How to Make a Dog Track

Training a dog to track involves directing long-ingrained instincts once used by dogs to hunt in packs. Tracking involves combining several kinds of scents to develop a path toward a goal or object. While tracking is easiest to teach when a dog is a puppy, older dogs can still learn this skill with a little extra time and practice.

Things You'll Need

  • Hot dogs
  • Dog toys
  • Ground markers
  • Shoes
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Instructions

    • 1

      Take your dog to a park or any extended grassy area early in the morning to begin training. It is best to start about 5 or 6 a.m. while the air and ground are fresh.

    • 2

      Order your dog to sit or lie still. Cut a hot dog into several inch-long pieces. Work a piece of hot dog into the grass using your shoe so the scents of the grass and hot dog blend, also transferring to your shoe. Walk a straight line away from this point and your dog, dropping a piece of hot dog every 7 feet. At 20 feet, place your dog's toy in the grass with a piece of hot dog resting atop it.

    • 3

      Free your dog from its sitting or lying position and let it begin finding the first hot dog point. Encourage your dog by saying "search" or "find the toy!" Enjoin your dog with "good dog" if it begins to follow the trail, but don't distract it.

    • 4

      Wait for your dog to find the toy and congratulate it if it does. If your dog doesn't succeed, begin the process again until it does. If your dog successfully tracks the toy, retrieve the toy and have your dog stay. Begin the process again in a new direction, taking 10 or 15 steps. This will reinforce this new skill your dog is beginning to acquire.

    • 5

      Increase the distance and complexity of the trails over a series of days and weeks, practicing in the early morning. Use curves and include various familiar objects along the way, training your dog to ignore all but the scent trail, the hot dogs and the final object. Place a hot dog only on the last object. Place markers along the path to observe how accurately your dog is following the trail. Repeated practice will show improvement.