Back to the Laboratory in Tracking

In this episode, Jerry Bradshaw discusses:

Hard surface training for the most successful tracking.
Creating an independent problem solver in your dog.
Common issues in tracking.
Drills and approaches to shore up your tracking foundation and the problems you are facing.
Why laying a good track is a critical skill.

Key Takeaways:

Returning to foundational drills is not a bad thing - it is returning to basics to keep your tracking training progressing forward.
One of the first things to train in tracking is pace—this will be different from dog to dog, but our job in training is to create a nice, even pace given the dogs temperament, characteristics, etc.
Get rid of the large rewards at the end of the track - value the track itself. You need a variable reward system on the track.
Don’t get lazy when laying your tracks. If you’re always doing large articles, the dog will start to look for those instead of the potentially higher-value, small articles.
Your dog is not too slow. Deliberate is a good pace.

"This is going to be the life cycle of your tracking - tighten them up, they're going to get looser. Tighten them up again, they're going to get looser. You have to have these go-to's to always reel that dog back in and make him tighter." — Jerry Bradshaw

Get Jerry's book Controlled Aggression on Amazon.com

Contact Jerry:

Website: controlledaggressionpodcast.com

Email: JBradshaw@TarheelCanine.com

Tarheel Canine Training: www.tarheelcanine.com

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Twitter: @tarheelcanine

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Slideshare: Tarheel Canine