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to CyberHound This article is the first in a three-part series outlining the tracking philosophy Kay and I have developed. It focuses on what we think are the most important aspects of tracking dog training.
We don't teach dogs to track.
We teach them to WANT to track.
Our tracking experience began with stubborn hounds bred for independent problem-solving. As a result, we treasure the natural difference in tracking style among individual dogs, and try to nourish it within practical limits.
Our approach is the opposite of teaching a particular tracking behavior, which is the basis of many training philosophies. Essentially, we say to the dog, "Here's the goal and a reward; you figure out how to do it."
Our tracking goals and methods were developed to support this (non-obedience) philosophy. We don't consider our tracking philosophy superior to others; only different, based on our personal choices and historical bias. We encourage DESIRE, but not rigidity. Without training for accuracy per se, the result has usually been accurate tracking dogs. A conclusion we've reached in over two decades of working with tracking dogs is that METHOD FOLLOWS PHILOSOPHY. In our opinions, incorporating goals, test rules and tracking environment into a flexible but coherent tracking philosophy can produce consistently effective training methods.
Contrary to this, our early tracking experience was based on rigid methods developed by others, many of which were successful in their original contexts. However, each new dog, each differing weather condition and each training failure led us to consider revising these methods into a more flexible approach for training tracking dogs.
What we eventually came up with was SMALL SUCCESSFUL STEPS. This means, simply, creating a unique training environment for each dog that emphasizes consistent, progressive, reward and success. It also means CHANGING our short term objectives or method when the dog does not respond the way we expected. The dog must be challenged, but not faster than his capacity or willingness to learn. This means literally custom-designing a training program for each individual dog.
Rather than set up a tracking schedule in advance, we let the results of each training session tell us what to do next time. Depending on the dog's performance, we decide before leaving the tracking field what is best for the following session. We move forward when the dog is ready, and move backward when we've gone too far or the dog has had a particularly difficult experience or unexpected problem. Keeping the dog interested and motivated is paramount in our tracking philosophy. Method, technique and style are all secondary to motivation. One result of our training philosophy is to follow extremely difficult training sessions with easy ones. It is important, in our opinions, not to let session after session of mistakes, accidents, lack of motivation or failures continue. This tends to wear down and frustrate even the most motivated, talented dog, and can be INSTANT DEATH to tracking success. In our experience, most motivational problems, as well as bad starts and lackadaisical tracking, can be traced to some variation of this principle.
Although our tracking philosophy does not rely on selecting superior dogs, we have on occasion decided not to train a dog that just didn't "have it," or for whom we could not find a suitable motivation. Our philosophy may not be universal, but it has worked effectively for our primary goal of entering and passing American Kennel Club (AKC) tracking tests at the Tracking Dog (TD) and Tracking Dog Excellent (TDX) levels. Most of the dogs we've trained passed their first tracking test.
Part 2 of this series will address Goals and Priorities. Part 3 will address Motivation and Observation.