Turns
Now that you have your
dog tracking 75-100 yds in a straight line and are observing the dog’s
behavior when tracking and when not, it is time to proceed to turns.
In a TD test you will
have 3-5 turns at 90º angles, except
one which may be a wide open turn. In
training we will start with wide open turns and tighten them up to 90º
angles.
Your first turn should be
laid as such:
 |
Make sure that you lay
both right and left turns so that your dog does not get in the mode of only
going one way. Place a flag at the
start, 30 yds out and then at the turn. Place
a flag at the glove at the end so that you will know when to have that BIG party
at the end. I like to triple lay
turns at the beginning stages of training. How
I do that is to go to the start of my turn, and place a flag.
Then I take three steps backward, proceed forward to the flag, make my
gentle turn for three steps, then walk three steps back to the flag, and then
proceed forward again for three steps. After
walking three steps in the new direction, I like to put a couple of treats for
the beginning dog so they have a jackpot for finding the turn.
The concentrated scent of the triple laid turn will entice your dog’s
nose to find the turn.
As you start training
turns there are several behaviors that you might see with your dog.
If you see your dog “casting” which is going side to side at the
turn, wait patiently until the dog finds the new direction and immediately go
with the dog when it finds the new leg of the track.
If your dog proceeds forward and eventually runs out of scent (you will
know this because your dog will lift it’s head) walk backward beyond the flag
at the turn and wait for your dog to find the new leg.
If your dog circles at the turn, hold your ground and wait until the dog
goes down the new leg of the track until proceeding forward.
One thing that you should NOT do is to slow up when you get to the flag
at the corner of your track. This
will cue your dog and we want the dog to find the new leg on its own.
As your dog becomes very
proficient in finding open turns as diagrammed above, you can then start
gradually to tighten up the turns, but make sure to triple lay each time and
have the jackpot of treats just beyond the turn.
As you noticed, I have
not addressed aging of tracks yet. It
is not necessary as you are training these new concepts.
Look for this article next month to address ageing.
Happy tracking!