27/08/2024
A good post describing the differences between tracking , trailing and air scenting dogs.
I find it useful to know how my dogs trail , and which modality they are using. My whippet will generally use any air scent over ground scent , whilst my collie will utilise ground scent much more. Knowing this , one can utilise the environment and direction of wind to “ work “ on practising all the component parts that make a good trailing dog.
Talking with various people and reading post on different groups I found a fair amount of confusion out there. There are some that use tracking and trailing interchangeably. They are not the same. A good tracking dog can trail and still be successful. A trailing dog will track with the correct conditions. An air scenting dog may track and trail when the conditions are conducive to do so. For clarification purposes, here are some brief definitions of the three as I see it. Remember that dogs use all three of these to complete a task. It is up to the handler to determine what modalities are appropriate to use in a given situation. At a tracking trial you do not want your dog to Air Scent, but a with Tracking Search Dog, the handler may find it more expedient or necessary to allow Trailing or Airscenting.
Air Scenting is a method that the dogs use to detect the presence of an odor/scent, usually with their head up, collecting or searching for odor/scent that is present. Understanding air currents and patterns is beneficial to working this type of dog. Air Scenting dogs search by quartering fields and woodlands, clear areas to limit a search, perform water searches or human remains. Other Air Scenting endeavors include explosives, arson detection, narcotics, and wildlife detection. Gun dogs after directed send, nose work, barn hunt, and medical detection dogs also fall under Air Scenting.
A Tracking Dog follows ground scent left by a person or animal. The dog follows the footsteps in a channel about the width of the tracklayer’s shoulders. How exacting the dog is relies on the training method used. A tracking dog will work anywhere from nose directly in footsteps, as in some stylized competitions, to nose down working within a narrow path, moving along briskly with purpose. Tracking dogs are used in competition, law enforcement, search and rescue, and wildlife tracking.
A Trailing Dog follows ground and wind blown scent. Depending on air currents this dog may be exactly where someone walked to many feet away, usually down wind of the actual subject’s travel. This dog utilizes tracking, trailing, and air scenting. A reasonable understanding of air currents is necessary to read these dogs and reinforce them being close to the path travelled without an excessive amount of casting. This type of dog is used in law enforcement, search and rescue (sometimes referred to as Man Trailing, or Man Tracking), and wildlife or lost pet detecting.
There are a lot of nuances and occupations that have been left out in these definitions. In the posts on this page I keep pushing knowing where your track is. Whether you track or trail it is essential to be able to read your dog. You should be able to easily tell how close you are to the actual track by body position, head carriage, speed and quality of movement.
