Aging the track

When we advance the age of the track past the ten‑ to fifteen‑minute mark for the first time, we manipulate only this one variable. We do not experiment with different lengths, terrains or conditions while we are teaching the dog to work older scent. Instead, we lay fairly stereotyped tracks of about Schutzhund I length and difficulty.

The handler increases the age of the track very gradually from one day to the next, five minutes at a time. He spends at least several days at each increment (twenty‑five, thirty, thirty‑five, etc.). Depending upon conditions, the “hump”–where the predominant scent on the track changes from air to ground–should occur somewhere between twenty and forty minutes, and the handler should expect his dog to have some difficulty in this interval. He works close to his dog, handling it carefully, and helps it past any problems.

GOAL 5: The dog will learn to work its way confidently through difficulties encountered on the track.

Because handlers involved in organizing a competition want to see high scores in their trials, sponsoring clubs normally make every effort to provide optimal tracking conditions for the day of competition. Our club invariably uses a turf farm for trials. However, it is often not possible to arrange for the use of such a large piece of lush, green real estate. Especially in some of the more arid regions of the United States, American Schutzhund trainers regularly compete in tracking conditions that appall the German judges who are often brought in to officiate at the events. Sometimes the organizing club will make a special effort to provide very demanding conditions in order to find out whose dog “really tracks.” This was the case at the GSDCA/WDA Europameisterschaft Qualification Trial in Colorado in 1984, when the organizers tried to make absolutely sure that any dog that qualified for the WDA team would acquit itself well in the tracking phase of the European championships.

Other sorts of challenges will crop up unintentionally, as happened one day to a Schutzhund III competitor from New Mexico that was halfway through its tracking test when it was discovered that the spectators had been standing for a quarter of an hour on top of the last leg of its track.

Incidents of this sort are a reminder that luck plays a role in Schutzhund. There is nothing we can do to change our luck, so instead we try to teach our dogs to cope with the unexpected.

Thus far, we have performed the vast majority of our training in optimal conditions. Our dog has learned all its basic skills in short, regular, green grass with little wind. Now we must add difficulty to its work by exposing it to all sorts of adversities, including drastic changes in terrain and vegetation, roads and ditches and cross tracks cutting its track and the dog’s having to refind the track once it has lost it. However, we must do this in such a fashion as to increase the animal’s skill and its confidence in its ability, rather than the reverse.

Proofing in this manner improves not only the dog’s skill, but also its intensity and concentration. By proofing the animal we systematically teach it to calmly solve problems.

^{In many parts of the United States tracking conditions are not ideal. However, experience has shown that a well‑schooled dog can follow a track even in very dry or barren terrain. Here, Salynn McCollum’s Sartan v. Haus Barwig shows a deep nose and fine style in the desert outside of Sante Fe, New Mexico.}

^{Training in optimal conditions. April Sanders’ “Ben,” Schutzhund III, works with a deep nose in a dirt field. Footprints are visible in freshly plowed fields.}

Important Concepts for Meeting the Goal

1. Negotiating changes in terrain

2. Crossing over an obstacle and then relocating the track

3. Recovering the track after losing it

4. Tracking surely despite adverse weather or ground conditions

5. Ignoring cross tracks