Tracking

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When most people think of Tracking, they think of Police dogs or Search and Rescue. Catherine has been Titling dogs in the Sport of Tracking since 2005.  Over the years she has watched her dogs and others, attended many seminars, read a library of books in order gain knowledge in understanding dogs, in how they track and why. 

Nose work can be broken down into 3 types: 

   1. Tracking: Typically dogs train to focus on the individual scent on the ground. They lock into the smell of the person’s scent, and or crushed vegetation and stays on track. Keeping its head low, a tracking dog will occasionally raise its nose to detect airborne particles.

   2. Trailing:  Trailing dogs follow the specific scent left behind by a person. They focus accurately on the smell and detect turns or even “double backs” made by the missing person. They tend to employ both methods of tracking and air scenting.  They tend to follow a scent cone left behind by an individual and not just the footsteps or disturbance left behind. 

   3. Air Scenting: Air-scent  dogs follow diffused or airborne aromas until they locate the origin of the smell. Often working off-lead, these dogs can cover large areas within a short time. The dog barks to let the handler know they have found the person’s  scent or origin.  This is what you will see detection dogs do or Many SAR dogs. Nose in the air looking for the particular scent they have been trained to detect and taking the fastest way to get to source. 

Catherine employs dogs to do both tracking and trailing when training. Scent moves, Wind currents, the shape of the land, water, buildings all play a part in where and how scent moves. It is up to us to learn how to first teach our dogs what we want them to do and then read our dogs to see they understand the assignment.

There is two types of CKC tracking. Field tracking and Urban tracking.

If interested in tracking lessons please contact Catherine at Glainddu@gmail.com