Tracking - where to start?

We've got a 4 month old beagle pup. Beagles have a bit of a reputation for being unreliable off-lead due to their instinct to follow a scent. So far she's as good as gold, but her nose is really starting to work overtime now, so we want to find ways to keep her instincts under control.

On one or two dog training programs the trainers have touched upon the theory that if a dog has an instinct to do something then one of the best ways to keep it happy, healthy AND under control is to train it to do that very thing. With sniffer type dogs they recommend tracking.

I don't think there are any clubs in our area. So we'd need to do this ourselves. So far we've taught her a "find it" game where she has to hunt down a hidden treat, or even one of us. She loves this and understands how to play.....although when she's finding us she tends to use sight and sound rather than scent!

Anyway, any tips on how to get a pup with an over-active nose doing something constructive and under our control??

Tracking is something i'd like to get one of my dogs practicing but i'm always hard pressed to find a volunteer to lay a track!

Perhaps you could get your OH to walk through vegetation or something for a couple of hundred yards but remain out of sight. Then try and get your Beagle to follow the track. Obviously keep your dog on a long line so you have control but your dog also has a bit of freedom to work at it's own pace.

Being a HPR type, Flynn has a very keen nose for birds, particularly pheasants so I actively encourage him to sharpen his skills by taking him to an area where pheasants live. He will often look back at me for encouragement so i'll use "find it" to show him I want him to go searching. I do this with various toys etc in long grass as well. I use a whistle to bring him back to me which he responds to very well.

I know it's not really offering you any useful advice but I agree that utilising any ability which a dog was bred to have is one of the best things for your dog. There is no doubt that Flynn is a different dog when he's hunting. He has immense self control whereas other times he severely lacks it, he's largely silent and the intense focus and concentration tires him out far more than any long walk!

yes tracking would be a good idea and scent detection.

if you want to get into tracking with him it might be worth you reading up a bit about how to set it up right so u dont make any big mistakes when u first do it. not sure how much it matters, but at least if u start right he want get really confused.

Scent detection is fun, u can teach your dog to find a hidden toy based on a scent associated with it, bit like they do for drugs detection, but obv u wouldnt use drugs you'd need to get yourself something like pure vanilla essence, again thats quite fun to train too.

If u need any help getting started i'd be more than happy to explain the steps to do that with either of those

happy sniffing!

Hi,
Here's a link to the beagle club,There's some information there in the working section about drag hunting and how to get started,I'm sure if you have any questions they'd be happy to help.
It's something i keep meaning to do with mine,I'm sure they'd love it

http://www.thebeagleclub.org/index.html

Sorry double post !

Thanks Jenny - we're glad of any help we can get.

If you could give us a couple of little starter games to try with our pup that would be a huge help. As I explained, we do play a 'find it' game with her and she loves that. But when it's a toy or one of us she's trying to find she tends to rely on sight and sound more than her nose. With treats she's more likely to sniff them out.

Tink - I'll check out that link right now! Do you have a beagle too?

Yep I have Three

Alfie who's almost 4 yrs old, Daisy whos 3 & 1/2 and Diva who's 12 weeks.

Theres also the scottish Beagle club,They might be able to point you in the right direction

http://www.scottishbeagleclub.org.uk...agle_club.html


There are a few new dogsey members with beagles that might be able to give you some advice.

I think we'll end up with more than one - beagles look as if they should be part of a little pack don't they! A little off-topic, but how are yours with recall?

Beanie is fantastic right now, and we have her off-lead in the park for about 45 mins to 1 hour every day. We keep working hard at the recall, and at hide and seek to encourage her to keep track of where we are at all times. But should I expect her current 100% sucessful recall to deteriorate as she gets older? We're really hoping that she'll be well behaved enough to come jogging with us when she's older.

Leanne, I missed your response first time around. We play the find it game every day (one of us will nip behind a tree when she's not looking and the other will encourage her to find them). But so far she doesn't seem to be using her nose. My guess is that her sense of smell isn't well enough developed yet. Do you have any tips on how we can help her to learn to sniff us out instead of looking and listening for us?

I always knew i'd have more then one,Truth be known i'd have a whole pack if i had the space and means I just adore them,The only breed for me

Alfie was great at recall as a young pup and although he's better at recalling than the others,i would say his recall did decline at adolesence and can vary at times,(I can't compare him to Daisy as she came to us at 14 months having not really been trained all that well) He will turn selectively deaf when it suits him,he's also very much an 'In my own time' kind of dog
I only let him offlead in certain places that i know are ok and have never had any problems,I also take them all to a fenced off basketball court through the week and practice recall with toys and treats,
I never forget though that Rabbits,birds and bikes are usually much more interesting than any bribe
Mine are generally very good but then we're very careful,I think consistency & keeping them interested is the key with Beagles (and a big bag of treats)

It would be interesting to hear how others beagles are offlead though as thats just what mine are like.
You sound like you've all got off to a good start regarding training,

Can anyone recommend a book on starting tracking? (Not the Roy Hunter one because that`s dreadfully rare / expensive!)
thanks