How to teach your Border Collie to track

A Border Collie is a breed of herding dog and it’s instincts or characterisitcs allow you to be able to pail on the workload or different tasks and the dog will enjoy them. Not only that, but they are I intelligent dogs and can be very easily trained. You can teach your dog on how to follow a track or trail on the ground, and also track scents that are in the air. They can be taught to identify scented objects and here are some guidelines on how to teach your Border Collie to track:

It is best to train your Border Collie in an open space, preferably with few people around, so the park in early morning would be a good place to start. To avoid lots of distractions, I would advise that you take plenty of toys and his favorite snacks as to motivate him more.

Firstly, you should get your Border Collie to stay or sit. Get one of his treats or snacks and squash it in, as such, with your feet in to the grass. Make sure that the grass is also squashed, releasing that grassy scent. After you have done that, do it over and over for about thirty paces and then place on of this toys on the ground at the end of the trail. Put a treat on top of it so he knows he has done well when he gets to the end as well. Go back to your Border Collie and entice him to smell the grass where the squashed treat is and command him to look for it.

Let him sniff around for a little bit. If he starts to follow the track, praise him and let him continue. Remember not to get too excited as this may distract your Border Collie and he may just want to play with him. Bear in mind that your Border Collie is an energetic dog and may want to play with you instead of following the trail you have set. You are in control, not him and he must learn that when you set him a task, it must be completed.

By this time, your Border Collie will be following several scents - the scent of the snack, the scent of the grass and your own scent. He will already have memorized your scent as you are his owner. Now he should be combining all three scents in order to find whatever it is that is at the end of the trail. Once he has accomplished this, you should praise him and play with him. You can then try other variations - making the distance longer, moving from left to right etc. You could also try making a rack with different items at the end but make him realize that is the treat you want him to find.

Air scenting requires the dog to find someone, and you will need somebody else to assist you with this. Ask somebody to hold a toy and try to tease your Border Collie. When your has become excited by this, get the other person to hid behind a tree or a bush and leave your dog a few minutes to try and figure out what he should do. Tell him to look for the toy, and as if by magic, he will start looking and should eventually find it.

That is how easy it is to teach your Border Collie to track, all it takes is a little bit of time and patience. Remember that it may take a little while for your Border Collie to get it right, but seeing as he is an intelligent dog, he shouldn’t have too many problems!

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