Mantrailing

[CrunchieBoi]

Anyone do this with their dogs?

Was thinking it might be a good outlet for our mongrel who shows a fair few scent hound traits. I've no clue how he still has a nose when it's pressed to the ground constantly.

We did do a sort of beginners scent class last year but his general obedience wasn't really as good as I wanted at the time so wound up trying to get that sorted out first.

 

[pistolpete]

I want to try it too with my lurcher. A friend tried it in the new forest somewhere and said it was really good.

 

[On the Hoof]

I do it with my little collie, its one of the few things that she can do really well and manage to ignore the environment she is in (she is an anxious dog and quite noise sensitive). We have only done it a few times but I am always astounded at how easy it is for a dog to understand what is wanted of them after sniffing something for less than a second. My dog's obedience is rubbish, but they are on a long line for mantrailing and she is totally focused on the job.

 

[CrunchieBoi]

I do it with my little collie, its one of the few things that she can do really well and manage to ignore the environment she is in (she is an anxious dog and quite noise sensitive). We have only done it a few times but I am always astounded at how easy it is for a dog to understand what is wanted of them after sniffing something for less than a second. My dog's obedience is rubbish, but they are on a long line for mantrailing and she is totally focused on the job.

That's really good to hear, our boy is a bit nervous as well and has been quite slow to grasp his basic commands. We have a long line and harness for scent work and it's good to hear your girl picked it up quickly.

The last class insisted on using tennis balls for him to find but he's not hugely toy motivated. We've been trying to reward with food when he manages to locate something.

 

[CorvusCorax]

The problem with using food as a reward for 'real world' tracking is that they may get distracted by actual food that's been discarded along the trail, if that makes sense. If he can discriminate between his own food and an old half-eaten bag of chips lying on the ground or sheep poop, then great.

 

[CrunchieBoi]

The problem with using food as a reward for 'real world' tracking is that they may get distracted by actual food that's been discarded along the trail, if that makes sense. If he can discriminate between his own food and an old half-eaten bag of chips lying on the ground or sheep poop, then great.

It makes sense certainly but he doesn't show much interest in food that's not given to him any more.

It was a huge problem when we got him as he'd scoff anything even remotely edible so it was a habit that we felt needed stamped on ASAP. He couldn't even be fed in the same room as our other dog at first and would actually leap up at anyone carrying food trying to get some for himself. He was a proper pain in the arse around food but will now only really take stuff that he's been given specific permission to eat.

 

[satinbaze]

The problem with using food as a reward for 'real world' tracking is that they may get distracted by actual food that's been discarded along the trail, if that makes sense. If he can discriminate between his own food and an old half-eaten bag of chips lying on the ground or sheep poop, then great.

I taught my old CKCS to track using food as she wasn’t article motivated. Also taught article indication using food. She was a brilliant tracking dog but never got her UDEX as she struggled to do the scale as she was small

 

[Moobli]

Yes I did a weekend course with my older GSD when he was younger and he loved it. We now do it just for fun and he especially loves finding my son. I wondered whether it might interfere with his tracking training (as that is ground scent as opposed to air scenting which is primarily used in Mantrailing and SAR training) but I needn’t have worried, as it made no difference.

Give it a go. Your dog will love it ?

 

[CorvusCorax]

I taught my old CKCS to track using food as she wasn’t article motivated. Also taught article indication using food. She was a brilliant tracking dog but never got her UDEX as she struggled to do the scale as she was small

Yes, I do footstep/sport tracking using food for prints and articles, most people do, but IMO it's very different from Mantrailing.

 

[planete]

We have had lots of fun doing informal man trailing with one of our lurchers. One of us disappears into the Forest and twenty minutes later the dog tracks us down. He does wear a 10m line and a harness. I tried scent training with one of my bitches but she was totally disinterested. She will find deer within half an hour every time if allowed to track their scent down though.

 

[Kat_Bath]

Ah, this thread is great! I always wanted to try it with Harvey but also always thought he'd be utterly useless because he would be off to find the nearest old bag of chips or dead shrew...

Buddy however, I think might be excellent at it. Maybe because he comes from a working background... The trainer I'm just about to get some guidance and assistance from also does scentwork so I'm hoping we can try some in the new year.

Keep us up to date with what you try Crunchie!

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

I do a bit of mantrailing with my lab for fun, we really enjoy it and its amazing how tired he is after a small amount of actual physical exercise

 

[Hannahgb]

Do you go to classes or are you training yourself?

 

[CrunchieBoi]

Do you go to classes or are you training yourself?

There are instructors near us so assume they'd offer 1-1 lessons. They do also offer classes but it's not possible for us to attend as they're during the week.

 

[CrunchieBoi]

Finally managed to get another beginner lesson along with a few practice sessions under our belts. The boy is really enjoying it, and it seems to be doing wonders for his confidence and socialisatio . During the beginner session he had to hunt down a man, which I knew was going to be an issue as he's wary of strange men, and sure enough he located the guy with ease, but decided the "threat" was too great to accept his reward for finding him.
Poor chap was a bit confused when we had to tell him to put the food on the floor and just completely ignore the boy.

Went to our first practice session about a month later thinking his performance in the beginner session was maybe just a fluke but he did well again.

We've been to a few practice sessions since, and the boy has 100% picked up what to do. He is often reactive to other dogs when out a normal walk, but when he's out doing his wee "job" he completely ignores other dogs and people.

Wish we'd started him on this earlier, he will now happily approach all of his missing people and accept food and pats.