and all the distractions which were completely non existent behind the center. I will come back to practice just on the parking lot with a lot less aging time.

November 7, 2008

2008-11-09T18:53:00.000-08:00

With my new dog, Dot, I took her and Dino back to JC Park. Now that it was the end of daylight savings time, it was dark earlier. I was at the park around 4 PM. Weather was damp with rain for several days and rain while I had Dino out.

I took Dot out and walked her from the car to the horses and alongside their pasture. She was oblivious to them except for a couple of light barks. I have only had her for a day, so she may not have seen a lot of horses. We walked past the horses and made the right turn into the playground. We walked through the playground and to the far end closer to the main road. We made a right turn up through some trees, crossed the road and then through some more trees several hundred feet to the far south side of the public horse arena. We made a right turn up a short hill and went around the far side of the arena. This would put us past the front of the truck about 25 feet. We made a right turn light we were about to go back around the arena. Instead, I made a sharp left turn down a short hill and then back to the truck.

I waited about 15 minutes to bring Dino out which would make the track about 45 minutes old. I brought Dino out with his harness, treat bag and rawhide toy. We walked past the horse, and like before, he lost focus. We went back about three times to the part just before the horse where he was strong and then continued forward. He made it down to the end of horse corral pretty strong with good focus. At the turn toward the playground he continued forward looking all around at the horses in the corral right past the right turn. We went back along the corral where he was strong and went to the turn again. I said “check” pointing at the ground a couple of time when he finally continued forward, made the right turn into the playground. I didn’t click because I didn’t want to distract him. Instead I verbally praised him repeatedly. He continued strong through the playground straight ahead. He made the right turn back up to the road pretty strong with his nose to the ground.

When he got close to the road he started to veer off to the right away from the track. I couldn’t figure out what he was doing. We went back several times and he kept going off to the right. I couldn’t figure it out. I walked along the track saying “search” and “check” on the ground. I was very confused. Finally, I looked off to the right and saw the truck off in the distance. I figured that Dino saw the truck also and decided “I know this game. I know the dog is in the car. Let’s go that way.” I thought briefly about letting him go to the car, but then I decided that would be wrong because he is supposed to follow the track even though he may know the end of the game.

I continued to work him along the track telling him verbally that he needed to follow the track. He did get back onto the track and continued it straight up through the trees with his nose to the ground. I continued to verbally praise him without clicking so I wouldn’t distract him. He went around the horse arena and made the sharp left turn in front of the car to where Dot was. He jumped on the car and came back to me and jumped on me. I clicked and gave him the bag of treats and played with the rawhide toys for several long minutes.

I don’t know if it was my fault for doing this in a familiar area where he can see the car, or if is OK so he knows that he is to follow the track no matter what. Once he was back on the track he was fine. He did seemed confused when he saw the truck because, I figured, that he was doing the right thing by going to the car.

November 1, 2008

2008-11-09T18:51:00.000-08:00

End of day around 5 PM, still within daylight savings time.

I went to the Junction City park and walked Scout around past a horse barn where several horses were, through the children’s playground, up toward the car and then a right turn toward the road, then a right turn up toward the empty public horse arena, right turn around the horse arena and then around the horse arena back toward the same direction. I did take a path away from where I had previously walked through some trees. Once I came out of those trees I crossed the road again and down toward the baseball field. Instead of going through the field, I went around it which took me through some high brush I was unaware of. After leaving the field I make a left turn back up another road and back in the direction of the horse corral where the horses were. I realized that I would cross the previous track, and I didn’t think he was ready for that, especially so close to the horses.

I made a wide right u turn and went back down the road out to the highway. I went down another side road to get off the highway, which led me back to the main road and children’s playground. I figured in the direction I was going I would have to cross my previous track to get back to the car. I blew it. I had to do it in order to get back to the car. I decided to do it and see what happens, if Dino picks it up and what does he do.

I drove to the post office and then came back to the park. It was an hour from when the beginning of the track was started. I put Dino in his harness and grabbed his treat bag with his rawhide toy. I wanted to test him on the live horses again because I have seen how distracted he is on horse, and how difficult it is for him to focus on the track. He got the track from the car and to the edge of the horse corral. Once he saw the horses, and knew they were in there, he got lost and lost focus. I had to take him back to the top of the trail where he was strong on the track several times until he was able to get the right turn away from the horses into the children’s playground. I definitely have to repeat that location with the horses several more times until there is no hesitation.

Once he was back on the trail strong into the playground I clicked and treated. We continued on the trail through the playground and he got the right turn back up toward the parking lot. He continued strong on the straight line. Here is where one of the cross tracks occurred as I walking Scout back to the truck. He hit the cross and immediately made the right turn toward the car which was about 100 feet away. He jumped on the truck bumper and ran to me and jumped on me. I clicked and gave him the bag of treats and played with his rawhide.

I feel like I wasted the rest of the really good track, but he did the right thing, which was to follow the track, which led in both directions.

October 29, 2008

2008-11-09T18:50:00.000-08:00

I took Mercury in his crate and walked with him around Jean and Al’s property. Since he is heavy in his crate, I put the crate on a dolly and wheeled him around on the gravel driveway in various directions until I found a secure, safe space around on the driveway where there are various old vehicles and “junk/stuff.” I liked this location because of all the stuff that could cause the scent to go in all different direction. There must be all kinds of different scents because of the old vehicles.

I waited about an hour to bring Dino out. It was just starting to get dark. It was warm out with a bit of breeze. I started Dino completely in an opposite direction of where I knew Mercury was. I even stopped for about 10 minutes with Dino in harness to talk to Jean after she got home from work. I started Dino out saying “Find Felix” and started near another house with a large fenced yard and known cats in the yard. Dino found three locations in the fencing where the cats come and go. At each point I clicked and treated and praised.

Dino also found a dead bird that he was very interested in. I have noticed since starting this training with Dino that he is very interested in dead “stuff” we find on the road and various spots. Instead of eating it like he used to, he now sniffs it and seems to figure out what it is. When I find what appears to be the remains of an animal like blood on the street, I call Dino over to show him to let him know that it is OK to check this stuff out and kind of “keep it in his memory banks.”

This continued around the house, behind the house and around another old building, each time checking various spots. He did seem very interested in various spots, but we didn’t find any cats. He continued behind the house with cats finding a couple entrances and exits, each time clicking and treating and praising.

Dino continued on his own away from that house and to the front of warehouse where Mercury was waiting. Dino followed the trailed of how I rolled Mercury in his crate and dolly around various objects and vehicles directly to where Mercury was waiting. I said “Find Felix” and his pawed at the crate and came back to me, jumping on me. I immediately clicked and let him have the bag of treats and then played with the rawhide.

I was pretty happy with what Dino did. I have him doing searches now at an hour and so far, so good he is able to get them. I am trying to vary doing tracking and area searches for cats do he gets ongoing experience with both. I liked that he remained interested in focused.

October 27, 2008

2008-11-09T18:48:00.000-08:00

I put Mercury in his carrier and hid him underneath a vacant house a couple of houses away from mine. I waited almost an hour before I brought out Dino. I brought Dino in from a different direction from how I walked Mercury down to the spot.

From out on the highway, out in front of the house, I told Dino “Find Felix.” He immediately started to look around and check spots. I walked him around the house and up on the porch and telling him “check” in different spots. He was very interested in finding something. We were in the brush and open space in front of the house doing “checks.” We walked closer to the house, and Dino zeroed in on the direction of where Mercury was. He checked the side steps and came back down and then went down the short hill and underneath the house to exactly where Mercury was. I said “Find Felix” and he came back to me and jumped on me, which is his signal when he finds a cat. However, he forgot to paw the crate. So, I said “Find Felix” and he went back to the crate, pawed at it and came back to me and jumped on me. I clicked and gave him his bag of treats and played with his rawhide bone.

I was surprised how fast he found Mercury. I thought due to the time frame of an hour that it would take him longer, and also, since I had walked with Mercury from the opposite direction. The weather was overcast with a light breeze.

October 25, 2008

2008-10-30T22:27:00.000-07:00

I took Mercury and Dino out to Helena. It was about 4 PM during the week. I parked down near the buildings, near the post office boxes. I left Dino in the car and I took Mercury in his locked and tied crate down the road to the river. The mosquitoes and bugs were horrendous! I found a nice covered spot under some trees to the right of the bottom of the road.

I brought Dino out and put his harness on and got his bag of treats and rawhide toy. We headed in the opposite direction away from the road down to the river. I told Dino "Find Felix."

First we checked the old barn where we have seen cats before. The first thing Dino did on the trail up to the barn was poop. He was hesitant to go into the barn door, but that is not usual. We had to get over the thorny berry business. We got in, and I noticed that there had been some change to the building. A door was now open that not, and part of the back of the building was now open. Dino sniffed everywhere. I would be telling his "check" in various spots along the way along with clicking and treating. Then we went down to the next building where I put out the cat food, so I know cats come up and down this path. Dino went up the path right where the empty food containers were. We checked around the back of the buildings.

Then we went down the road a bit and into a field where we have seen cats. He went right into the field and headed along a worn foot path, checking spots along the way. We went to the old buildings in the back, checking various spots. Dino was receiving clicks and treats for each of his checks. Every once in a while I will verbally praise, but because he is still learning, he is getting clicks and treats 95% of the time an verbal praise the rest.

We walked along another path heading back toward the road down to the river, checking various spots along the way. The bugs were too much. It was very distracting. Dino followed along this path, and as we got closer to the road leading down to the river, he was very focused and went directly down the road and seemed directly on the scent of Mercury. However, when we got to the both of the road, and the wide river bed which leads to the river, Dino kept going straight instead of finding Mercury to the right. I didn't say anything, and let him explore what was out ahead of him. Who knows. The local cats could have come down here recently. I had no way of knowing. I am sure that all types of animals come down here. I can see a lot of different types of feces all over the river bed. I could see that Dino was very interested in everything around him. He had never been down here before.

Once we got closer to the river, I stopped him and said "Find Felix." He went around and around and was not going any where near Mercury. So, I went back up the road we came from, where he got very positive responses. I tried again and said "Find Felix." He was definitely still looking. This time, when he got to the bottom of the road where the river bed starts, he headed off to the right where Mercury was, but he was still over 15 feet away to Mercury side. Dino walked right past Mercury. I was very confused because in the past Dino has zeroed in on Mercury really well. I was trying to figure out why he was not. Dino was very interested in other smells around him. The river was also loud, which may have been distracting him. I repeated "Find Felix." He appeared to be trying to find something. I thought that there was no breeze. It was still and warm. I thought maybe he really couldn't smell Mercury if all these other smells on the river bed were covering up Mercury. But Mercury was only about 15 feet to Dino's left under a tree. I could hear Mercury meowing from where I was holding the long line.

We went back up the road again and went back down to the river bed with me telling him "Find Felix". Again Dino went to the right and was closer to Mercury this time. After about 30 seconds he went to Mercury's crate and ran back to me, jumping on me, which is his indication that there is a cat. However, he missed pawing at the crate. I didn't say anything except "Find Felix." He ran back to the crate, pawed at it, ran back to me and jumping on me. I clicked and treated. I practiced a couple more times with "Find Felix" and the second time, he actually jumping onto of the crate with all four feet and stood on it for a couple of seconds, almost like he was saying "Is this good enough?!" He ran back to me and jumped on me. I gave him his bag of treats and his rawhide bone.

I will practice in this location again. I definitely want a much faster response to finding the cat. I was concerned that he walked right past the crate within a few feet of it. He even didn't respond to Mercury's meowing. That is so unusual. I thought there had to be some pretty big distractions there like other smells. However, he needs to be able to ignore those distractions and find the cat.

August 22, 2008

2008-10-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

I had to go to San Mateo to pick something up. I stopped in a nearby neighborhood, parked the car and got Mercury out of the back. I walked with him in his carrier straight up the street away from the car, in the direction the car was facing. These are very long blocks. I crossed the next street and kept walking straight. At the next corner I made a right still on the same side of the street. I made a right at the next turn and went down the street. At the corner I crossed the street and, instead of making a sharp right across the street to head back towards the car, I made a diagonal in the same direction between some bushes. I went back down to the corner. My car was to my left half way down the block. I crossed the street again and made a left to go back down the street towards my car. I crossed back across the street to the back of my car and put Mercury inside.

I took Dino out, and headed back down the street, away from my car, and away from where I layed Mercury's scent. I made a right at the next corner, a right at the next corner, crossed the next street, walked down to the end of the next corner and made a right and went down the street to the next block and crossed the street. This would put us at the top of where Mercury's scent was. I had taken a paper towel and rubbed it on Mercury before taking him out and walking him around. I had that in my pocket and showed it to Dino and said "take scent." His eyes seemed to pop out and his head was swinging back and forth looking for something. He turned and immediately went down the street on the route around the block where I walked Mercury. He was definitely following something. He made the turn at the next right and kept going. He did make some diviations to roll on the nice, lush lawns like Loki does. I said "get to work" and stayed behind him on the sidewalk and he kept going.

He crossed the street at the next corner, and started to go straight when he suddenly turned to the right and went down the street back toward my car. When he hit the point where I had crossed diagonal onto the street he started moving faster. He had been going at a pretty fast pace before to make me jog to keep up with him.

The next corner is where he had problems for two reasons. As he approached the next corner, a woman was walking slowly along the same path. He caught up to her. The sidewalk was very narrow, so I didn't want to pass her and it was very narrow. I tried to slow him down without discouraging him or giving him a negative correction. He seemed to get distracted and confused by me doing this and now that person was directly in front of him. He lost his concentration and started to follow the lady right behind her. I wasn't surprised because he has done this in the past. He is so friendly with people that he just keeps following them even though I go in another direction. I let him cross the street because the scent was also in the area. When we got about twenty feet past the scent and he was still following this woman, I gently slowed him down and brought him back to the coorner where the scent went in two directions (where we had just come from and back to the car). He was confused. He appeared to pick up both, and he sat and looked up at me. Without saying anything I started to walk slowly in the direction of the car, and then he took off in a fast pace again. He go to the location just across the street from the car, and kept going. then he stopped and came back. I had to stop him because there were several cars passing by. Once the cars passed, he darted over to the back of the car and jumped up on the tail gate to get inside. I made the tiny mistake of not opeining up the back to let him get to Mercury, but I was so excited about what he just did, i just took out his rawhide and started throwing it. Dino was very excited.

October 16, 2008

2008-10-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

Me:
I looked on the CARDA site, but did not see any groups in this area listed. I can contact them to ask them. How did they feel about you training your dog to track animals? Did they help you out with training your dog to track animals? Or did you start them out tracking humans and then switched over? That is what Donna said she did.

Kat:
////// I would be clear with them (if you find someone in your county to work with who does SAR) that you are training your dog to find lost dogs and cats...not humans. They might tell you "thanks, but no thanks" or they might welcome you in. It varies...I've seen teams reject MAR dog handlers (only to have the person who threw Landa out of their group LOSE THEIR BLOODHOUND and wish they had a trained MAR dog in their group to track the missing SAR dog!!). I think problems have occurred when MAR handlers have tried to "sneak" into a training group (Landa did this, and that is why she got booted out) without telling them up front. Just offer that you will lay a human scent trail for their dog if they in turn will let you work your dog on the scent trail of their dog. Groups are almost always wanting volunteers who can go for a walk and lay scent trails (or even area search dogs to find you hiding out in the woods somewhere).

/// I just realized that someone who used to be with CARDA might live near you. Althought I don't know her all that well, Laura Rathe lives near Redding. I heard from her a few months back when we were putting out a plea on how to get Zeke the Bloodhound out of the shelter near Redding and transported here to Seattle. Anyways, contact her and see if you could perhaps take lessons from her or if she has any referrals for people with trailing dogs that you can train with. Here's her info:
Laura Rathe
www.petswithoutpartners.org
Pets Without Partners Redding, CA 96001
Phone: 530-243-6911
Email: laura@petswithoutpartners.com

Me:
So far, I have Dino already doing short tracks that take me about 15 minutes to walk with the other animal to lay and then the track is aged about 50 minutes old. This is just on animals. And we are also practicing on area searches with cats in an areas I know there are feral cats. so I was concerned about switching him back to tracking humans. I thought that might be confusing to him.//////

Kat:
If you have my book DOG DETECTIVES, read the chapter on Dual Purpose dogs. I believe I address this and suggest that you use different equipment and commands when you train and work on trailing dog scent verses detecting stationary cat scent.
Keep training... you have the smarts, the experience (as an ACO), and a GREAT dog!!! :)

October 8, 2008

2008-10-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

On the AKC site search for obedience clubs or all breed clubs in yourarea. Contact the club and perhaps this might lead you to one oftheir club members who is tracking with their dog.Also search for an AKC tracking judge in your area. Talk to local dog trainers - people who offer obedience classes oragility classes - and ask if they know of anyone doing tracking. If there is a local search and rescue group, they may have members whowork dogs or may know of someone who could work with you.If there is a tracking test within a couple hours of you, go and talkto people. Or at least contact the secretary. You can find trackingtests through the AKC website.If the closest tracking club is in Sacramento, contact them. Theymay have club members who come from somewhere closer to you. Some dogpeople drive a long distance to play the games they are passionateabout. :o)Good luck in finding a tracking partner for you and Dino. Pattie MoonBellingham, WA

September 5, 2008

2008-10-30T20:39:00.000-07:00

Jackie:
One of the questions I had is that eventually he will only be tracking animal scent, and he won't be trained again on human? So he will remain specialized? But, you are saying, that, at this point, I should be training him only on animals, except for my own with the food?

Should I be working on simultaneously working on extending the track and the age of the track, like I have been doing?

Donna:
It certainly wouldn't hurt to ask them if they'd be willing to let you train with them. You could always tell them that, although you want to eventually move to finding animals with Dino, you're considering getting a puppy which you'd start to do SAR for humans. (Whether or not that's true...) That'd make them more likely to be willing to work with you. Each county has their own "personality," and some are much more militaristic and...what's the word...not exclusionary...not cliqueish...not discriminating...not particular...well, you get the idea. There's a word, and I can't come up with it. If you don't want to do things exactly the way they want them done, they won't let you play with them. Others are very relaxed.As far as when to do just animal, and when to do people... For the last 6 - 12 months of his training, you need to do *just* animal, no people. For now, I don't think it matters which you do. At the very beginning, you did just your scent, to keep things very simple and clear for him--he got rewarded when he followed your scent. (Also to keep it easier for you--you could lay your own trails!) Now, it's time to start adding "other people," whether those people be humans or animals shouldn't make a difference to him. If he learns now that "scent" simply means "some individual," whether that individual is human, cat, dog, horse, ferret, rabbit, or whatever, it'll be that much easier to do "Russian purple spotted guinea hen" later on when someone asks if you can. :-) But, for the last 6 - 12 months, no *humans* because it'll be complicated when the owner's scent is all over the scent article, and they've walked all over the search area. If he's spent 6 - 12 months looking for animals only, and getting no reward whatsoever for finding humans (and working problems specifically with contaminated articles, where he gets rewarded *only* for following the animal's trail and not the owner's), then he should be "mostly" proofed against following the owner's trail.As far as age vs length... On each training session, pick one variable to change. So, each session change either age or length, but not both. Or, add in an extra turn. Or, add in a different surface. Or, a different, hotter time of day. Or... But make sure it's just one variable. If he does well with that variable, then you can make that particular variable harder the next time you work it. (So, if he does well going from a 20 minute old trail to a 30 minute old trail, then you can maybe jump to a 45 minute old one, instead of 40. But if he has a hard time going from 20 to 30, then you don't change that variable for quite a while, and you might even need to go back to 25 or even 20 for a while.)As you move on, you'll add in other complications, like contaminated scent articles, negatives, double-backs, split trails, etc, etc. But that's *way* later on. Do be careful for now with laying trails and things like accidental trips to the bathroom. :-)

September 2, 2008

2008-10-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

Kyla:
Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. I meant to look some things up for you, but decided I'd better get an email off real quick before you have to unplug your computer for the move.

Me:
Hello. It was good to see you recently at the County-Wide AKC trial. I wish I had the opportunity to stay longer and chat with everybody more.

Kyla:
It was great to see you! Unfortunately we're all so busy at that venue it doensn't provide many opportunities for visiting.

Me:
I have a tracking question for you. I have a two year old herding breed mix, and I have been working with somebody here in the Bay Area for a couple of months that has a business that tracks lost pets through the use of tracking/trailing dogs. She has been teaching me how to train Dino to teach him tracking. However, I am moving up to nearby Redding in a couple of weeks, and I won't be able to work with her anymore. I want to continue Dino's tracking training and eventually work him toward the level of training like the AKC tracking because I intend to start my own business in the Nor Cal area of tracking lost pets once Dino is fully trained. I can get tracking titles on him through the Mixed Breed Club, and I would like to do that eventually, also.

Kyla:
Well, I love tracking and am happy you have found someone to get you started. Too bad you'll be uprooted from that, hopefully it's a move you want to make and are looking forward to it. I would encourage you to think about what is the most exciting potential for you in tracking. If you intend to open your own business to track lost pets, I would completely focus on the kinds of tracking skills that are going to be useful to you in that regard. Yes, tracking is tracking...but there are different skills required for the different venues, and I think you would ultimately be working at cross purposes to try to be training for AKC/mixed breed tracking titles AND tracking lost pets. This is just my opinon. You know I like to do a lot of different things with my dog, but I think you'll make better progress if you focus on ONE thing first. Once you've established yourself as a great pet tracker, you can use your teamwork to modify your approach to fit in with the requirements for "testing" venues.I realize that a title may lend some credibility to your tracking dog business, so there's a double edged sword for that reason. Still, I think that your main business will come after you've had some success in actually tracking lost pets. Your fees will be able to increase after you have a solid reputation in that regard. I'm sure you've probably done searching on line to see what resources might be available to you with regard to the specifics of teaching a dog to track other pets.I do not have any experience in tracking lost pets, so can't really offer you much advice in that regard. I've been asked several times to track missing pets, but have declined, since I've not specifically trained my dog to do that. In fact, I've always discouraged my dogs from following animal tracks - asking them to stick to the human scent I've asked them to track from the start. I've heard many stories of people with dogs less trained than my own having "no problem" following the trail of a lost pet even days after it was missing. There is a part of me that wonders if their dog was taking them on a merry goose chase - no one can confirm or deny that the missing pet actually walked that route, just that it was later seen in the area. It's not that I don't believe it CAN happen, I just have my doubts that dogs will just automatically understand what is being asked of them - especially in an urban setting.So if you want your dog to really be good at finding lost pets, I would find someone who can advise you in the training methods that have been successful for them - or find a training partner who wants to experiment with you. How do you lay training tracks? At what point do you have the dog switch from following tracks that you've laid (so you know where they are and can insist on good tracking behavior), to following some type of animal? If, for example, you want to have the dog track a cat, how do you find a cat you can walk on a leash to create a "tracks" and how can you make sure that the proximity of your track doesn't influence the dog's behavior? Do you train the dog to the point of being able to work "blind" tracks laid by a human (tracks not known to the handler) before asking them to then work the scent of other animals?See? I have lots of questions. Other questions for me - how do you deal with the "track" when the tracking dog wants to search for lost pet on private property where you don't have/can't get permission to enter? I see the need to train for "track interruption"How will you handle the search if you have no known starting point (or point last seen)Tracking tests, by comparison, are fairly straightforward. There is a known starting point with a scent article. The tracklayer walks in fairly straight lines. You know you have to have at least one left and one right turn, you know the yardage, etc. On the other hand, you have to follow where the dog wants to go, and can't make the decision to research the area unless the dog instigates the search. For example, if the dog searches in an area, then goes beyond and gets "stuck" (runs out of scent), you can't go back to the spot where your dog showed some interest and then ask the dog to try again from that point. That would be "guiding" in a test. That would be good thoughful handling if you're working a track for a lost pet.It seems to me that the pet tracking work would be most similar to search and rescue work. The style doesn't matter (can switch from tracking, to trailing (following further off the actual footfalls, where scent may have gathered against buildings or bushes) , or airscenting - as long as the pet gets found, the owners won't care if your dog was really "tracking" every step of the way. There are a lot of different ways that SAR groups work/train and my understanding is that they can be quite political just as any human organization can be. I don't know that they would be very welcoming to someone who wanted to train a dog to track lost pets, but you may be able to hook up with a SAR group in Shasta County and observe a training session or two, or make connections that way, with people who may have a side interest in tracking pets. Beware of the "instant expert" syndrome though. We've had several SAR handlers enter TDX tests, thinking it was going to be a piece of cake for their dogs. But it was obvious they a) hadn't read the rules (had food and toys on their person for starters), b) hadn't trained for this venue and c) they made excuses why their dogs had trouble. They complained that the start article left "too much scent" which confused their dogs, who were more used to working older tracks. Again, hadn't read the rules, assumed that since their dog had one set of skills that they could switch to the other without any cross over training. It was sad, and they took spots in a test away from others who had trained for that venue.I suppose that's one reason why I would encourage you to focus on what you want the most and to "go for it" then when you have time to "play" - explore the other venues that are open to you based on those skills. I've known some handlers in AKC tracking who have said they want to do tracking for lost pets once their dogs earn all their AKC titles (don't know any who have actually done it yet). You could approach it from either direction, but I would pick one or the other to start.

Me:
My questions are: What resources (books, tapes, etc.) would you recommend I use to continue Dino's tracking training since I will be living in a very remote area, and I will be doing most of the training on my own.

Kyla:
Hmmm....well, that might depend on what direction you decide to take. If you were planning to do the pet tracking work first I would get as much material on that specific application as I could (search on line) I don't have any specific information on that. I would probably look into various Search and Rescue (SAR) materials as well, and see if I could find any methods that would look like they could be applied to pet tracking also. As far as "titling" venues - I suppose I would start with Sil Sander's Enthusiastic Tracking book. REMIND ME and I will send you a document that's part of my tracking seminar with book reviews I have of his book and two others. The other books are Tracking from the Ground Up by Sandy Ganz, and Tracking Dog: Theory and Methods by Glen Johnson. The review will explain what I like and don't like about each book, but they're all worth reading. The only books really available for urban tracking (for titling venues) are by Ed Presnall. Variable Surface Tracking . I have mixed feelings about his books. I was excited to get them, but they didn't help me that much.I saw on the AKC website that there are some clubs in the Sacramento area that offer tracking tests.

Me:
Is there anybody in that area that you could recommend I contact that I might be able to work with from a distance and maybe occasionally meet with?

Kyla:
Yes, there are several clubs in Sacramento that offer tests. I know of one person who offers private lessons, but from what I've heard recently, I can't really say that I would recommend her. There's GOT to be some experienced trackers closer to Redding. I'll ask around and let you know if I find someone.

Me:
This is the first time I have been in the tracking area, and Dino's enthusiasm is very high, so far. We have been doing short tracks with food. I realize this may take some time to get him trained to the professional level. We have not done any competitive obedience training, but he has passed his CGC and temperament test, and I have been taking clicker obedience classes with a trainer in this area. I have also shown him in mixed breed conformation.

Kyla:
Tracking is something that dogs usually love. I LOVE tracking puppies who don't have any other training - it's so fun to watch them use their natural abilities as you guide them to the style of tracking you want.

Me:
I appreciate your time. I look forward to your response. Let me know if there is any additional information that you need. Thank you.

Kyla:
I feel like I've given you a quite muddled response. I hope that something I've said makes sense. I love 'talking" tracking - so feel free to respond and ask questions or make comments, etc etc. I just feel bad that I don't really have the training knowledge you'll be needing for the application to tracking lost pets. Hopefully you'll be able to hook up with a mentor in that field and have fun doing it!

Labor Day Weekend 2008

2008-10-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

I was at a three day show all weekend. Sunday and Monday were in the same location. It was a very big area with places to walk on both sides. I had to make sure (or at least I thought I did) I did not place the track where I had been on the field. I certainly learned a lot from the first track.

For the first track on Sunday, I choose to start to lay the track along one of the fences that leads up a small hill to a walking path that a lot of people with dogs use. I had not been up there at all. He followed the track that I eventually got up to nine steps with the food at the ninth step all along the path. He got the right hand turn down onto the back end of the field near another footpath. He was going along the track and left veered off to the left and was adamant about sitting and staying there. I knew the track was not that way, so I guided him back onto the track. A few feet further he did the same thing. I couldn't figure out what it was. Then I remembered. That was the direction of the restroom that I had gone to a couple of times that day, but the place I walked up was further up into the middle of the field, but he was picking it up closer to where we were. I let him go and he led me up to the bathrooms, right inside. I rewarded and played with him like it was the end of the trail.

I decided to just walk back toward the track and see if he picks it up again. He did and then veered off again to the left in another direction across the field. This was direction I had sat in earlier to shoot some of the races. I rewarded him again and acted like it was the end.

We walked back again toward the track and he picked it up again and led me down back toward the parking lot where I had set his treat box. He got one turn along that way back toward the lot. Just before getting to the lot, he veered off again to the right and let me to the direction across the field where I had sat to shoot some races. These spots varied in time from one to several hours in time when I was there.

We got back to the parking lot and he found the treat box. He let him eat almost everything in the box! And then I played like crazy with his rawhide, which he has chosen is his most favorite, even more than the sqeeky toy.

I was hitting myself for forgetting about those spots that he found, but I was happy he found them.

For the second track, I found somebody at the show who let me borrow their whippet and I walked up the sidewalk outside the park. The owner said she had not walked the dog up that sidewalk on any of the days during the show. I walked the dog up to the end of the block. The dog pooped and peed all along the way. We made one deviation on the way up to put the poop bag into a garbage can and then we walked back up to the sidewalk. I wanted to see if Dino could catch that.

I walked Dino up the street on the other side of the street, crossed the street to where the dog had turned around to go back. I showed Dino the paper towel with the dog's scent, and he immediately started to run down the street in the direction of the dog. He ran right past the spot where we (me and the whippet) had come up from the parking from the garbage can. I was able to slow him down and stop so that where I was standing was at the spot where we turned. Dino came back to me and started to look around. He picked up the scent in the bushes where I had walked with the other dog. His nose was down on the ground trying to find the scent. I now think I won't let him run so fast when he gets going. If he is excited like that, I will slow him down and get him to focus more. Not correct him, just guide him slower.

He got the scent down to the garbage can, and then couldn't find it back up again in a "V." Eventually he find it, but he didn't go back up to the sidewalk. Instead he walked in the parking lot back in the same direction where the dog was waiting.

He appeared to be walking in the direction of my car, which was in the same direction where the whippet was sitting. I slowed him down as we got closer to the whippet. He picked up the direction where the whippet was, walked around the set of cars directly to where the whippet was sitting with the owner. He made a right hand turn and made a beeline to the dog and was pretty happy to find her. He was sniffing all over her. I gave him treats and played with the rawhide for several minutes.

Any thoughts or ideas? Should I keep up the rotation of some tracks are my scent with treats and some tracks are dogs or cats? I found that both gave him practice on two different things. Should I have other people lay tracks or just keep him focused only on tracking my scent and animals? Should I continue with my scent at this point or just focus on animals?

The Response:
I think the decision to stick with "just people" or add in animals is going to depend partially on who you end up training with. I'd make it a priority to find a group up in/near Redding, and let them know what your eventual goal is. If they're not comfortable working with animal trails, then just stick with human for now. Once he gets to 24-hour old trails, you're going to need to switch to *just* animal, so that his last 6 - 12 months of training are *no* human at all, so he's not confused at all when he gets to "the real thing." I know Loki still makes the mistake of following the human scent sometimes.

October 9, 2008

2008-10-25T18:18:00.000-07:00

I walked over to Al and Jean’s house across the highway and picked up their dog, Abby, again from Rebecca. I walked Abby down the main dirt road from their house to the middle of the property, across the middle and toward the north end of the property along a fire road. I had not been on this road before, so I was unaware if the road looped somewhere, dead ended or where it went. I was taking the chance that I may have to turn around and head back in the same direction down this fire road back to the main part of the property where the houses were. I thought this could potentially be good training for what happens when an animal double backs on a trail.

I walked Abby up the fire road, and then went on the left fork after about 100 feet. From there the road forked again, and we stayed on the right fork. The road continued up a semi steep slope for probably about another couple of hundred feet. Here the road forked again, and the road was still going steadily up. Since it was hot and getting hotter, and I didn’t know the road, and the bugs were getting more annoying, I decided to turn around and walk back toward the main part of the property.

When I got back to the main part of the property, an older house still stands with a renter. Surrounding the house is a wire fence. The tenant has a couple of old outside cats. I walked Abby on the south side of this house and behind it where an old shed still stands. I walked her in front of the shed, make a right turn onto another fire road and headed back to the main newer house. That led me past a newer two story warehouse surrounded by close to 30 old vehicles and work equipment in various stages of repair and disrepair. I walked through the vehicles, through a small ditch and headed back toward the house going through more dirt, old electrical equipment, tree branches and other miscellaneous tree parts. I walked back to the house where Rebecca waited to hold Abby. I would say this took me about one half hour to lay the track. I got Abby’s scent on a scent pad before I left her.

I walked across the highway to my place, put on Dino’s harness, got a bag full of treats and clicker and his rawhide toy. I walked back across the highway, and as I crossed the track of Abby where we walked first toward the fire roads, I showed Dino the scent pad, said “take scent” and “search.” He immediately put his head down and was on the track on the fire road. We walked up the fire road to the first fork. Without hesitation he went on the left fork. Following that he ignored the additional left fork and continued straight on the main fire road. I clicked and treated when he got these correct directions. He continued along the road, checking different things along the way, seemingly to make sure he was along the right way (my guess).

When we got to the point where the trailed ended and I had turned around with Abby, Dino stopped and checked first the right side, then up the right fork and came back down. I made sure I said absolutely nothing to him at this point. I didn’t hold the leash any different or turn my body any different. He briefly check the left fork and came back. At this point, to be sure, I had him “check” a couple of spots around in different locations where the forks were. He headed back down the road on his own without me saying anything. I clicked and treated.

We continued down the road and he made the correct turns back to the main part of the property, ignoring the other two forks. I clicked and treated at these points.

As we were coming up to the left turn on the south side of the older house, Dino cut across the field on the north side and went straight toward the old shed and followed the track around the other side back to the south side. I figured he picked up the scent in the strong winds that were blowing from the old house toward us. On the south side, he was very interested in a part of the wire fencing and wouldn’t leave it alone. He popped his head up and look inside the yard, and then a cat ran across the yard. I looked closer at the place in the fencing and found a well worn cat path under the fencing. I did verbally praise him and acknowledged his good at “Finding Felix”, but did not click since we were on a track of a dog. I pulled him away from the fencing, showed him the scent pad, and said “search.” He continued back along the track, past the shed and onto the fire road that led up to the newer house.

He followed the track exactly in front of the warehouse, through the old vehicles and machines, across the ditch, through the old tree stuff and up to the house where Rebecca was holding Abby. I had Rebecca bring Abby down to the parking lot, and Dino and Abby briefly greeted each other. I then pulled Dino off to the side, gave him his bag of treats and played with his rawhide toy. By the time I finished, the beginning of the original trail was about an hour and 15 minutes old.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

2008-10-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

I drove to Lowden park in Weaverville. I had not been to this park before, but I had driven past it and thought it would be a good spot to lay a track. It is a large park that borders on a couple of schools.

At 5 PM I parked in the parking lot and walked Scout away from the car and walked the border of the park, through a fenced in ball park diamond that was covered in straw. Half way through the baseball diamond I made a right turn to walk toward another gate that led out of the diamond. I marked the turn with a line in the dirt. I walked out of the gate, up a small hill to another small building. We walked through the field toward a paved walk way. On the path, we made a right turn. We walked down the path toward the child’s playground. There was a small, square shaped decorative building with open sides that we walked through which opened out to the playground. We walked around the play structures and back out in the same area as the previous paved path. There was a big field in front of us with another baseball diamond. I couldn’t see how to enter the field or where it existed. I avoided going through diamond because I couldn’t see how to get out. I wanted to avoid getting stuck and having to double back. I walked the outside perimeter of the diamond, through a construction site with nobody. From there we walked down a dirt road which led out to the parking lot and back to the car. I put Scout back into the car and rubbed her down with the scent pad.

I took Dino out, put on his harness with his long line, got his treat bag with clicker and his rawhide reward toy. I walked him toward the direction of the trail with Scout, but we didn’t go near it yet. I found another way into the park nearby and started the track from there. I showed Dino the scent pad, said “take scent” and “search.” He immediately put his head down to find the track. The area was thick uncut grass. He was a bit distracted at first. He peed and pooped. I said “search.” He started again. He overshot the next right turn. I stopped at the turn, but didn’t say anything. He stopped to look at me. I said “search” as he checked both directions in front of him. He wanted to go to his left. I stopped the leash. He looked back at me. He came back to me and sat in front of me, not knowing which way to go. I said “check” as I pointed right in front of me. He put his head down and was sniffing around. He then got the direction and kept going.

He kept going along the trail as it went over old tree stumps, around a small building and between trees even with a dog barking at him from the other side of a fence outside the park that was loose. I yelled to the owner to get this dog. He called the dog back. Dino got the next right turn into the baseball diamond and through the gate. He got the straight line across the field. He overshot the next right turn and wanted to go through the gate in front of him. I stopped him with the leash, saying nothing. He came back to me. I said “search” as he went around in different directions. We went back the way we came for about 10 feet, then headed back to the line in field I made. I found the line I drew with my shoe. He was digging at it briefly, acknowledging it even though I had not shown it to him. I said “check” as I pointed to the ground. He turned toward the right, which was the correct direction, but stood still. Again, I said “check.” He sniffed again, then slowly headed to the right. I clicked and treated.

He headed strongly through the diamond field, through the gate, up the little hill and along side a small building, through the small field to the paved path. He got the right turn on the path and kept going along the path. Here I clicked and treated. Along the way, I would practice having him “check” certain area. He seemed to also do this on his own by checking spots here and there and then coming back to the trail. He got the right turn into the small, concrete covered building. He was bouncing up and down on the concrete seats as he got closer to the opening which led to the playground.

When I laid the track earlier, the entire park was almost empty. I didn’t think there would be a problem laying the track in a playground. However, when I came back with Dino, there were several kids and parents. The kids were all yelling and screaming. One came up to Dino, and I had to tell him that the dog was working and couldn’t play right now. He understood and went back to his friends repeating what I had said. I was surprised how focused Dino remained on the track since he adores kids. He followed the track around the play structures and back out. There was a man sitting on bench on the perimeter of the playground and Dino raced over to him. I told the man what I was doing. Dino got totally distracted by this and stopped. I had to show him the scent pad again and say “check” to the ground. After a couple of attempts, he was on the track again.

He followed it around the perimeter of the other baseball diamond, through the construction site and down the dirt road and back to the car without a single hitch or miss of a turn. I could see him “checking” spots along the way. He did get a bit distracted when he saw a cat run across the road as we were nearing the parking lot with my car. I told him we weren’t searching for cats right now and told him to “search.”

We got back to the car, and I let him eat out of the treat bag and played with his rawhide for several minutes.

I was very happy with this because, after laying it, I realized how difficult it would be. When Dino started the track it was 45 minutes old, which is a bit below his previous time, which has been about an a hour. I didn’t want to push to hard because I realized how difficult the track was after I laid it. He did a lot better than I thought. I am confused why he gets certain turns and not others. It must be the surface and possible other smells in the area, or maybe his concentration at the time. Not sure.

October 15, 2008

2008-10-25T18:10:00.000-07:00

About a mile away from my place is a ghost town called Helena. There are several abandoned, dilapidated buildings. One day while walking along the road with my dogs, I saw a cat in one of the buildings. It appeared to be a purebred Siamese, until I saw its feet, which were white, so it is some kind of mix. I thought that if I put out dry food for this cat, and another black cat I saw with this Siamese mix, I figured I could create my own on going training ground for Dino to search for cats.

I went to the area to practice on a general area search for cats. I put Dino’s harness on him with his long line, his bag of treats and a clicker. I told Dino “Find Felix” which is his cue to look for any cats. I walked over to one of the buildings, that appeared to be an old barn. Dino walked right up to the door, which was partially ajar. He was definitely smelling something, but was hesitant to walk in. I wasn’t sure why. I say “Find Felix” as I coaxed him to walk into the building. I think he was smelling either other things or a bunch of cats. Something made him cautious, which he is usually not with cats. There may have been other critters like snakes, skunks or possums he was picking up. He appeared very curious and remained cautious. He was smelling the different areas. I praised him, but didn’t click because I didn’t want him to loose his concentration. We walked out and checked the next building next door. We check both front and back, he was definitely interested. I couldn’t walk into the building because there was a bunch of glass in both doorways, plus the second floor didn’t seem stable enough to take a chance something could come down.

I went to an open field across from the buildings. I have seen these cats over there. I told Dino “Find Felix” and he put his head down and starting looking. He was following different trails. The trails went around the old fields where there were more old buildings. I told him “check” in several spots. I did click and treats in some of these spots. He was very eager to keep checking. We continued in these fields for about another half hour, and then we found an old road down to the Trinity River. We walked down there checking different spots.

I certainly want to come back to this spot and hide my cat in a carrier for Dino to find. I think that would be a lot of fun. The field are huge with a lot of great spots to hide Mercury. There are no people in these fields because they are roped off from the road.

I was pretty happy that Dino kept checking and searching and remained eager.

October 13, 2008

2008-10-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

With my cat, Mercury, in a crate, I took the crate out to my driveway. Dino already knew “Find Felix” means to find the cat, any cat. I said “Find Felix” and he goes to the crate and puts one or both front paws on the crate. I would click and treat.

I then taught Dino that “show me” means for him to jump on me with his front feet. This is the only time he is allowed to jump up on anybody. He has a very terrible problem with jumping up on everybody, which I have had to stop. He now has to “sit” whenever anybody wants to pet him so he can’t jump up. So, I thought it would be confusing to him to teach him to jump up sometimes and other times it is not OK. But, so far, he gets it. I have also had to teach him when it is appropriate to bark and when he can’t. When he is out playing with another dog and having a great time, he can bark all he wants. When he is at home and should be quiet and calm, barking is not allowed. His bark is very loud and shrilling and piercing and very annoying.

I would say “show me”, he would jump up and I would click and treat. He got that pretty quickly. I then put together the “Find Felix” and “show me” to have him find the cat and then come back to jump up on me to tell me he found the cat.

October 5, 2008

2008-10-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I was on my way to Junction City Park with Scout to lay a trail for Dino. On the road I found a dog running down the middle of the highway. I pulled over and called the dog, and he came running toward me. I put him into the truck and noticed the id tag in Junction City on Redhill Road. I got to Redhill, but I could not find the house. I called the number on the tag, but nobody answered. I called Jean to ask her about the house numbers. She recognized the dog and the house. I went to the house, but nobody was home. I left a note on the front gate that I had their dog with my number.

I didn’t know what to do with the dog. I thought about using him to lay a trail for Dino to track, but I didn’t know how this other dog was with other dogs. I decided to go home and introduce Dino to this other dog.

I tied Elwood up to a phone post in the driveway, and I brought Dino out. I kept them quite a distance away to see the reaction. Elwood seemed interested in Dino and was not displaying any aggression. Dino was curious and wanted to play. I brought them closer, and still they were curious and checking each other out. I let them sniff each other and great each other, but that was it. I couldn’t take the chance that something more could happen, and I was by myself.

I put Dino into his crate and took out Scout. I put Elwood into the truck. Dino was a little growly. I drove back to the JC park, and took Elwood out of the truck. I walked him around the park, around the horse arena, down the driveway, through the playground and through an old baseball diamond. I walked with Elwood up a dirt driveway which led past a horse farm with several horses running in the big pasture. It was a long driveway back up to the park and to the parking lot to the truck. That only took about 15 minutes.

I sat in the car listening to Car Talk for another 30 minutes. That would make the trail 45 minutes old. I got Elwood out, and tied him to a tree while I took Dino out and put him on a stay on the other side of the truck. I got his treat bag, clicker and rawhide toy. I put Elwood back into the truck.

I walked Dino up the trail to where I walked Elwood, and along the way, I said “take scent” and showed him Elwood’s scent pad. I then said search. Dino immediately put his head down and found the trail.

We went around the horse arena and down a dirt driveway. I clicked and treated a couple of times as he got a couple of turns. There was one turn through the playground that he didn’t get. I stopped at the change point without saying anything. He stopped and looked at me. He came back to where I was and found the trail again. He went through the baseball field. He started to go up a small hill, but then stopped on his own and came back down. He got the turn from the baseball field to the driveway past the horsefarm. I clicked and treated when he got that on his own.

He was very distracted past the horse farm. Dino loves horses and wants to go see them when we have walked past them in the past. Plus the horses were coming over to the fence to investigate the new dog and person. He tried several times to visit with them. I said gently “get to work” and “search” along the way. He did do that. It was a long driveway, but eventually we got through it. I thought later on that I could tell Dino that after the search, we could go visit with the horses to say hi. That might make him feel better about not saying Hi to the horses.

Dino got the turn from the driveway back to the car. I thought he might follow the trail again up to the beginning, but he didn’t. I was happy about that. When we got to the car where Elwood was waiting, I said “show me” and Dino jumped on the back of the truck. I gave him the bag of treats and played with the rawhide.

September 29, 2008

2008-10-25T17:44:00.000-07:00

I walked over to Al and Jean’s house and I took one of their dogs, Abby, for a short walk around a part of the property that the dog does not go to. The dogs pretty much stay inside the yard around the house and don’t go anywhere else on the property.

I walked Abby in front of the house and down between some trees and down toward the warehouse. When I got to the front of the warehouse where all the vehicles are, I made a right turn and when up and behind the old house. There is a fire road that goes behind this old house and down toward the other end of the property. I decided to make this a short trail since Dino was doing an unknown scent in an unknown are with no treats on the ground. I cut behind the house and under a wire fence. I went back up to the new house along the main driveway and back up to the house. That took me about 15 minutes.

I had Rebecca hold Abby while I went across the street to get Dino. It took me about 15 minutes to get Dino and come back. I came with his rawhide bone, the bag of treats and a clicker. I cut Dino into the trail near the warehouse and old vehicles. I showed him Abby’s scent, said “take scent” and “search.” He immediately put his head down and picked up the trail back toward behind the old house and fire road. I was clicking and treating in various spots when he got the turns correctly and when he appeared to be focused on the trail.

We both overshot the turn behind the house and under the fencing. I was about 10 feet past the turn when I realized my mistake. I stopped and didn’t say anything. Dino stopped, looked at me and went back up to the trail. He got the turn under the fencing without me saying a word! I immediately clicked and treated.

He got the trail back out to the main road which goes back to the new house. He seemed pretty focused on finding something and was going around and around. He finally found a part of a cookie I had given Abby. He started to eat it when I stopped him. I said “get to work” and “search.” He immediately went back to the trail. He followed it up the driveway and saw Rebecca with Abby on the porch. He pulled me up to where they were. Abby was a little protective of Rebecca and the porch, so I had her bring Abby down to the parking lot where Dino was. She was more playful. I told Dino “show me” and he went to Abby and back to me. I gave him the treat bag to eat the kibble inside. And then we played with his rawhide bone.

September 25, 2008

2008-10-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

I did something a little different this time. I took Mercury and walked him around the Performing Arts Center. I walked him around the perimeter of the parking lot. It was very hot, so I knew we didn’t have a lot of time to waste. Mercury was great. I had a can of cat food with me and fed him when he wanted to stop. We crossed the street to the vacant lot, walked down the sidewalk about 50 feet and then crossed over the street back to the parking lot of the center. We walked around the perimeter of the building and behind it to where the AC and heating equipment was and then back to the car parked in the loading dock.

I then went to do an errand just about two buildings away. I drove there and came back to when the track was a little over an hour old. I took Dino out and had treats, a clicker, his rawhide reward, put on his harness and long line. I walked him over to where I had walked Mercury, a ways from the car. I showed him the scent pad of Mercury, said “take scent” and then “search.” He went right to looking. He followed the perimeter of the parking lot. He overshot the left turn, but then he stopped, and came back and got the turn. I clicked and treated. His enthusiasm seemed to jump. He went right back to where the scent was on the ground. He got the next left turn. I clicked and treated. He kept following the track. I clicked and treated again. Then he did something strange. We were at the curb to cross the street. He stopped to look at me like he was looking for a click and a treat. I didn’t do anything. I turned in the direction of the scent across the street and I said “take scent” as I showed him the pad and I said “search.” He slowly turned in that direction and crossed the street. I didn’t want to click then because I thought that would be distracting. He made the next left turn down the sidewalk. He overshot the next left turn. I stopped him. He stopped and then came back. He got the scent again crossing the street. This time I did click and treat. He continued into the parking lot and alongside the building and behind the building. He got distracted by some birds flying around a lizard running by. He did keep going straight, but his interest seemed to dwindle a bit. He continued on the track back to the car. He got a bunch of treats, some water and his rawhide bone and a bunch of playing.

I really did see a difference in the use of the clicker in keeping his interest and keeping his focus on what the job is. I think I will continue to use it.

September 23, 2008

2008-10-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

I took Dino to a place in Junction City. It was flat with a good variety of different surfaces. It was hot. I laid the food around buildings, up slopes, across paved roads, on gravel, on tan bark, grass and dirt. He was really following the treats. Very focused on finding the treats. I was able to increase my steps up to eleven to 12 steps in between food. Dino did seem to get way layed off to the side trying to find the treats. I would stop and not say anything to him and let him figure it out. If he peed somewhere, I would say “get to work” to get him going again. He did seem to respond and keep going.

I was concerned that he was only following the treats and not the scent, but I did some places where he was definitely following a scent trail and he was trying hard to use his nose and try to find something. He got the corners well and even went under a fence as part of the track without hesitation.

I have been trying to alternate between an animal trail for him to follow and a track with treats for him to following, each time increasing the age of the track and the space between treats.

Jean did say I could use one of her dogs in the future to set a track. Since she has six dogs I can alternate back and forth as long as they are friendly to other dogs.

I didn’t have time to do the track again because I needed to go take care of something else and time was short.

September 16, 2008

2008-10-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

While I was at the Tops Supermarket, I took Scout out to set a track for Dino. I parked the car behind a Burger King restraurant. I walked Scout out the lot, across the street and around some buildings and then back onto the street. I then walked up onto the street and along the sidewalk. I walked down the street to the end of the shopping center. At the end of the shopping center I made a right turn, back toward the center. Then I made a right back toward the car. I then made a left heading toward the Longs store. In front of the store I made a right turn and walked in front of several stores, and then I made a right turn back toward the car.

I took Dino out and put on his harness. He was excited and looking around more something to start searching for. I walked him directly across the street and cut into Scout’s trail. I told him “take scent” as I showed him the paper towel with her scent. He picked up the trail right away and started to follow it. He went around the building and out onto the street. He crossed the street and went to the sidewalk. Along this sidewalk he seemed to get distracted and wanted to cut across into the bushes. He did this numerous times. I couldn’t tell if he was getting bored, which he hadn’t done in the past. I couldn’t tell if he thought the trail was in that direction. I did the regular thing, which was to stop him and let him figure out that the scent wasn’t in the direction. When he went straight again along the trail, I would praise him. But then he would cut into the bushes again.

Later on I thought that he was loosing interest because there wasn’t food. I thought about using a clicker with treats in the future when he gets turns and tough spots. I will try that to help him out.

He was having a tough time on a couple more turns. He seemed very focused on heading toward the car in some spots. I thought he might be smelling Scout, but we weren’t near the car. I couldn’t figure out why he was having such a tough time. He definitely seemed like he wasn’t focused on what he should have been doing.

When we finally got to the car, I played a lot with him, but he wanted to just go to the car. It was strange. Usually, he is fine with playing with his bone.