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Canine Couch Potatoes It's Time To Get Your Dog Involved In Sports (tracking)
Tracking is a great sporting event to get your active dog involved in which will hone in on his ability to follow a scent trail and find strategically placed scented items, such as a glove, leather wallet, bandanna, etc.
Tracking tests usually take place outside, and depending on the course, may be laid over a natural surface (such as a field of grass) or over what is called variable surface (several surface types, including gravel, concrete, dirt and grass).
Tracking isn't an easy sport to master – plenty of distractions can lead dogs astray, such as furry or feathered critters, or yummy-smelling food fragrances. Even so, your energetic sporting breed could quite possibly make an excellent tracker depending on his intelligence and willing to learn. It all depends on the dog's ability to focus on one scent and its desire to find it.
To get started in tracking, look for a professional trainer who trains and competes in AKC tracking events. Look in your phone directory under “dog training” and contact trainers who specialize in obedience. Many obedience training facilities also offer tracking training.
To compete in an AKC tracking test you must first arrange to have your dog certified by a tracking judge. The judge (or tracklayer – a person chosen by the judge) will mark out a Tracking Dog (TD)-level (most basic) scent trail. If your dog successfully follows the track under the gaze of the judge, you'll receive four tracking certificates which are viable for one year.
Next, find a real tracking test and sign up, presenting one of your certificates with your entry form. The TD-level test calls for your dog to follow a 440 to 500-foot-long track with 3 to 5 turns that has been aged 30 minutes to two hours. The dog must clearly indicate or retrieve the scented item at the end of the trail.
You can't yank, pull or otherwise tell the dog where the trail or scented items like. You can, however, offer verbal praise and commands. Two judges decide to pass or fail a dog depending on how well it follows the track and whether it actually finds the article. A dog can earn its first title after passing only one test, or leg.
To earn a Tracking Dog Excellent (TDX) title, you must follow an 800 to 1,000-foot-long track that has been aged 3 to 5 hours and has 5 to 7 directional changes. This task is made more challenging because other human scents cross the true track.
Variable Surface Tracking (VST) tests are the most challenging. Your dog must follow a three to five-hour-old track over a minimum of three different surfaces, including two that have no vegetation, such as sand, gravel or concrete. A dog that has earned all three of these titles is awarded the Champion Tracker (CT) title.
BONUS : Car Chasing No More: Day 1
As dog owners, we are left with the necessary task of finding a way to educate our pet to let him know that chasing cars, and bicycles, however thrilling and pleasing, simply will not be tolerated any longer.
Because we cannot appeal to our pet's intellect, and share a cup of coffee together as we discuss the problem of car chasing, we must ensure that each and every instance of chasing culminates in a displeasing (and very humiliating) experience for the dog.
Because no two dogs are exactly alike in personality and temperament, neither can there be just a single method to accomplish educational lessons for all dogs. Your dog may respond to just one particular method, and he may get the message quickly. You may have to use a combination of several methods and the schooling may take up to four days because it takes the average dog approximately four to five days to learn the average thing.
An important key is consistency. Consistency here doesn't mean selecting one method and sticking to it, instead, consistency is desired in that each instance of car chasing must culminate an unpleasant consequence which the dog must be able to relate to his action of chasing the car.
You can't run out the door, after the fact, or even during the actual chasing, call your dog to you and beat him senseless, and expect them to learn anything. If that type of action resulted in learning, it would simply be his response in your command “come” would result in getting his brains knocked in. The dog must be able to relate the consequences to the act of car chasing, and nothing else!
Tackling this problem will require time, effort, and perhaps some creativity on your part. If you truly love your dog and are concerned for his safety, the safety of others, and your personal liability, you'll devote the next four to five days to the task of convincing your dog that car chasing always will conclude in an unpleasant consequence.
Day 1
Tie a length of clothesline rope to your dog's standard slip-chain training collar. About 35 feet of line will do just fine. Allow the dog to drag the line around the yard. Position yourself close to the end of the dragging line to await for your “opportunity”.
Act relaxed, but keep one eye on the dog and the other on the end of that line. Do not give any attention to your dog so when an automobile approaches, watch for the moment he starts his barking charge. You want your dog's attention focused entirely on the car during that specific moment.
When that moment has arrived, pick up the end of the line and jerk it as hard as you can, giving it everything you've got. This jerk should put a shock into your dog as he is stopped in mid-air. Pull the line and when your dog is at your feet, give the animal an abrupt shaking, enough to really give him the message. Verbally shock him as well, with loud, angry words, showing your complete and total displeasure.
The foregoing procedure must be fast accomplished. Remember, the dog must be able to relate this displeasing series of events with his act of chasing the car. If you're too slow to jerk the line then the dog's mind will sidetrack to something else. And just as the timing of the pool is important, so is the importance of your verbal assault, ensuring that he knows you are unhappy with his decision to chase the car.
As dog owners, we are left with the necessary task of finding a way to educate our pet to let him know that chasing cars, and bicycles, however thrilling and pleasing, simply will not be tolerated any longer.
Because we cannot appeal to our pet's intellect, and share a cup of coffee together as we discuss the problem of car chasing, we must ensure that each and every instance of chasing culminates in a displeasing (and very humiliating) experience for the dog.
Because no two dogs are exactly alike in personality and temperament, neither can there be just a single method to accomplish educational lessons for all dogs. Your dog may respond to just one particular method, and he may get the message quickly. You may have to use a combination of several methods and the schooling may take up to four days because it takes the average dog approximately four to five days to learn the average thing.
An important key is consistency. Consistency here doesn't mean selecting one method and sticking to it, instead, consistency is desired in that each instance of car chasing must culminate an unpleasant consequence which the dog must be able to relate to his action of chasing the car.
You can't run out the door, after the fact, or even during the actual chasing, call your dog to you and beat him senseless, and expect them to learn anything. If that type of action resulted in learning, it would simply be his response in your command “come” would result in getting his brains knocked in. The dog must be able to relate the consequences to the act of car chasing, and nothing else!
Tackling this problem will require time, effort, and perhaps some creativity on your part. If you truly love your dog and are concerned for his safety, the safety of others, and your personal liability, you'll devote the next four to five days to the task of convincing your dog that car chasing always will conclude in an unpleasant consequence.
Day 1
Tie a length of clothesline rope to your dog's standard slip-chain training collar. About 35 feet of line will do just fine. Allow the dog to drag the line around the yard. Position yourself close to the end of the dragging line to await for your “opportunity”.
Act relaxed, but keep one eye on the dog and the other on the end of that line. Do not give any attention to your dog so when an automobile approaches, watch for the moment he starts his barking charge. You want your dog's attention focused entirely on the car during that specific moment.
When that moment has arrived, pick up the end of the line and jerk it as hard as you can, giving it everything you've got. This jerk should put a shock into your dog as he is stopped in mid-air. Pull the line and when your dog is at your feet, give the animal an abrupt shaking, enough to really give him the message. Verbally shock him as well, with loud, angry words, showing your complete and total displeasure.
The foregoing procedure must be fast accomplished. Remember, the dog must be able to relate this displeasing series of events with his act of chasing the car. If you're too slow to jerk the line then the dog's mind will sidetrack to something else. And just as the timing of the pool is important, so is the importance of your verbal assault, ensuring that he knows you are unhappy with his decision to chase the car.
