Tracking problem

 Yeah, I think I'd take him back a step... maybe a higher quality reward everywhere but the end?  So, hotdogs on the track and then kibble at the end, so he takes his time more?  Maybe shorten it a bit? Then slowly start extending it again?  I don't know about Schutzhund, but in tracking you have to be careful about using the same track too many times, cause once they get it they don't have to follow the scent anymore, which may also be the problem you're experiencing.

Ok, coming from a very diferent angle, but perhaps this is actually too easy for him?  i.e. he's "got it" so well that he doesn't feel the need to be methodical - perhaps try lengthening the track and see if he starts working more precisely because he actually has to think vs. "knowing"?  I know when we have SAR dogs in training that are just going 90mph, occasionally overshooting stuff, etc. it's because they "get it" and we need to up the difficulty level, even though it seems counter intuitive.

stardog85

Ok, coming from a very diferent angle, but perhaps this is actually too easy for him?  i.e. he's "got it" so well that he doesn't feel the need to be methodical - perhaps try lengthening the track and see if he starts working more precisely because he actually has to think vs. "knowing"?  I know when we have SAR dogs in training that are just going 90mph, occasionally overshooting stuff, etc. it's because they "get it" and we need to up the difficulty level, even though it seems counter intuitive.

sera_j

I don't know about Schutzhund, but in tracking you have to be careful about using the same track too many times, cause once they get it they don't have to follow the scent anymore, which may also be the problem you're experiencing.

I agree Stardog -- I think you're right.  I don't know enough about Schtz to answer on it, but in regular AKC tracking if they are "getting it" as quickly as Nikon seems to be, I'd have added a turn by now, maybe 2 to the tracks so they can't predict what's going to happen. ... but, this could be detrimental to your training, so I think you should wait and ask your instructor and maybe have her give you some special homework each week. Most people don't do their homework as religiously as you are, and they probably set the class up for the average person, who does it just enough to get by, but not to excel.

I wondered the same thing, but I agree I should wait and ask.  I do know that the most common mistake in SchH tracking is trying to progress too quickly.  Speed is OK, but it really needs to be consistent and methodical, he needs to track every footstep and when he skips over 4-5 at a time (each have a piece of kibble) it seems that somehow he's not "getting" it even though he's staying right on track with his nose in the track.

A SchH 1 track only has two turns.  A SchH 3 has 4 turns.  Not sure how that compares to other styles but it seems the turns don't come in until later on.  Here is a "perfect" SchH 2 track for comparison http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG689zPTp8k

I guess I'll just keep up with scent pads.  I wish I knew whether they need to be bigger or smaller, more or less food....

Maybe even the regular kibble is still TOO good and that's why he's plowing through it, thinking he better get as much as he can as fast as he can rather than go piece by piece through the pad?

 I like Sera's idea about putting the high value stuff in the footprints and boring stuff for the end - he could be too motivated for the food roll at the end and thus is ignoring the kibble in favor of the big reward.

I don't do any SchH, only AKC tracking, so I hesitate to offer much specific advice. But I will offer a couple general observations. One is that dogs often develop a deeper nose, and slow down as the track ages, and as the track gets longer. As the air scent cloud dissipates the dog becomes more dependent on the ground scent and pays more attention to it. And as the track gets longer, even if it is still straight, the dog will have to use his nose more. It's easy to run a 20 or 30 yard bee-line to the end. Not so easy to maintain that straight line when the track gets to be 70 or 100 yards long. Second, I would lay the tracks at a normal stride length. Again, I'm not as foot-step obsessed as you SchH people are ;-), but even for the somewhat looser style of tracking that AKC allows, I think short steps are more of a hindrance than a help for dogs with a naturally long stride. As I'm sure you know, a GSD doesn't normally walk comfortably at a 12-18 inch stride. So, forcing the dog to take such unnaturally short steps in order to find each foot print isn't really making things easier for him, in my opinion. Short steps are fine for training papillons and yorkies, but I question how helpful they are for large dogs. I'm not saying you should be taking abnormally long steps either, but eventually the dog is going to be following normal length human strides. Why not just start him out that way. My third suggestion is to perhaps try a serpentine track. I wouldn't necessarily do this right away, but maybe after you've done a dozen or so more straight tracks. Serpentines are tricky because it's harder for you to know where each footstep is yourself as the track curves subtly back and forth. I've seen some people mark the track with poles every couple steps, but that runs the risk of teaching the dog to depend on the visual cue of the poles. Plus, that's a lot of pole you have to carry along on the track, and you end up creating a scent pool every few steps as you pound in the poles. Another option I've read about, but never tried, is to carry a flour sifter (kids, ask your grandma) and leave a little poof of flour every few steps. Easy for you to see the serpentine track, but probably subtle enough that the dog won't pay a lot of attention to the flour. I used serpentine tracks a lot on one dog that intially wasn't interested in the track, and the subtle curves worked great to show her that she couldn't just wander forward in a straight line. And last I would add that dogs change their tracking style as they gain experience, and no one knows really why it happens. But I've seen lots of dogs start out charging down a track and eventually settle into nice faithful deep nosed trackers, although I couldn't identify any one thing that the handler did to bring about that change. I think as much as anything it's a matter of keeping the line very short so the dog doesn't have the option of wandering, and just letting them figure out on that the footsteps actually do help them get to the prize as the prize gets farther away.

  I was having the same issue with Rafe.  He was just blowing through the track, and would actually follow it pretty precisely, but it just wasn't satisfactory for a schutzhund track.  I'm still working on it, but I think we're getting better. 

 Like Buster said, I think letting the track age helps, that way there isn't so much scent floating around.  Does he still have the deep nose while he's tracking, even though he's going fast?  Rafe always had the nose down but still blasted through.  If Nikon is lifting his head to look around a bit, I'd take him off the track.  Since he seems to really like it, just take him off when he messes up so he doesn't get all those yummies on the ground.  

 As far as food goes, my trainer told me to keep the food in every step to try to slow him down, but not feed him the day before a track (unless it was on the track).  I also never put any food at the end of the track now, that way he's not thinking that there will be a big food pile at the end to rush to.  Instead, at the end, I reward with a tug. 

 I second making the track more difficult.  I think I went too slowly with Rafe and he just thought it was too easy to just go the 20 feet or so without really paying attention.  I always make mine longer and with at least one turn, if not more.