Proofing Search Patterns - seeing into my dog's mind's eye

By Andy Bensing

After our last training line 2 weeks ago I had a good feeling that Eibe had developed a clear picture in her head of how to recognize dead spots and efficiently work them out.  As mentioned in previous articles, I also believe that for some time now she actually recognizes back tracks as soon as she smells that the line has doubled over itself.   I set today's training line up as a proofing exercise to see if my assumptions were correct.  Since we had been focusing lately on dead spots and had not done any backtracks for quite a while my plan was to lay out a dead spot on the line to assure that she was thinking about dead spots. and then 150m later go right into a backtrack. This way I could see if she would recognize the back track and work it in her usual backtrack efficient way or would she initially think it was another dead spot and work it that way.  I also threw in a couple of sharp 90 degree turns to compare her style on them as well.  Overall, the line was 1050 meters long laid with tracking shoes and a squirt of blood on the ground every 50 steps or so and I aged it overnight (15 hours). 

Click on the image

I am trying a new technology (for me) with this article so check out the videos below.  The videos show how Eibe ultimately worked through the above exercise but also show some of the great value in using your GPS and associated desktop software while blood tracking both on training and natural lines.  The videos are not of my dog but rather they are taken from my computer screen and show how you can evaluate you and your dog's actions when you get back home after tracking.

• Dead Spot Work  
• Backtrack Work  
• Two 90's Work  
• Whole track video