What is it?

Tracking is the development of the natural ability of a dog to recognize and follow human scent. You have undoubtedly noticed that whenever

your dog goes outside his nose is on the ground, following the scent of someone or something that has touched or crossed the course of your path or just investigating any visitors to the dog’s territory.

In sport tracking we take that natural ability and drive and with training we teach the dog to follow only one particular scent at a time.

Who Can Participate?
The sport is open to all breeds of dogs, even those that are spayed or neutered. It is a non-competitive sport - there are no scores in tests, only pass or fail.

Golden Retrievers excel at tracking, which is not surprising given the characteristic prey drive that has been bred into them over the years. That same desire to retrieve birds enables them to focus on pursuing a trail of human scent with the goal of attaining access to a particular target, be it a leather glove or an actual person at the end of the track.

How Do I Get Started?

Tracking is a great sport for anyone who enjoys being outdoors with their dogs. Because the dog must be on a lead or a long line at all times it can be done in public parks and urban areas as well as in the country and field locations.

What If I Want To Compete?

You will need to be aware of the rules and requirements for tracking tests. Rules for CKC tests may be purchased from the Canadian Kennel Club or downloaded from the CKC website if you are a CKC member.

Rules for AKC tracking tests may be downloaded from:

http://www.akc.org/index.cfm?nav_area=homepage

A good resource for finding when and where tests are being held in both countries is:

http://www.dogbiz.com

There are more tests per year held in B.C. than in any other province with clubs on Vancouver Island, the Interior and in Prince George supplementing the three clubs in the Greater Vancouver Area that traditionally host tests. However access to land is always the determining factor as to how many tracks are offered in each test and there are usually more entrants than there are tracks available.

What Titles Can My Dog Earn?

There are four tracking titles offered by the Canadian Kennel Club: Tracking Dog (TD), Tracking Dog Excellent (TDX), Urban Tracking Dog (UTD) and Urban Tracking Dog Excellent (UTDX). Any dog who passes all four levels will be designated a Tracking Champion and can display the letters TCh in front of its name.

There are three tracking titles offered by the American Kennel Club:

Tracking Dog (TD),

Tracking Dog Excellent (TDX) and Variable Surface Tracking  (VST). Any dog who passes all three levels will be designated a Champion Tracker and can display the letters CT in front of its name.

Where Can I Find Out More About This?

For more information contact: shighton@shaw.ca