| When training a dog for a true trailing dog to be used | | | | following a prescribed "track" which has been laid in a |
| in the area of search and rescue there must be a | | | | specific manner for the dog. Training for this title often |
| definite understanding that you are NOT training for an | | | | involves the use of hot dog pieces laid in the track of |
| A.K.C. title. Often the attainment of an A.K.C. title has | | | | the human, thus encouraging the dog to follow the |
| nothing to do with following human scent nearly as | | | | exact foot impressions on the ground. |
| often as it has to do with following the requirements | | | | A person who is training a dog for certification as a |
| that the handler sets up for the dog. Also, the | | | | "trailing dog" in the search and rescue area recognizes |
| motivation usually is pieces of hot dog which are laid | | | | that the dog MUST be motivated to follow the trail of |
| on the track by the person who "sets" or "lays" the | | | | the rafts of skin to the source. The use of food, if |
| track. | | | | used at all, must be limited to a reward after the trail is |
| A person training a dog for trailing must learn first the | | | | correctly followed. The major emphasis on training the |
| theory of scent and skin rafts; that a human being will | | | | trailing dog must be one of setting up many many |
| constantly drop skin cells and that these cells form a | | | | different scenarios and using many different "victims", |
| "raft" which will drift with the wind and fall to the | | | | all the while recognizing that the task of the handler is |
| ground as the person moves. It is this trail of skin cells, | | | | to learn to recognize how the dog is reading the trail |
| which the trailing dog must be trained to follow. How | | | | and to train the dog to identify the trail correctly |
| and where the skin cells land on the surrounding | | | | through scent discrimination. |
| vegetation or surface will determine how and where | | | | The best motivation is without a doubt the strong |
| the trailing dog will locate the scent. The length of time | | | | desire to find a human and the old standby from the |
| that the scent may be picked up by the dog will | | | | beginning for this type of motivation is the "puppy |
| depend on the quality of the training and the natural | | | | runaway" which has been the basis for the training of |
| abilities of the dog, along with the effects of weather | | | | search dogs for many many years. The difference |
| on the trail. The other requirement for successfully | | | | between training an area wilderness search dog and a |
| training a trailing dog is that the handler motivates the | | | | scent discrimination trailing dog is simply that the dog's |
| dog so that he will not deviate from the trail under any | | | | exposure to air scenting is limited as much as possible |
| circumstance. | | | | during his early training. The human's task is to learn to |
| A person training a dog for a tracking title is not | | | | "read" the dog and also to discover how the wind |
| concerned with the life and death scenario of a true | | | | carries and distributes the skin cells and lastly but most |
| search "mission" but rather is concerned with the | | | | importantly to motivate the dog throughout the training |
| attainment of a title, which can only be earned by | | | | to want to follow the trail to its source. |