Cahrlie - Tracking - 16 Mar 25
Charlie my almost 12 year old dog still goes hard 💪
This is just a 200m tracking from the other week, but he hasn't tracked in many years, so I was very pleased with his efforts and oberall ability.
I don't work him much these days as I want his last years to be comfortable; not looking to speed up the innevitable end of his extraordinary life. Most days he is sunbathing and chewing on his favourite ball in the bakyard.
Hans - High Risk Tracking
High risk tracking with Hans🐕🦺
This track was Hans last during my recent trip to South Africa back in February.
The goals were simple;
- provide opportunity for self discovery on the track start
- pressure Hans with flankers and tactical movement around him
- add an apprehension at the end of the track with rangers in close proximity
The rangers were amazing, and I look forward to returning in 2026.
Night tracking with Hans in South Africa
Night tracking with Hans on a Big Five Reserve 🦁
The goal of this track was build on a few key elements required for operational tracking. The first was track starts without an article; visual trackers or drones often provide track start points, with no articles typically found.
The second was strengthening the proximity alert and adding in more team movement. This was done by slowing down as Hans behaviour intensified in the odour pool, and having the rangers conduct some minor movement as we closed in on the track layer, which Hans dealt with without issue.
For added fun, Hans humped Josh (the track layer) as soon as he got up to him. Better than being bit I guess?
Hans - Hidden Sleeve Bite
In this video we work on Hans alerting on a hidden threat.
Josh McDuff decoys and takes the bite through a Dog Armour Pro sleeve. Hans hadn't had a bite in a little while at the time of filming, and his out was not forthcoming. We did some more work and cleaned it up later on. Hans may be small, but he packs a very powerful bite.
We enjoy the work we do, and like to have a laugh whilst training for extremely serious work these dogs are required to do.
Hans - Pressuring the flanks
Pressuring the flanks with Hans in South Africa
This was the first track done exposing Hans to flanking movement from back up rangers. I had previously laid the foundations for this in Australia (see videos with a blue gun back in 2023 - which drew some idiot trolls at the time).
The goal here was to educate the rangers on reading the proximity alert, and building Hans' tolerance to handle rangers in his peripheral vision whilst working.
There are lots of pieces involved in making this a smooth team action. As I share more videos you'll see where the rangers and dogs got to by the time I left South Africa.
Rhinos on the track
Think rabbits and kangaroos are bad distractions on a track? Try rhinos 🦏
This is a short snippet of anti-poaching K9 Akela tracking last night. Two rhinos can be seen under NVG in this clip as they run away parralel to our position.
For added context for anyone who is seeing posts about my time in South Africa and has questions.
Safeguarding Australia's Military Secrets correspondence:
"Foreign Work Authorisation Not Required
Activity: deliver tracking training to the Manyoni Reserve Anti-Poaching Unit,
which operates under 'Kilo 9 Academy' (a NPO)”
Want to see a well trained proximity alert?
Gaston alerts on the track layer from 200m away in this double blind track we did yesterday. Whilst I had some doubts, Gaston's behaviour left zero room for mistaking what he had.
We have been working on strengthening his change of behaviour when he hits the direct odour pool of the track layer. If anyone says proximity alerts are bogus, they just don't know how to develop them properly.
I always train with a human at the end of a track; the odour pool is always present in reality and only experience teaches a dog to solve it well.
Shotguns and dogs, match made in heaven 🤙
Gaston - Mantrailing - 28 Nov 24
Tracking in the heat 🔥
Just before the rains have poured in recent days, I took Gaston out for a suburban track on a particularly hot day to see how he would perform. I have been working on his fitness in general to ensure his resilience is high for such conditions, and he didn't disappoint.
Cosmo off leash tracking 🐕🦺
This is a short snippet of Cosmo working a recent track. Full video is on my YT page, with voiceover remarks, for those interested. It is pretty cool so definitely worth watching.
What is really cool to see is how dogs can naturally find odour and work it successfully without the use of articles etc on hard surfaces. The goal here wasn't surface transitions, this was more of a Bob Ross happy accident (in terms of track design) that was great to see at this level of training.
Gaston Grip Development
I am a massive proponent of training dogs to bite, who were bred to do so 🐕🦺
These dogs when trained well can become incredibly stable, clear headed, and safer to be around as they learn to contextualise when they can and should exhibit a behaviour, and when they should not.
These dogs also find complete genetic fulfilment through this training, which to deprive them of is cruel in my opinion. Depriving a retriever breed of a regular fetch game is equally unkind to the animal.
Gaston is a great example of what I am talking about. Extremely social and stable, he goes everywhere with me, and often off leash (his obedience is exemplary). He does possess the inherent genetic traits to bite when it is time to do so, but having developed this from a young age he clearly understands when it is appropriate to do so. He also plays beautifully with my 2 year old (she loves playing house with him).
I have worked at Domestic Animal Services specifically dealing with dangerous dogs, and never encountered a dog in my time there who had bitten a human that was even remotely comparable to a well-trained dog like Gaston. Those dogs were typically backyard bred, neglected, often abused, who bit out of fear and uncertainty.
Finally, this work relies on skilled decoys. Luca, seen here being bitten by Gaton, is a phenomenal decoy and I am always so grateful for his time and energy he gives freely to others.
GAK9 Licensee -
