# Tracking question



## Nataliee (Jul 25, 2011)

Harry started out really good at tracking, really intense & at a good speed. 
A few months ago after one not so great track where he was a bit slow & distracted the trainer put a ball at the end of it and since then I've had issues with him rushing the tracks. 
I know you don't get marked down for the speed but the problem is he is sometimes making mistakes. 
Just wondering if anyone has any ideas I can try or can recommend anyone who may be able to help?


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

Nataliee said:


> Harry started out really good at tracking, really intense & at a good speed.
> A few months ago after one not so great track where he was a bit slow & distracted the trainer put a ball at the end of it and since then I've had issues with him rushing the tracks.
> I know you don't get marked down for the speed but the problem is he is sometimes making mistakes.
> Just wondering if anyone has any ideas I can try or can recommend anyone who may be able to help?


Not sure what, if any discipline you are interested in or if this is just for fun, I would remove the toy at the end of the track as that just results in the ends being more important than the means. Also you can lay serpentines to slow the dog down and put food in the footprints.


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## Nataliee (Jul 25, 2011)

smokeybear said:


> Not sure what, if any discipline you are interested in or if this is just for fun, I would remove the toy at the end of the track as that just results in the ends being more important than the means. Also you can lay serpentines to slow the dog down and put food in the footprints.


Thanks, I will try just doing serpentines for now then, I have always put food in the heel & toe off the footprint & he used to check each footprint carefully but he's not doing it as well now & is missing loads of food. 
I am doing IPO with him, he's only 9 months so IPO1 is a while away. The ball was only put on the track once, I did think it didn't seem like a good idea & he's been rushing the tracks ever since


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

I had problem with my young dog being too enthusiastic, rushing the track & making mistakes. Smokeybear ran a tracking course (theory) recently & it was fantastic, lots of problems were discussed & how to manage them. Following this I started laying serpentines & circles instead of straight legs which made a massive improvment. I also started doing short legs with lots of corners which again made him focus more, my dog seemed to think he knew what he was doing & wanted to do it at 100mph .... which then resulted in mistakes so he needed to slow down a bit

Another problem was also having a more controlled start to the track so I went back to the beginning, practised getting this right before I then started practising on the track itself.


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## Nataliee (Jul 25, 2011)

Cleo38 said:


> I had problem with my young dog being too enthusiastic, rushing the track & making mistakes. Smokeybear ran a tracking course (theory) recently & it was fantastic, lots of problems were discussed & how to manage them. Following this I started laying serpentines & circles instead of straight legs which made a massive improvment. I also started doing short legs with lots of corners which again made him focus more, my dog seemed to think he knew what he was doing & wanted to do it at 100mph .... which then resulted in mistakes so he needed to slow down a bit
> 
> Another problem was also having a more controlled start to the track so I went back to the beginning, practised getting this right before I then started practising on the track itself.


Thanks, I haven't done circles before so I'll concerntrate on doing circles & serpentines for now & hopefully this will start slowing him down.
I did a little track with him earlier & used my hand to help guide him as I did when I first started tracking with him & this seemed to help. The one I did the other day had lots of corners but he was still trying to do it quickly, he left so much food I let the chihuahuas out the van to finish it off lol they did better than he did


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

Sometimes though we do learn alot form a 'bad track' & it can show us that may we need to rethink certain aspects, not get overly confident, or see how our dogs cope when faced with a problem.


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## Nataliee (Jul 25, 2011)

Have been doing just serpentines for the past few days & he is starting to concentrate a bit better now. 
I went to a new club this weekend and discussed tracking & there are a few other things I've been taught to do at previous club that maybe have caused him to speed up as well, so going to make a few changes and see what happens


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