How to Teach a Dog to Track

Tracking, or following scent, is a natural behavior for dogs. Dogs are used to track game when hunting, find missing persons and sniff out contraband and bombs--a dog's strong sense of smell has been used in many different jobs. Dogs are also taught to track for fun and competition and it is a rewarding, low cost activity for you and your dog. While some breeds like hounds are more natural trackers, every dog has the ability to follow scent.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Harness or buckle collar
• 20- or 30-foot Long line
• Treats
• Water and water bowl
• Large, preferably grassy area

1. Use a harness if at all possible, because you don't want the dog to feel any "corrections" by being tugged by the collar. If you don't have a harness, use a regular buckle collar. Never use a choke, pinch or any type of training collar for tracking.

2. Start by teaching your dog to identify your scent and associate it with rewards by laying out a scent pad. Do this by trampling a small area about two feet square with your feet. Doing this on grass makes it easier for the dog, because not only do they track your scent, they can track the smell of crushed vegetation. Sprinkle some very small, extra good treats within the scent pad and with your dog on leash, encourage him to nose around on the scent pad and find the treats. If he leads the scent pad, gently guide him back to it.

3. Have someone hold your dog, put him on a stay or tie him to something while you lay a short, straight track. Make a scent pad and put a single treat in it. With little steps, walk out about six feet, make a small scent pad by stomping around and lay another treat in it. Encourage your dog to find the first treat, and follow the short track to the second treat. Praise lavishly when he finds it.

4. Increase the distance and complexity over time. Lengthen the distance between treats, and start introducing some turns into the tracks. Many dogs will overshoot the turns so make it easy for them to understand by laying a second treat about six feet from the turn to give them something to aim for. Once your dog has the hang of it and you are laying longer and more complex tracks, you will minimize the number of treats and scent pads on the track and have one big, extra special "jackpot" treat at the very end. Make a big, big deal and lots of praise when your dog gets to the end of the track.

5. Start aging the tracks. At first, just wait ten or fifteen minutes after laying the track to let your dog follow it. Very experienced dogs with good noses can follow day-old tracks but this doesn't come naturally to all dogs so increase difficulty in small steps.

6. Begin training on variable surfaces. Grassy areas are easiest for a dog to start on but after a while you can use parking lots, woods, baseball fields and even city streets.

7. Make sure you have water available for the dog in between tracks. All that sniffing can make a dog very thirsty.

8. Take a class, if you can find one. Tracking classes are a lot of fun and you and your dog will learn a lot. If you want to get more involved in tracking either as a sport or put to use in real life situations, check the links below for information on AKC tracking titles and volunteering in search and rescue.

Tips & Warnings

• Hot, dry or windy days make it more difficult for a dog to scent. When starting out, it's usually better to do tracking practice early in the morning.
• Dogs work better for treats when they are a bit hungry. Don't feed him his usual meal, or feed half the amount before training.
• As with any dog training, if your dog is having a hard time when you increase the difficulty level, go back to the last phase of the training and give him lots of rewards every time he succeeds.
• Some people recommend wrapping the jackpot treat at the end of the track in a glove or piece of clothing.
• If you have a very toy-motivated dog, a vigorous game of tug or fetch at the end of the track is a nice release.
• Avoid talking too much to your dog when he is tracking. Babbling distracts them and dogs need to concentrate on tracking.
• Don't give any unnecessary leash corrections when the dog is tracking. Try to keep the long line fairly loose most of the time.

Resources

• AKC tracking
• Search and Rescue