Kavik Posted March 21, 2006 Author Share Posted March 21, 2006 Have already booked a place Although from what I have read (I also have some books on SAR) - they are very different. Remembering that footstep tracking is a sport and SAR is not. With SAR you want to get there fast, and cutting corners is OK, as is air scenting. With tracking, you are supposed to follow the exact track, including corners, and they are not supposed to air scent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidoney Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 Things like dog motivation and understanding scent and so on would be things in common though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted March 21, 2006 Author Share Posted March 21, 2006 True - I guess it is their application that differs. One thing I will definitely need to learn more about is scent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clicking Mad Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 (edited) ... Edited January 7, 2008 by Clicking Mad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted March 21, 2006 Author Share Posted March 21, 2006 You work with scent detection dogs right? I would love to get into that area! I did the scent detection course through NDTF and it was fascinating stuff. I have done a little with Zoe. The hardest part about any scent work I find is that we can't smell what the dogs can Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sardog Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 Search & Rescue - the dog is air scenting the rafts of bacteria rising from the body and dispelling into the air. Tracking - the dog is identifying the disturbed vegetation from the tracklayers footsteps. If the track is very new then the scent from the tracklayer rises and then falls alongside the track and is carried by the wind direction, that's why you see dogs casting side to side. If the track is old then the scent from the tracklayer has dissipated into the air leaving the dog to then track the disturbed vegetation. With tracking you need to teach the dog basic scent discrimination very early in training to deter him/her from following the crossovers later down the harder/longer laid tracks. Article alerting is very important also and should be taught very early. I never trained with food under footsteps (too backbreaking)- we always taught the method where the dog sees the handler leave initially with favourite toy or food. The dog must have plenty of desire to want to find - that's the key ingredient. A complete understanding of how scent works is imperative to be able to read your dog properly in both sar and tracking. It always amazed me at tracking trials- when the dog located an article the handler would put that article into his/her pocket. Later, if the dog was getting a bit confused or could not find the track, the handler would try to re-scent the dog with the article that had been in their pocket for the duration since it was first picked up whose scent is on the article now? If we could see as well as a dog can smell - we would be able to see another million colours, their complete scenting ability is untapped by humans. As Kavik said "we can't smell what they can!" Sam, I hope you can make it to our seminar, I'm sure K9 has your information, he's a very busy person at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clicking Mad Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 (edited) ... Edited January 7, 2008 by Clicking Mad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clicking Mad Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 (edited) ... Edited January 7, 2008 by Clicking Mad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted March 21, 2006 Author Share Posted March 21, 2006 I think I might try the method laid out in the article. Yesterday I laid out two scent squares like in the article, with food in them. Diesel worked it quite well. I am hoping someone at the club has experience with this method so they can help me when I get stuck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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