# trailing articles



## Jennifer Michelson (Sep 20, 2006)

I have started trailing with Griffin. I first did a bit of FST, which he had fun with , but didnt quite get that that he wasnt necessarily searching for a person. Decided quickly that since we wanted to do trailing, just to do trailing. He is very motivated and eager and has done pretty well so far (we keep finding the subject anyway!). 
My question is with articles. Sometimes I have an article at the beginning of the trail and 1 or 2 dropped on the trail. I down Griff at the initial article and ask him to 'check'. He is a very forward and fast dog. He truly believes that he knows better than me and he needs no help or direction.....So getting him to sniff the scent article can be difficult (or maybe not). He will often do a very (extremely)quick sniff and if I insist that he didnt check enough, he will grab the article and either hold it in his mouth or toss it...I have gotten better at trusting that he smelled it, but do want to make sure he has actually sniffed it. Should I just trust him?

I am now working more on scent specific stuff as well as direction of travel. Instead of starting at the beginning of the trail, we come at it from a 90 deg angle (so far he has always picked the correct direction). I have the scent article in a bag, which has made it easier to get him to check, but again if I think he didnt sniff it and ask him again, he tries to take it or wack it with a paw. 

With the scent article on the track, I am not downing him on them yet, but telling him 'good' when he hits them. He was just noting them and continuing, but is now stopping at them and picking them up. I wasnt downing him on the track before because I didnt want to break his rhythm, now that he is breaking it himself, is it time to add the down (we have done articles- he has the command 'find my keys' and downs on things)? 

How do you stop a dog from touching the article? I dont want to add a correction while trailing since this is new. Granted this is a very motivated dog (I think some of the issue is impatience with me not moving fast enough) who knows what the game is, so maybe I am being too wussy...At the beginning of the trail, with the initial scent article, I think that maybe I need to trust that he has the scent and not push it and for the articles on the trail, add the down and praise and restart...Any thoughts?


----------

