What is a Trailing Dog?
Trailing K9 Callie closes in on the subject
Trailing dogs don't search, they follow. In deployment, a trailing dog is taken to the last place the subject was seen, given a scent article that smells like the subject, then asked to follow the path the subject took. They do this by following two sources of scent, ground disturbance and subject scent. Ground disturbance scent is the scent that is created by the scuffing of soil and crushing of vegetation. Subject scent is the scent from the dead skin cells and other biological material that the subject sheds as he or she walks. Ground disturbance scent smells the same regardless of who disturbs the ground, but subject scent is unique to each person. For this reason, trailing dogs are taught to use track scent as a crutch, but to rely on subject scent.
Trailing dogs are scent specific, meaning they follow the scent they are instructed to follow and ONLY that scent. Teaching scent specificity is a major focus in training a trailing dog.
Trailing dogs are scent specific, meaning they follow the scent they are instructed to follow and ONLY that scent. Teaching scent specificity is a major focus in training a trailing dog.
Training a Trailing Dog
Dogs know how to use their noses and they know how to track. It's an instinctual ability. In training, we are exposing them to situations in which they can refine their instinctual ability and we are teaching them to track only the scent that we want them to track - not deer or rabbits or a different person.
There are multiple excellent books on training trailing, several of our favorites are listed on the Resource page. Any explanation given here will be grossly over-simplified, but we will try nonetheless.
There are many different methods to train a trailing dog, but they all include the following five elements:
There are multiple excellent books on training trailing, several of our favorites are listed on the Resource page. Any explanation given here will be grossly over-simplified, but we will try nonetheless.
There are many different methods to train a trailing dog, but they all include the following five elements:
- Build Motivation - The first step to every training system is to teach the dog the game and to make it something the dog enjoys. This can be done with food and articles along the trail or by a subject running away with the dog's favorite toy or food.
- Teach Scent Discrimination - The dog is taught that it must track only the scent presented. There are many ways to teach this, but every one involves presenting tracks that have both subject scent and distraction scent, then rewarding the dog for following the correct track.
- Introduce Land Features - Scent behaves strangely around different land features, especially on ridges and in canyons. Dogs and handlers both need to learn how to work through these obstacles.
- Build Endurance and Focus - Practice trails gradually get longer and harder. Intentional distractions such as other dogs and people are added.
- Add Age - Age refers to the time in between the track being set and the dog starting work. Dogs are typically taught on fresh trails where there are abundant scent available, then gradually introduced to older and older trails.