Effective Handler

by John Jeanneney May 2011

The Handler and his Dog

“I was just a dope on a rope, There’s nothing to it.” I heard this from a new handler, who had just found his first deer. Fortunately that deer was easy to find. Most of the time the “rope” in a deer tracking adventure joins together two working partners, contributing to the task at hand.

On the handler’s end the most important factor is his human capability to “read” his dog’s body language. The tracking dog lets his handler know whether he has the right scent line or whether he is still searching for it. Has he been lured off the right scent line by the distraction of hot deer scent or a cloud of fresh turkey scent? Much of this is learned earlier through observing the dog’s reactions as he works marked training lines.

An experienced handler notices, without even thinking about it, whether the dog’s nose is high or working down low in the grass or leaves. Is the tail rhythm rapid or slow? Are the back muscles tense with concentration or relaxed? It’s not all that simple because every dog is different. You have to know the dog. Under the same conditions one dog will casually “drift” the line, mostly down wind. His head will be up and there will be little intensity in his body language. He almost looks like he was going for a stroll. Another dog will be neater, closer to the line, working with apparent focus and enthusiasm.

The handler has to know his dog, and this comes from living with him, training him and working with him under all kinds of conditions. Many would-be deer finders want to buy a “trained dog”, ready to go, just like a new ATV. The relationship of a tracking dog and his handler is different, very different from that of a man and his machine…or the relationship a man has with a dog that is supposed to work like a machine: “command and obey”. An experienced trainer who has prepared dogs for retriever trials often has real difficulty in adjusting to tracking situations where only the dog knows where to go.

The effective handler develops a relationship in which his dog trusts him and wishes to please him. In most cases this won’t happen simply by taking a dog out of his kennel for periodic training sessions. You and your dog learn to read and trust one another over long, relaxed time spent together. This is the occasion for the dog to learn when he must obey “Come!” and when he is free to investigate the world with his nose.

The need for trust works both ways… and this is the hardest part. Sometimes the handler has to trust his dog, even though he is pretty sure that the dog is wrong. The handler has to be flexible enough to realize that the dog’s nose and intelligence for interpreting scent is far better than his own. Willingness to trust your dog over your own judgment does not come easily. Every experienced tracker I know has had the experience of believing that he knew better than his dog. A young dog can be wrong, but the odds are strong that the mistake is on the handler’s side.

Young dogs, carried away by enthusiasm, do make mistakes. A good tactic for the handler is to first ask, “Is that right?” The responsive dog will recognize the questioning tone of voice, stop, reflect and often correct himself. The preparation for this responsiveness comes in training when you ask, “Is that right?” after the dog overshoots a turn on the training line and seems ready to keep on going. For this to work you have to sometimes ask the question even when the dog is right.

Often the handler is mislead by the hunter. The hunter saw his deer go one way. The tracking dog says “no”, but until he shows handler and hunter a drop of blood, it’s hard to say the dog was right and the human was wrong. It’s amazing how often it happens that the hunter saw another deer and drew all the wrong conclusions.

It seems that we have been carried away by all the TV talk about the dog owner asserting himself as the “alpha wolf” the leader of the pack. Wolf researchers have discovered that even in the natural pack the leadership and decision making is not inflexible and always made by the same wolf. Dogs have no difficulty understanding that their special expertise, in scenting matters, doesn’t qualify them to do what they please in other matters out in the woods. I find that my dogs recognize that I am much better than they are when it comes to determining the direction of an old, cold line. They don’t know how I interpret blood splatters and footprint direction, but they accept my judgment on this matter.

The effective handler has to be observant. The tracking dog shows the way of the wounded animal, but the handler must be able to recognize and interpret any evidence that is visible along the way. This begins at the hit site with a careful search for blood, hair, tissue and bone fragments. What do these clues tell us about the nature of the wound? Is this wound likely to be fatal? The placement of blood smears on the scent line and the color of blood tell the handler more about the prospects. Once into the track for a distance, dogs themselves show that they have their own ways of figuring out if a deer is gettable. The final decision of whether to quit the track is often a collective one.

A sudden change in the behavior of the dog is often the best indication that he is close to the game, dead or alive. If the deer has taken off a thorough search should be made for the woundbed or the place the animal was standing. The handler should be able to interpret the blood or other materials found at this spot.

The Handler and the Hunter

Finding wounded game is more than an adventure for you and your dog. Working with the hunter is an essential part of being a good handler. Usually your first contact is by phone, and you can be dealing with a very upset individual. You have to decide whether there is a decent chance that you can find or catch up with his animal.

The information he gives you first won’t necessarily be the most useful in making your decision to take the call. He’ll tell you the animal went down, but he won’t tell you whether it went down instantaneously (high back shot?) or went down after taking the first jump (broken leg). The handler has to ask the right questions, In the case of a deer, “Exactly what was the color of the hair? Light grey with a darker tip or pure white?” Lots of times you won’t get such vital information unless you ask for it.

Once in the woods give the hunter something to do so that he will be useful. If the situation permits him to carry a firearm, direct him to move so that he has good visibility ahead, and so that you, the handler, will not be in the line of fire. Judge whether he can be trusted to have a round in the chamber, just in the magazine, or whether he should carry the arm unloaded. If a firearm is not to be used, put him to work spotting and announcing blood to be marked with biodegradable tape when this is useful. Keep him off his cell phone! His full attention is important.

Give the hunter a job so that he will feel useful and part of the search. The hunter does not want to feel waited upon like an incompetent fool. Your best chance of educating him for the future is to help him understand what went wrong, and what the consequence were for the animal.

Clary von Moosbach teaching John Jeanneney how to be a handler (1976).