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When teaching your dog to track you or to find someone, you will again be requiring the dog to use its nose. A dog relies heavily on its sense of smell. It has an innate ability to decipher scents and follow a particular scent.
However, some dogs are better than others at tracking. The best trackers are the hunting breeds—the pointer, the retriever, the spaniel, and those breeds that have long muzzles, such as the German shepherd, the Doberman and the Australian cattle dog.
Breeds with shorter muzzles, such as the boxer, the bulldog and the pug, to name only a few, have a lower success rate in tracking their quarry than dogs with longer muzzles. However, these breeds still make very competent trackers.
The method
Most dogs love sniffing, so it’s relatively easy to teach your dog to track.
Have on hand a screw top jar with some diced food or meat to give as a treat to your dog when it finds you. You will need a firm fitting leather collar or a tracking harness (available from your local pet shop) and a 20-ft (6-m) long soft webbing lead or a horse lunging lead.
Have a friend accompany you to a large field or park and have your assistant hold your dog as you walk a short distance and hide. Your assistant should then let your dog lead him or her to where you are hiding. The dog should run to the spot where you stood before you hid, then put its nose to the ground and follow your scent to your hiding place. Praise your dog and give it a treat.
Repeat several times over the next few weeks, increasing the distance and varying the time that your assistant waits before allowing your dog to find you. Once your dog is proficient at finding you, you could haw your friend hide next, then use other people and even stranger to the dog.
Note: Never let the dog run free to track. This exercise must always be carried out on-lead in case the dog runs off and gets lost.
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