Online Mentoring: Intermediate Trailing / Tracking Surface Transitions, Contamination, & Distractions
The purpose of this course is to train the dog to work in more complicated environments. We started in wooded or other natural environments and now it’s time to move into a more contaminated condition. As with all of our K9 training, everything is done at the individual dog’s pace and not based on a preconceived notion of what the dog should be able to do. We begin this process with simple hard surface transitions and as the dog progresses, add contamination and distractions.
A detailed instruction to proceed will be given via email.
Course Details
A. Hard Surface Transitions Virtual Classroom/ Hands-on, fieldwork
Jeff will walk you through our trailing hard surface transition program through virtual classroom and/ or video review. Each step will be covered online with plenty of time for Q&A. Once you are ready for the field and your K-9 first trails, Jeff will give you a detailed outline of training steps for your two weeks of training including instructions for videography, video upload, and online Q&A sessions with video review.
Training area: Working in primarily soft surface environments but with street crossings: rural, park areas, low traffic roads
B. Hard Surface Transitions
*First time we change surfaces
Jeff will walk you through several steps of his hard surface transitions phase of training. It is important to understand that scent is now more fluid and the path the dog follows will often deviate from the walking track line. Tracking on hard surface is not about following footsteps as it is scent trails. The most important part of this concept is to understand productive sources of scent or the places your dog will seek scent naturally.
*Instructions for the trail layer
How the trail layer works these initial trails is supercritical. Jeff will assist you and your trail layer in establishing a proper protocol for this portion of the training.
*Instructions on training locations
As with retail sales, location, location, location! Location is everything and without the right environment, success will be fleeting. Jeff will study your training areas to teach you where to start surface changes and where to graduate to!
*Training intervals, repetition, and distance
Jeff will study your dog’s behavior and demeanor to gauge its response to training intervals and repetition as well as the best distance to initially track and then create a training regimen that will maximize results and excitement for the dog.
*Distractions
Urban work or hard surface tracking/ trailing is not really all that difficult for the dog. What is difficult is the distractions of sight sound, and scent in the form of contamination, that distracts it from its mission. Many practitioners concentrate on the surface as a dilemma or problem, while Jeff looks at it from a different perspective. By teaching the dog to work in new places in a clear, tiered fashion, the dog learns to defeat distractions and contamination each step of the way thereby making the hard surface work much easier.
*First trails in town
Once Jeff has you working with distractions, contamination, and your first hard surface drills, he will slowly move you into a more urban-like environment but very slowly. The key is to allow the dog to learn through self-discovery and this can only happen with a simple, tiered system of training.
*Online exam with certification
Once you’ve completed all of Jeff’s virtual classroom and fieldwork you can sit down for the final part of your trailing theory journey. The final certification is through our University Portal where you will take a 60 multiple choice and essay-style question exam. Then, with an 80% passing rate, graduate with your certificate of completion and a clear path to advanced urban trailing.
*Your own DropBox Folder
We will set you up with your own Dropbox folder that will give both you and Jeff, concurrent access to all of your training videos and map overlays. We will maintain this folder for you until course completion where you will have the opportunity to download everything you have completed.
*Personal Coaching
Jeff will schedule periodic classroom time with you which may include, slide shows, map overlay review, and training video review. This training will be face to face on your computer screen! You will receive a maximum of four personal coaching sessions for this course. Personal coaching classes are from 20 minutes to a maximum hour long and spread throughout the two-week program. Two hours maximum coaching per week.
*Daily Email Q&A session
You will have the opportunity to send Jeff a daily Email. This email may consist of up to ten questions. Email Q&A is for each training day. There are ten training days in our two-week program.
Online testing for Trailing Imprinting. Training manual is The Tao of Trailing. *Books mailed with Free Shipping in the USA. We pay 50% of your Shipping fees to Europe with normal first-class mail. You will receive a certificate of completion for this and all online exams at our university.