Negotiating changes in terrain

Several years ago, one of the best and most consistent tracking dogs in the United States landed a spot on the American team that was to compete at the world championships. While out on its track the day of the championships, its handler was appalled when this excellent dog suddenly and unequivocally stopped tracking at a point where the terrain changed abruptly from field grass to com stubble. It appeared as if the dog had run into a brick wall. It simply would not pass from one field to the next. Despite outstanding scores in the other two phases of competition, its handler went home a bitterly disappointed man.

What the dog clearly understood from its training was that one does not go where there is no track. Because of lack of experience, the dog concluded from the drastic change of terrain that when the track scent changed, its track ended there at the edge of the grassy field.

In order to avoid problems like this, handlers can systematically train the dog to track confidently across all sorts of changes in terrain–from dirt to short grass, from wheat stubble to alfalfa, and so forth.

Whenever he can take advantage of such changes, the handler lays relatively simple tracks across them, always leaving some sort of reward (an article or a food drop) on the track ten or twenty paces past the zone of difficulty. At first the handler helps the dog carefully across the border between the two types of terrain, staying close to it and pointing out the track to it if it becomes uncertain. Later, the handler stays back a few feet on the long line, and obliges the dog to work through the transition in track scent itself.

As a result of just a little methodical training, the dog can gain great skill and confidence in tracking from one type of terrain into a vastly different type.