We are currently reading: Betty A Mueller About Tracking Dog Training.

-------------- Books and DVDs on Tracking - some short reviews ---------------

ENTHUSIASTIC TRACKING - A STEP BY STEP TRAINING HANDBOOK
William 'Sil' Sanders

Step by step, with sample tracks, detailed including wind direction, length, placement of food, great section on lead handling, working out corners, track for problem solving.

No attention paid to manipulating the step width on the track, no info on serpentines. This is not about foot step tracking as in SchH, but does teach tracking the footsteps, not trailing.

CTS FOUNDATIONS OF COMPETITIVE TRACKING - #1 DVD
Joanne Fleming-Plumb - see also advanced DVD

HM. Loads of info on how to put in a good foundation for foot step tracking, if you live in a place where there's lots of fine dirt fields. Take care not to loose your boots in a mud field if you live in places other than Florida ;)

Good info - on how to manipulate the width of the steps on your track and how to phase in slight changes so the dog learns if not error free then without frustration and loss of confidence.

Video material does not always match what is said though. So if you are a pure beginner you are out of luck, and would not know what to look for.

Great stuff! - her scent box approach. I used this to calm down and slow down Dexi - worked fantastically well for developing a calm start and putting it on cue; especially of you first work through Sue Ailsby's Zen exercises - which all my puppies are now raised on. If you use this on grass (she uses dirt) keep in mind to do some aging of the 'track' as part of the exercise.

In the end the method will rely on corrections - ie leash corrections for one aspect of the tracking, if your dog required it, so if you are not going there, then that will mean you have to modify and adjust on your own. I found lots of useful tips on the DVD for slowing down a faster dog; in the end I have no interest in correction based methods, so that is that ;)

This is about Schutzhund footstep tracking, so very different from CKC tracking which allows for the dogs natural behaviours to guide the handler.

MASTERING VARIABLE SURFACE TRACKING BOOK AND WORKBOOK
Ed Presnall

I've not done much at all on VST, so this is a book I have looked through, with good information, step by step by step plans and sample tracks.

Very good info on the dogs scenting ability.

ABOUT TRACK LAYING
by Betty Mueller

great book for tracklayers - how to's for maps, how to remember your track.

Betty Mueller ABOUT TRACKING DOG TRAINING - CREATING A PROBLEM SOLVING PARTNERSHIP 2008

First reading is done and definately a good addition to my tracking book library. This is not a step by step book with tracking plans; rather it looks at the whole picture - your relationship with your dog and how it can be reflected in your work at the track; also some really good ideas on how to think outside the box.

Which box ? The one we put ourselves in these days where everything is about footsteps and patterns of tracks we are likely to encounter at trials ;) the ideas in her book certainly reflected some of the conversations I have had with my experienced tracking teachers who like to use a challenge or two to keep the tracking interesting and allow the dog to learn.

Love the segment on developing the correct mental handling skills and the physical handling section as well; stop staring ahead (trying to find the track) - Mueller also makes you think again about how to define the age of a track. Its the amount of scent left rather than the minutes or hours - which can differ with weather and soil conditions. A one hour track on a cool day with plenty of moisture on the ground is 'younger' than a 30 minute track on a hot day on very dry soil.

SCENT AND THE SCENTING DOG
William Syrotuck

this is a really excellent book for understanding scent and how it may 'act' on a track. Always take this with you while you are waiting for your track to age - do a review of the information; there's always something that sticks better in your brain because you just encountered a great example of it on the track.

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Steve White Tracking DVD

Love it!

One of my dreams - is a tracking champion - in Canada that means: TD, TDX, Urban and Urban X

The Urban being Variable Surface - VST in the US I believe. You need the TD to go into the Urban trial.

Time to start working ;)

This is a seminar presented in the US - in 2005.
Topic: Variable Surface Tracking.

You can find out more about the method called HITT on the website

http://i2ik9.com/Police_K9_Mag_HITT_Article.htm

If you like clicker training, here's an approach that makes sense on the tracking 'field'.

You can get an overview of the method reading this document:

http://i2ik9.com/Urban_Tracking_3000_%20words_v2-2_080819.pdf

White starts you out on your journey by taking stock of what you have right now - and what you should have - working out the foundation behaviours we should train for a tracking dog.

From there he analyzes the tracking behaviour chain - search - follow - report. Takes a brief tour of scent theory ( based on Scent and the Scenting Dog by William Syrotucki) and then focuses on his HITT system :Hydration Intensified Tracking Training.

There is lots of video of participants starting new dogs on this method on the DVD - the camera is well positioned to show the dogs and handlers actions and allows you to listen in on Steve's feedback.

Here is a sample video of Dexi working on the nosedown behaviour: we were not at the seminar :)

With everyone so focused and eager to learn the HITT - one almost looses the significance of how he puts the behaviour chain together - starting with article 'indication' first.

This is the report behaviour and the last in the chain (search for the scent - follow two scents (human and ground component - report person or article).

Here he is very insistant - your dog must love the reporting behaviour if this is to reinforce the previous steps in the chain.

Of course White is a police dog trainer - his students work for a very different reward at the end of the track - and it is none that I have any wish to encounter at my local mall or in a field .

Would this hold up for Georgie ? She is not! fond of articles; tracking seems a self reinforcing behaviour the article an interruption.

Two weeks of systematic conditioning for the article indication is what White advises.

I will let you know how this works out for us I know for Dexi, having an article on his track proved to be too great of a distraction - he merely learned to rush towards it. Then again his other foundation skills ( and nose down, calm, steady progress is a foundation skill) were not in place at the time.

Before the article can move onto the track the quality of the report behaviour must be established - with short latency, long duration, and resistant to distractions. Makes you think does it not ;) ?

White describes how to introduce articles on the track and then the seminar moves on to the one topic I can never read or hear enough about:

Reading your dogs body language on the track. Yippee! What a great section - I even waved my hand excitedly in answer to his question " has anyone seen their dog indicate a corner with a head turn". ( Note to self Must get out more ;) )

It took me ages to see it with Chrissy but once I did, I had my sure fire way of knowing which direction to turn to on blind tracks.

Georgie stumped me by offering the head flick to the direction opposite of the turn. Had I attended the seminar then - I would have known to check for the wind and scent drafting over from another leg :o and consider the angle of the corner.

Did you know there are only 8 scentwork indicators!

Pull
Nose Height
Tail Carriage
Breathing
Cadence
Crabbing
Nose Anchor

See what I mean totally cool stuff ;)

Definitely a seminar I would attend in person and have my questions ready to ask - such as how to slow down a dog that really really wants the reward at the end of the track?

Of course that is not really a problem in his world - you want the dog to be fast .
Be that as it may, watch for me and my spray bottle at a mall near you in the spring once all the snow and ice has melted! ( and the salt is gone from the pavement) Until then I will be making good use of the section on Scentwork Indicators during my regular tracks in the fields.