Hot On the Trail

I like to do nose work with Monster (not the plastic surgery kind). It's fun and challenging, he loves it, and we can do it pretty well all on our own. So I figured, why not show off my pretty boy at work!?

Now, I'm no expert tracker, and we haven't taken any classes - yet (you know why...), so if you're looking for how to train your dog to become an expert tracker you may want to keep looking. I think Monster's pretty good, but I have no real clue how much we're doing wrong if we're talking competition level...

Anyway, I brought the camera along on Monster's latest tracking mission, so let's go!

First of all, I take the car to where I'll lay down the track - you'll see why shortly - and walk a distance, this time it was about 1200 feet I think. I let the track cool for at least an hour, and this time I think I left it for perhaps four hours. I then take Monster for a walk, heading towards the tracking area.

And the tracking begins at the front door...

Aha! She got into the car here!

This is why I drive. Monster will track me from the front steps as far as he can. When we have guests over and he doesn't get to come outside and watch as they leave, he'll track them as well once we go out, trying to find out where they went. Even after he finds where they got into the car he'll continue searching, I don't know if he's trying to find the trail again or if he's actually trying to track the car...

Anyway, we go for a walk, and once we get to the start of the trail (which I've marked just by kicking up a little patch of dirt or something) I give the command to track and Monster sets off.

Don't bother me, I'm working.

This trail wasn't really meant to be all that challenging, mostly I wanted to take some photos. However, nature decided to play with me...

When I first walked the track, I did notice a slightly funky smell in the area, but I didn't pay that much attention - it's nature, stuff smells. But when Monster and I got there, it reeked! The smell of a thousand incontinent and horny cats would be a close description, I think. My first thought was fox, but I don't know. Something appears to have become upset at my blundering through their territory and decided a thorough marking was called for. I walked through around 9 am, so I may have disturbed someone who was sleeping. We quickly came upon this:

Uh-oh...

Now, I'm not from around here originally, and where I grew up we didn't have these things, but I'm pretty sure this is the calling card of Mr. Boar. I know there are boars down here, and I know they attack and kill dogs from time to time, but I've never seen one. And do boars make a big stink? This appeared to have been left pretty recently, anyway.

Still, Monster just sniffed this and moved on, completely undeterred. As we kept walking, I saw more signs of boar around (disturbed earth, more droppings), but Monster never veered.

I don't use any markings for our tracks, mostly because from the first time I tried him Monster worked very confidently and I didn't need to make sure he was keeping true to the trail. Instead I just set up sight markers, like "walk to the crooked tree, turn left 45 degrees and aim for the fallen stump", and the trails aren't planned out, I simply walk as I feel like and try to vary the terrain a bit and include some angles.

What, is this supposed to be hard?

This time, however, not only did nature mess with us, I did it myself too. I'd lost focus as I was wandering around and (apparently) thinking about other stuff, and walked into a snare of something sharp and snagging. Not thinking about it I backed up and walked around it instead. I didn't even realize/remember I'd done it, until Monster got there...

Hang on... I know she went in here...

I know this is in no way impossible for a dog to handle, I just hadn't meant to add backtracking just yet - and certainly not without even thinking about it! Monster didn't waver for long though, but set to tracking again after a moment's thought, and was soon back on track.

Which is when I discovered I'd been even more unfocused than I thought! Maybe I should start drinking coffee again? Because I had stepped right over this:

Unnecessary difficulties...

Apparently, a deer carcass is very well camouflaged, to the point where a Monstermom will actually lay a track across one... I thought all things tracking were now over and done with, but Monster stopped and smelled it, regally peed on it to make sure everyone knew it was his, and continued on.

In all honesty, I think my dog is amazing.

There is one thing, though, I just can't get right. Monster will not stop. I don't know how to make him accept that tracking has been completed. When I decide to make the end of the track, I kick around some dirt and leaves, and leave a reward of some kind. I've tried treats - they don't get eaten, he'll just track right across them. I've tried various toys - same reaction. I've cheered, clapped, rewarded, played tug, brought an audience to help cheer and clap, and still nothing. If I react with a big fuss as he finds the toy (I've given up on treats, they barely interest him when he's bored even), pick it up and play with it, have a tug of war, pet him and praise him, he'll accept it, he'll play with me and focus on me, and he'll move away from the track with me. But the instant I stop rewarding him, his focus is back on the track...

After a track's end, I make a sharp turn and walk out of the area in a way that will not disturb the trail and in a direction we will not be moving in once we've done the tracking, but Monster cannot let it go. He becomes anxious at being forced to abandon the track, and will continue to focus on it. The track work itself appears to be too rewarding, nothing I do can measure up to it... I need to make a clean break at the finish, but I am so far unsuccessful.

Either way, though, Monster really likes doing this, and once home he'll conk out nicely.

Whlrrrghzz..?

Oh, and the next day we were close to the area again, and I decided to go check if there had been any more activity. We (well, Monster really) found this:

Yup.

That would be a dead fox... It appears to have died during the night as nothing has been touched, even its eyes are intact. I'm guessing a traffic victim, although there were no visible injuries to it. So was I right after all, was it fox smell? Or did the boars and the fox work in tandem, and then the boars turned around and (literally) backstabbed the fox?

Either way, who needs TV when you have nature?

Oh, just in case you think Monster is the only one with any tracking talent, let me show off my skillz.

Aha!

This is unmistakably the tracks of a young animal, male, a little over 100 pounds, and about... two - no, make that three miles away from an urgently needed washing of the paws. How about that!