What are winding trials Claire? How do you lay them?

I have always started with food,double laying,when I I get a good long leg,and the food is in the container not still ontop,I introduce another container halfway up the leg, therefore encouraging the dog to track on after finding the first article,ending the track with a big game with a favourite toy.Depending on the dog sometimes I introduce the time factor, sometimes I introduce a corner (might be a curve ,dependson the dog,if its a corner I often triple lay the corner. I do try not to lay my own tracks, as I'm afraid I'm not always sure where I've been and its always handy to have someone who knows exactly where they have been.And always I'm always carefull of weatherand ground conditions.Hope you see what I'm getting at cos I dont think its the easiest of things to explain.
Good Luck with your big lad Kirsty
Jeanette

If I remember rightly in Sch.tracking the dog is supposed tokeep its nose down at all times where as in WTthey will wind scent sometimes I have tried the titbit in every footstep with colliesand quite often they just want to charge on not taking the titbits.
Wether i get back to competing or not I dont know but i will still track for fun

Kirsty, I believe the idea behind scent pads is so the dog learns that the rewards (food) are only found on disturbed ground. I did a scent pad everyday when Kofi was tiny (7-10 weeks) and he would sniff about getting treats and then step out of the scent pad. quickly find no treats and go back in a again. After a few sessions he understood that the treats would only ever be where the scent was and not on undisturbed ground.

My friends just meanders about out of sight. I didn`t mean it to sound official, like.
I did the treat / footstep thing but Daisy is so ball obsessed she tends to ignore them and charge on desperately to find the object of desire.
Their accuracy constantly amazes me.

Kirsty, I believe the idea behind scent pads is so the dog learns that the rewards (food) are only found on disturbed ground. I did a scent pad everyday when Kofi was tiny (7-10 weeks) and he would sniff about getting treats and then step out of the scent pad. quickly find no treats and go back in a again. After a few sessions he understood that the treats would only ever be where the scent was and not on undisturbed ground.

The other method I was shown was:

• Have one person hold your dog steady
• Facing your dog (laying the track backwards)
• Drag your feet down the whole track, showing the dog that you are laying treats (Show him each one and show him you putting it down)
• Lay down about 10 paces with a whole handful at the end or a toy.
• Now, walk back down the track, this time 'pretending' to put the treats down all the way back. Since your dog will see where you last dropped your hand and may just race to the end of the track. If you show him tha you are 'putting' a treat right at the start,he will start there
• Step off the track at the start and then guide your dog to the track

I find this method works well and was shown to me by John Rogerson. This was more towards working trials as opposed to Schutzhund.

Eventually you would stop scuffing your feet and stop laying double tracks. I mean, we had the dogs go from track scuffing, to following a 2 mile straight track with articles within a week.