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Yeah you going yep hey guys as your Shield canine today i’m going to tell You guys Why tracking is the most entertaining Form of dog training out there i’m going To explain to you why igp tracking is The ball all right now i know a lot of You are looking at me cross-eyed you Guys are going to be like you guys are Saying what are you talking about it’s Like watching paint dry it’s so boring And i counter with so is golf until you Understand the rules of golf that’s why Golf such has has such a cult following Because if you don’t know what you’re Looking at you watch it yeah you go to Sleep but if you know what you’re Looking at then it becomes a lot more Entertaining because the Aspect of competition comes into play in My opinion igp tracking is the most Complicated form of canine tracking to Teach because it’s so specific and it Requires a somewhat unnatural level of Micro focus on the track that you don’t See in any other style of track but i Know you guys don’t really understand What you’re looking at so i’m going to Explain to you but here for me the best Part of it is number one You can see a lot about a dog when you Watch him or her trap you can tell a lot About the quality of the dog the genetic Quality of the dog when you watch him or
Her track And you can see a lot about the trainer And what the trainer is capable of doing In their tracking when you watch a dog Track in the igp style so The best part about it though is on a Given day on trial day you get to go Take all the work that you’ve done with Your dog and compete against other Trainers that have done that kind of Work as well with their dog you get to See whose training is best you get to See whose dog is best of course every Dog has his or her day there’s dogs That’ll have a bad day and dogs will Have a good day believe me i’ve been There too right but there’s nothing Better than coming out of that track Getting that hundred point score getting That high in tracking I did get that with onyx igp2 100 points And it was a really really good day for Me so I am going to give you guys the bare Bones how does it work what should you Be looking for so this is my little Diagram here okay now i know I released that little video of me and Carson on our dogs gage and basketball Tracking yesterday i’m gonna lick that Video right and you can watch this first And then kind of go back to that video And watch that and i released that video I knew it wasn’t going to be that
Exciting because i know a lot of people Are just like boring tracking what the Hell is going on i don’t get it whereas With obedience or protection it’s a Little bit more obvious what’s going on So i’m going to give you guys the bare Bones what is igp also formerly known as Shudsun in case you’re wondering what The hell i’m talking about with Hydroplaning traffic what does it Involve very barebones explanation here Okay so these little circles are Footsteps All right now there’s an igp1 an igp2 And an igp3 okay every dog when you Trial well technically you get your bh Which is a temperament test and uh Basically test first then you start Climbing the levels until you’re at igp3 When you’re at igp3 you are then Eligible to compete in higher Competitions with your dog as long as You gain qualifying scores and you can Go all the way up to the wusb or the fci World or or the fmvp world championships Okay so there’s a lot of different International championships that you can Compete at regional championships and National championships But generally you need to be at the igp3 Level to compete in those kind of Games but getting to i23 is actually not That it is difficult but it’s from my Perspective not that difficult it’s
Competing at that level in the higher Trials that’s really really difficult so Igb3 traffic this purple marker is going To represent the dog we’ve got footsteps So this is what um footsteps look like Roughly okay Uh and this is just a part of an igp An igp track the tracks range anywhere From 200 paces to 5 to six hundred paces If you’re getting an fh title it’s a Thousand paces okay so they can be quite Long they involve multiple quarters Multiple articles but just in an igp one For instance it’s gonna be only 200 Paces and I think it’s two articles now they Always change the rules it’s hard to Remember but they tried to make it Really easy in the one because it’s just A basic breeding title and um you know They don’t want to make it super Complicated but once you get up to i2v3 Especially when you’re in the higher Level competitions tracking is quite Complex it involves you know four or Five corners so on so forth so These are the footsteps How is the dog Pointed what should the dog be doing so This is the start all right now i didn’t Put really a flag let’s pretend this is The flag right here okay so there’s Going to be a little flag right there in The ground
Okay The handler is going to bring their They’re going to check in with the judge They’re going to bring their dog up to The first footstep okay Or the first the descent pad that’s what They call this part here okay and then The dog is going to be given the command To track and the dog needs to start Tracking right from here and the dog Needs to stay In this In this in these footsteps okay and he Is being judged By how tightly he holds to the footsteps But It gets a little more complicated he Can’t just be in the footsteps How deep is his nose Right is his speed As he’s tracking is it a consistent Speed or is he getting faster or slower Is he rushing okay Is he going is he doing like a big snake Where he’s coming in and out of the Footsteps Right is he doing one of these is he Blowing corners and doing big circles And coming back and how tight is he Adhering to this track right Is he blowing like in the high levels if He goes i know now it’s getting a little Messed up so i’m going to change colors Here right
At the corner is he blowing over the Corner and then coming back or is he Staying deep in the track Right where’s his nose is his nose in The ground or is his nose elevated is His nose in the ground then elevated Than in the ground all these things Matter the ideal picture is a dog Showing very strong concentration okay His nose low in the trap as deep as Possible okay you also here’s the other Thing right because in back in the day People said okay i need to make that Picture so what do they do they put a Lot of pressure on the dog So the dog would track but he tracked Scared right you could see like he was There but he’s like oh i better not Screw up because if i screw up Bad things are going to happen so you Could see a very tight body language the Tail was down sometimes it was even Tucked right in some cases not in all Cases The ideal picture is a dog that’s free And open now on the now in modern igp if Your dog looks close especially in the Higher competitions you can even be Disqualified You want the dog needs to look free and Open in the tracking Right There’s a level of concentration of Course every dog is different right some
Dogs The body language is just naturally they Have a lot more concentration especially When they’re doing something like Tracking and some dogs have a more Natural open body language but you have To be very careful if your dog looks Stressed on the track it’ll a cost you Points or b can even get you Disqualified so a lot using a lot of Pressure and tracking has definitely not Disappeared people still do it i do it But you have to be careful with how you Do it you have to make sure you’re doing It in a way that’s balanced so that your Dog doesn’t get you disqualified or look Miserable on track okay So that’s one thing the body language so The mechanical the skill okay of the dog Is important the body language Of the dog I’m not going to know what’s called body Language okay you guys get it the body Language of the dog is super important So We want to see a dog that’s deep we want To see a dog that’s detailed that Adheres to this track as much as Possible that doesn’t blow corners and It stays on the track and then Here’s the last thing there are articles Small pieces of leather small pieces of Wood small pieces of felt In igp3 there are three articles and two
I believe or sorry in igp one there’s Only two articles okay and that’s those Red x’s that i put now in my very messed Up track okay so when your dog reaches An article The dog should indicate on the article Without bothering the article so he’s Not allowed to dig at it or bump it or He should see the art he should indicate On the article Ideally he goes into a plots right and Down and waits on the article the Article right between his front paws And his body language pointed at the Article but not bothering the article if He bothers the article it’ll cost you Points when you get into the upper Levels okay so you want to see a dog That clearly indicates the article you Don’t want a dog that blows over the Articles right because those articles Are worth a lot of points and you don’t Want a dog that indicates in a messy way It costs you points in your indication So the articles are very important i Can’t exactly remember the point Structure It’s very the articles are actually like So if you miss an article it’s a lot of Points it’s the most points i think that You could lose um in any one go but the Other thing is How detailed your dog is on the track You can get all three articles and still
Get an 80 score if your dog is wandering In and out of the track right if your Dog’s blowing corners and doing loops Especially in the higher levels where They point you a lot The judges have very sharp pencils okay So if you’re watching a dog track What do you want to see all right You want to see the skills of the dog All right you want to see a dog that’s Deep that’s concentrating but showing a Nice open body language you want to see A dog that’s that’s Making those corners you want to see a Dog that’s indicating on articles and Most importantly from my perspective i Want to see a dog that indicates when He’s off odor right so this is the track Right Footstep footstep footstep footstep and You can see with a lot of dogs they’ll Actually check their nose as they’re Going boom boom boom boom okay When he reaches a corner especially if The track layer maybe made the corner a Little bit uh with with wider steps he’s Gonna go boom boom And he’ll check here but there’s no odor Here so what he should do is immediately Stop Check to the sides and say oh there it Is and then boom boom boom boom boom Boom okay and get tracking now what he Should do and what often happens or
Sometimes two different things tracking Conditions can change In some competitions it’s dirt in some Competitions it’s like a crappy hay Field like a mixture of mud and dry Grass and dirt those ones really suck And then in some competitions it’s Beautiful sod and in some competitions There’s a lot of rain there’s so many Different factors there in some Competitions it’s hills like your dogs Tracking up and down hills and over Ditches and all sorts of things so There are a lot of different factors Into what what kind of conditions you Are going to deal with on a track but Here’s why i love it i’m a very Competitive guy so number one this is Not Most dogs if you train them their Natural tracking behavior is a Combination A combination of air scenting where They’re lifting their head and taking Taking the air and also um you know Tracking for disturbance in the ground This is not there there’s no air scent In here the dog needs to be completely In the ground now i’ve heard a lot of Police officers say the dogs they get That have been started in this system Are some of the best Most detailed trackers they ever have so I know a lot of people it’s not real
It’s not Igp is not about what’s real it’s about Pushing the envelope and getting into The most complex Form of training and it’s not functional Training it’s super complex and because It’s so complex and it’s so difficult And every little minutiae is judged it Pushes training to the utmost limit Right you can get away with sloppy Tracking if you’re just you know Training a dog to trail somebody and It’s not that it’s easy and it’s not That i’m discounting it i’m just saying It’s a lot easier than this and again It’s not a competition right it could be An internal competition but it’s not a Competition this you’ve got 100 points Okay you got 100 points to lose when you Start your track So The other guys that are all tracking With you also have 100 points to lose And we in the end we see who who loses The least amount of points and walks Home with that trophy i love competition I think it is the father of innovation It is the father of development in any Kind of skill or activity and that’s why I love competing with my dogs and it Teaches you it humbles you you go out There and you i’m the you know i’m the my dog is the we’re gonna go And we’re gonna trial and then you walk
Away sometimes with well often times you Walk away with your head down a little Bit because you’re like today i was not Today my training did not hold up today My dog did not hold up Right and you stop it brings your ego Down a little bit i find a lot of Trainers that don’t compete they don’t Put themselves out there they don’t Compete with other trainers right And they use excuses oh that’s just Sport or oh it’s not real Whatever go compete otherwise shut up Because you don’t really know how good You are until you compete and you stack What you do up against what other people Do Okay so it’s not just about likes on Social media it’s about getting out There and Instead of running your mouth running Your dog so i really enjoy igp tracking Um you know there’s some stuff i’m Experimenting with that i haven’t tried Before Because i’m just trying to get that i’m Just trying to dial it in even more even More you’re always pushing the envelope Because you want to be better than the Next guy what got you 100 points five Years ago will not get you 100 points Now Right the sport is always evolving so This is my little spiel on igp tracking
Why i like it why i think it’s awesome And maybe it’ll help you when you’re Watching a dog trap it’ll tell you a lot About the dog because especially in the High levels you know that dog was Subjected to pressure how does he take The pressure what does he look like when He gets lost a little bit on the track When the tracking when there’s some Adversity does he fall apart does he Quit Right maybe there was too much pressure In the training or maybe he’s a super Strong dog he tracks with his with his Tail touching his back and he’s still Very detailed and powerful right There’s a lot of things to look for What’s his hunt drive like you know how Much the dogs that are tracking and They’re like tracking and then they stop And they lift their head and look around They try tells me a little bit about the Intensity yes the training probably Maybe wasn’t always the best but it also Tells me a little bit about the natural Intensity that the dog has for track Because i’ve seen a lot of dogs with not The greatest tracking Um training but super intense on the Track because the dog has a very high Level of hunting drive he finds the Active tracking very rewarding finding The food on the track there’s no food in Competitions by the way there’s no
Rewards of any kind in the competition But of course in the training we use Food some people use bulk there’s a lot Of different ways to go about it so i Hope you guys understand a little bit More about tracking and you’re starting To get a little bit interested in the Complexity involved in training the trap And very soon i’m going to be trying my Dog carson’s going to be trialling his Dog and we’re going to tell it and we’re Going to televise that for you guys i’m Going to video that for you guys so you Guys can kind of get a little bit of an Example of what’s going on i also have a Little video of my dog onyx in his igp2 Track right where he earned a hundred Points and uh i think i’ll release that Two on youtube uh in our igp3 for those Of you wondering my dog was tracking Very well but at one corner he went wide Instead of deep and tight and on that That wideness cost me six points so we Got a score of 94. Okay So and probably if i was in an International competition that i would Have i would have probably been at like 88 or something Right so just so you guys kind of get an Idea What what mistakes cost you anyways guys Thanks for watching like subscribe Comment below give me some ideas what do
You guys want to see and don’t ask me For stuff i’ve already shown you know People are always giving me asking me About things that i’ve already done Videos on go back and look at our Library you know if you a lot of these These videos about you know making a dog Fight for real you know obedience Training how we train our protection Dogs it’s all over our channel ask me Something different um And if you want to trade with us you can Train with us online we have a suite of Courses that are available and we’re Going to be adding more soon shield Canine dot ca check us out oh one quick Word about my sponsor um eric outdoor Usa they make these training pants that You see me wearing of course they’re Always dirty because i’m always training In them check them out Ericoutdoorusa.com Fantastic training gear i really like to Wear it when i train my docs it stands Up well to all the punishment Thank you for watching