Hereford Mantrailing

08/11/2024

Mantrailing is the ultimate mental workout for dogs—watching them navigate a trail, then curl up, tired and content, is the best proof of a job well done. It's the perfect way for them to burn energy and engage their minds!

What Skylar is so beautifully demonstrating in this photo is exactly what we aim to achieve in every session.

07/11/2024

What an incredible session we had on Tuesday at a new venue that turned out to be a Mantrailer's dream! 🤩 With a mix of gates, outbuildings, varied terrain, and some animal distractions (hello, ducks, chickens, and horses 🦆🐔🐴), there were so many exciting scent pictures for the dogs to work through. We even ventured into buildings, which made for some extra fun challenges!

🐕 Sprout nailed his first scent article start! He showed great focus when navigating a tricky scent pool around a tennis court and good resilience when searching a barn. 🏅
🐕 Griff had a blast solving his trail, and in true detective style, he uncovered his trail layer hiding under camo! 😆 In his second trail, he had to work through not one but TWO scent pools—one of them aged—putting his scent discrimination skills to the test. Despite the challenges, he pushed through and found his trail layer back at the cars! 🚗
🐕 Toska discovered a new love: tuna! 🐟 She was so motivated and made confident decisions in this session—definitely a breakthrough in her trailing journey! 🌟
🐕 Skylar worked through all her trails with determination, but the highlight was when she had to eliminate a decoy that was very close to her trail layer's hide. It was a great test of her problem-solving skills! 🔍
🐕 Bash showed off scent tracking skills by trailing his furrier targets with precision and persistence, even in tricky situations. 🧠

A huge thank you to for opening up their beautiful venue and hosting us. We’re already looking forward to returning—stay tuned for upcoming sessions, and be sure to grab a spot when they open up!

Such a fantastic session with an awesome group of people and dogs.

See you at the next one 😊

04/11/2024

Yesterday’s mantrailing session with a trio of lovely Labradors and their handlers was set against the beautiful backdrop of the Malvern Hills. The mist and ferns made it feel like we were in a scene straight out of Jurassic Park! 🦖

We had a great time hiding the trail layers in the bracken, giving the dogs a fun challenge and giving them an opportunity to work their noses right up until they reached the trail layer!

✨ Poco completed a 540m uphill trail! This longer trail gave his handler a good opportunity to watch his body language when he was on and off the trail. Smashed it!
✨ Once Luna set off on her trail, she was confident in her decision-making, which made finding her trail layer a breeze! The terrain also gave us evidence she was using her nose rather than eyes to find her trail layer.
✨ Gus embarked on a 450m trail. It was great to watch him come into proximity and see an increased focus set in 💪

Lovely session! See you at the next one 😊

03/11/2024

Dottie would like to thank Luna for generously sharing her chicken and sausage food rewards out trailing in Hereford this morning! 😆

03/11/2024

Another fab day over with this super gang at Clifford Dog Training home of Puppy School Gloucester yesterday!

We saw some super work from the teams in what proved to be a really challenging environment for our newer teams in the morning and the more experienced teams in the afternoon session really demonstrated how they’ve progressed over the past weeks! 🤩

Wide open spaces, surfaces changes, bit of urban, lots of rural, multiple dog walkers, kids playing football, we had it all and our dogs excelled!

Top job teams!

Vic ✌️

01/11/2024

🏆 October's Mantrailing Dog of the Month 🏆

Meet Lucy, an amazing tri-colour Border Collie, who began her mantrailing journey with us at in November 2023!

Adopted from after being found as a stray, it quickly became clear that Lucy had faced many challenges in her past. With little training and limited exposure to everyday experiences, her fears and anxieties made walks daunting and car rides difficult. To make matters worse, her owners, Helen and Charlie, had to navigate some aggressive behaviours as well.

In their search for a rehabilitation activity that would provide Lucy with mental stimulation without excessive exercise, they discovered Mantrailing. This incredible sport gives Lucy a “job” that helps her focus on something positive, distracting her from overwhelming noises that frighten her. It has truly been a game changer for Lucy and her family!

Over the past year, Lucy and Helen have attended around 30 sessions together, and the transformation has been remarkable. Lucy’s resilience has grown immensely; her tolerance for noise has improved significantly, and she now recovers from “noise upsets” much more quickly. Most importantly, the bond between Lucy and Helen has deepened, giving Lucy a greater sense of security in fearful situations.

Lucy’s mantrailing journey has been a joy to witness. From a timid little dog to a confident trailing champion who, this month, successfully navigated a 400m urban night trail — even with distracting noises along the way.

We couldn’t be prouder of how far she has come, and she truly deserves this month’s spotlight!

🐾🖤🤍🤎

30/10/2024

Little Gregory fancied a lie in. And then, suddenly, Mantrailing was mentioned!

29/10/2024

🌟🐾 Exciting News, Everyone! 🐾🌟

We’re thrilled to kick off something special in our community: the "Mantrailing Dog of the Month" award! 🎉

Every month, we’ll be showcasing one outstanding mantrailing dog who has truly impressed us with their incredible scent-tracking skills and teamwork with their handler. Each session, we’re amazed by how these pups use their powerful noses to solve scent challenges and locate their hidden person. 🐶❤️

But that’s not all! At the end of each quarter, one of our monthly honorees will win a £10 voucher to use at future sessions! 🎫

Get ready, because we’ll be announcing our very first "Mantrailing Dog of the Month" this Friday! Keep your eyes peeled for this celebration of our furry heroes! 👀✨

25/10/2024

🚨 Mantrailing Enthusiasts, Unite! 🚨

This week, we kicked off our first video analysis session with Oksana, diving into four captivating case studies that explored various aspects of Mantrailing. Let’s just say, our minds were thoroughly blown!

If you're passionate about enhancing your Mantrailing skills, join us for Trail Flicks Episode 002! We’ll retrace another selection of trails from our community to gain deeper insights into trailing behaviour and the decisions our dogs make along the way.

🗓️ Mark your calendars for Wednesday, November 27th, at 7PM for our next online session. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to elevate your understanding of Mantrailing with video clarity!

🤓🎥🍿

23/10/2024

Today we had an absolute blast in Malvern with a great bunch of dogs and handlers! There were distractions galore... traffic, children, dogs, low flying aircraft... you name it. Despite this, all of the dogs were able to focus on the game and find their rewards.

🌞 What an awesome chap Gregory is! Today we saw him eliminate a group of children playing and cast himself to recover the trail. Clever lad!
🌞 Skylar was a very happy girl today. She did some lovely junction work and her very first road crossing with ease.
🌞 We set some quite challenging trails for Toska today. The wind was not in her favour on these trails, which meant that we got to see some very different trailing behaviour from her. Despite the complexity, she worked the problem nicely. Well done!
🌞 Rio had to deal with some distractions at the start of his trail; however, this didn't stop him from picking up the trail and finding his trail layer successfully. He also practiced finding trail layers hidden in plain sight. Top job!

This was a great session where handlers and dogs got to level up their training!

See you on the next one 😊

21/10/2024

Sunday morning - wet and cloudy woodland, Sunday evening - sunny and CRAZY windy semi rural, Monday morning - over cast and windy rural with wide open spaces. Such a variety of trailing environments and, as always, a fantastic bunch of dogs and handlers out. 😊

We welcomed new trailer Max, the super sniffy border collie, whose focus was fantastic by the end of his first session. Top job Max!

Both days we were treated by Helen & Charlie to array of goodies to celebrate border collie Lucy turning 7! Happy Birthday Lucy!
Pretty sure it’s the first time we’d all feasted from dog activity feeders! They work for their rewards so why shouldn’t we! 😆

Fancy giving it a try?! Drop us a DM ☺️

Vic ✌️

20/10/2024

This will be a fab day, and right here in our favourite county!
Get signed up! 😄

Please click on the class you'd like to book, click select and then click view selection to proceed to payment and complete booking. Please note that by booking sessions you are accepting the cancellation policy: - Cancellations within 48hrs of the event are non-refundable. - Cancellations within 14...

19/10/2024

It was GSD-tastic at our morning session in Malvern this morning! Along with Jarvis, our honorary shepherd for the session, each of the dogs worked their trails beautifully!

🍂 Skylar was a clever girl! She worked steadily to find her trail layer alongside a road and also came across her first walking trail layer.
🍂 Zack showed us some very nice decision-making on his longer trail and did a great job eliminating a walking decoy.
🍂 Cai was super smiley girl today. Using intensity starts increased her motivation and she found her trail layer in double quick time!
🍂 Griff did a cracking job on his casting exercise and aced his spilt trail.
🍂 Jarvis confidently eliminated multiple exits on a tricky junction and aged trail!

Really enjoyed this session. It was fab!

See you at the next one 😊

18/10/2024

Grab a spot on our Halloween Trick, Treat or Trail session, 27th Oct! 9am - 1:30pm, near Ledbury.🎃 👻
Themed fun open to all experience levels.
We love quirky so don’t miss out! 😄
To book, hop on the link in the comments, or drop us a line with any queries 💀

16/10/2024

We had a fab session at The Nest at Little Verzons Farm yesterday with 3 great new teams and 2 ‘old ones’……that’s you Jacki & Penny! 😂

Our new teams worked on building confidence, motivation and focus with really noticeable progress over the session! Rubble, Ludo & Doris all showed real enthusiasm for the game and teams started to get to grips with working little junctions before finds.

Whilst the trails for Rip were set to deliver some problem solving challenges including some clever (if I don’t say so myself! 😄) use of the wind and environment, Penny & Sparky concentrated on hitting assessment criteria and stepping into the realms of a silent instructor with zero coaching along the trail.

Wonderful to have such a mixed bag of breeds working! Rip the Hanovarian, Sparky the Border Collie, 2 breed firsts for us - Rubble the Mini Schnauzer and zippy little Shetland Sheepdog Ludo with beautiful Springer Doris giving Vic her gundog fix 😍

New friends made, a spot of lunch for those not rushing off and a thoroughly successful session all round! Good work gang! 🤩

Vic ✌️

14/10/2024

Yes this morning was damp and miserable, and yes I fell over in the mud, but it was also Oksana’s birthday! We had cake, we had dogs, we had a great time!

The wind made our dogs work hard as scent was pushed in crazy directions around buildings and alleyways and then out across vast open spaces…..they’ll sleep well!

Passing traffic, other humans and dogs and areas becoming contaminated by our own scent added to today’s challenges.

Vic ✌️

14/10/2024

Oh my goodness!!!! Emma, Amber & Douglas bringing a bit of brightness to a dreary morning in Ledbury! 😄

11/10/2024

Yesterday was a crisp, cool evening where the light dropped off quickly at our evening session in Malvern. We trailed under the beautiful Northern Lights and there was certainly something magical in the air. After a warm-up, each of the dogs worked a longer trail with road crossings. Of course, all teams worked really well 🤩

🐾 Luna showed us a hoppity-skip behaviour, which we now know means that the trail layer is very close by.
🐾 Oscar made some really nice decisions around a fence and gate barrier on his 290m trail.
🐾 Lucy worked her 400m trail fantastically, despite several very loud noises occurring at various points on her trail. This is a testament to the resilience that she has developed through her training.

Well done, all!

See you at the next one 😊