CAN I TEACH MY DOG TO TRACK AND HUNT AT THE SAME TIME?

            The simple answer to the question above is YES!  Many times, Golden Retriever owners have been concerned that training two things at once might lead to confusion on the part of their dogs, and an inability to learn either venue, but tracking and hunting are very complimentary skills that lend well to being trained together.  Let’s take a look at some of the concerns this writer has heard over the years, and I will attempt to provide answers and a plan.

            WHAT SHOULD I TRAIN FIRST?  Tracking is a very natural skill for a dog to learn.  They are born with a nose that works well, so training can start very early.  With tracking, we are really only teaching the dog to scent discriminate and the teaching the team – dog and handler – how to follow the AKC prescription for the test.  A puppy’s nose can be trained as soon as they come to your home, and this skill will lead to finding birds in the field.  With a very young pup, your job as the handler is to keep it fun and motivational.  Short tracks of 10-20 yards, with lots of treats along the track and a jackpot at the article, will motivate your puppy’s nose to follow the scent trail.  At this point, we are not going to insist on a down at the start of the track, and we are going to make a big deal out of the pup just getting to the end article and finding the jackpot of treats.  I would suggest buying a harness at a store like Petco for a small dog, so that right from the start, the equipment used for this venue is just different than what is used in the field.  At the same time you are teaching your pup to follow the scent trail in tracking, you can begin in the living room of your home teaching your pup to do casting for the field by throwing a treat to each side and back for three handed casting.  When you are initializing this field training with your pup, put a web collar on him/her so as to make the distinction from the harness used for tracking.

            WILL MY DOG QUARTER ON THE TRACK IF I TRAIN IT FOR FIELD?  Yes, it might at first, but this can be easily extinguished by shortening up on the lead when tracking until the dog understands the behavior that you are looking for.  The lead can be lengthened as the dog becomes more proficient in following the scent trail in a straight line.  Should your dog want to air scent rather than put its nose deep in the track, a Boucher harness can be used to pull the head down during initial tracking training.

            WILL MY DOG CAST CORNERS IF I TRAIN IT FOR FIELD?  Maybe, but this is a perfectly acceptable way of a dog finding a new direction of the leg.  What is essential is that you learn to read your dog’s indication that it has lost the scent of the trail leg, and not move forward until your dog has committed to the new direction.

            WILL MY DOG TRY TO TRACK WHEN RUNNING OUT TO A BIRD IN THE FIELD?  This concern is something I hear a lot with hunting dog owners who come to tracking classes.  It always makes me smile, for several reasons.  First of all, our dogs are really very incredibly smart creatures that can distinguish between the two very different activities, even though both events are held in fields.  The scenarios are so very different and so it the picture of the activity to the dog.  Second, I have yet to see a retriever run out to a bird with their head down.  They would literally stumble and do somersaults if they attempted to do this.  So, put this fear aside and spend some enjoyable time training your retriever.