Tracking

SLEE DOG TRAINING

Todd A. Slee
POB 462 / 210 N. Church Dr.
Roann, IN 46974
+1.2605683021

1.Finding Your Lost Dog

2. TRACKING LOST DOGS

1. Finding Your Lost Dog

A simple trick that many hunters use, which works as often as not, when they lose their dog, is as follows: place a jacket or shirt that you have been wearing, on the ground in the place where you last seen your dog. Go check there first thing the next morning, and your dog should be there if he has backtracked in order to find you. Simple but effective.
Originally posted 7/11/2013

2. Tracking Lost Dogs

Sometimes you just have to trust the instinct and ability of the dog. I went out today to try to locate a small black Poodle that had wandered off, about one year old. He was last seen behind a house about 1/3 mile due north of the Roann School. I took Boots (Pyranees/Lab) and Dance (Australian/German/Chow/Coyote), and went to that area. I found what appeared to be the tracks, as well as human tracks, which I later learned was the owner. So I did about a 1/8 mile circle to determine which direction he may have went, since a dog will run in a pattern at times. Finding nothing notable I returned to the place where I started and put the dogs to "track". We headed SW for 30 yards and then the tracks turned to the south. The dogs were tracking well, Boots with his nose down and Dance tracking with head erect. What was kinda odd though, was'nt that the dogs were both working the track about 10 yards to the west of the actual tracks, because that is common, but the wind was out of the west, about 20 m.p.h. I decided to trust the dogs and we trekked across an fairly open field for about 60 yards, when the tracks turned toward the west in a circle. The dogs didn't seem to notice and kept tracking to the SSE. I thought, well, they're off, but we can skirt the outskirts of the town later to see if we intercept the Poodle's tracks. We went another 50 or 60 yards and the dogs turned due east, both appearing to be hard on something, though no signs of tracks, depressions or drifting was evident at all. Thirty more yards and we ran along the south edge of a tree filled fence row, open field on our right. After 45 more yards the dogs abruptly turned around and backtracked about 8 yards, stopping to stare into the tree line. I called the dog's name, just as a matter of course, with no response, as I knew the lost dog was nowhere near there. I said to the dogs, "You guys are just trackin' a coon or cat", and as I started to turn them back around, I heard a small dog bark. I let the dogs go so the dog would be less likely to bolt and waded through the brush into the 6 yard deep brush line. Big Hoss the 18 pound Poodle was huddled behind a tree. So I tucked him into my coat and we headed back and returned him to the family, who was out looking for him also. I had learned a valuable lesson to trust the dog, and the dogs were happy because they knew they had done a good deed, not to mention that the kids were joyful at being reunited with their beloved, furry family member.
I think I train my dogs well, but sometimes we think we know more than the dog about what comes naturally to a dog. We do not train a dog to do anything it can't do by itself. We simply fine tune to suit our needs. Once we accomplish that, we need to put the dog to it and keep out of their way.
Originally posted 12/21/2012

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