# Hitt



## Ariel Peldunas (Oct 18, 2008)

Hydration Intensified Tracking Training ...has anyone finished a dog using this method? By finished, I mean have a dog that they consider reliable on a realistic length hard surface track with no water spray or food drops.

I trained my dog to track starting with tracking in drive (run aways/trailing), but when I realized she was air scenting too much and unable to follow tracks through open fields or on more difficult surfaces, I went back to footstep tracking. For hard surfaces, I did use moisture to assist by wetting my socks or feet and laying the tracking without shoes. She isn't terribly food motivated and I found I didn't need to use food but by just ensuring the scent was laid more heavily on hard surfaces, it gave her a confidence boost and she tracked pretty well on variable surfaces. 

I experimented with the HITT method, but frankly, I was not convinced I wasn't just teaching the dog to follow a trail of water. I'm not sure why no one seems to question this, especially when I have noticed dogs trained using this method following run offs instead of the track. Scent in a Bottle makes more sense or just walking barefoot or with moist socks (moist enough to leave a print that doesn't evaporate immediately) because I am more confident actual human odor is being deposited. 

From what I understand about how human scent is deposited, skin rafts leave the body in a plume above the head and disperse from there. The heat from our body and convection effect causes the air flow around our body to move from low to high. Unless there is no wind whatsoever, I have a hard time believing that the water in the HITT method can capture any skin rafts considering how they are known to leave the body. 

I would really love to hear some success stories or see some video of dogs trained with this method performing successful hard surface tracks with no spray. Common sense just tells me to question this method. As intriguing as it seems, it also seems like it's too good (easy) to be true.

Comments?


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## Steve Estrada (Mar 6, 2011)

Not familiar with this but I would think that moisture (on the track) holds/contains the scent but I do see your point & certainly consider it valid. Enough for me to throw in my two scents...\\/
P.S. I'd have to consider wet vs light moisture/spray also.


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## Steve Estrada (Mar 6, 2011)

Forgot to mention that I hydrate/give my dog a drink & wipe the face with moist cloth..... Forget a lot lately!


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

I tried the HITT method on hard surface tracks but wasn't really impressed. It seemed a good idea but it was more of a PITA than anything. I also trained a group of civilian dog teams the same way but found that the water trail handicapped the handlers and in the end they wouldn't trust their dogs on unknown tracks. I abandoned the use after that.


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## Dave Colborn (Mar 25, 2009)

Ariel Peldunas said:


> Hydration Intensified Tracking Training ...has anyone finished a dog using this method? By finished, I mean have a dog that they consider reliable on a realistic length hard surface track with no water spray or food drops.
> 
> I trained my dog to track starting with tracking in drive (run aways/trailing), but when I realized she was air scenting too much and unable to follow tracks through open fields or on more difficult surfaces, I went back to footstep tracking. For hard surfaces, I did use moisture to assist by wetting my socks or feet and laying the tracking without shoes. She isn't terribly food motivated and I found I didn't need to use food but by just ensuring the scent was laid more heavily on hard surfaces, it gave her a confidence boost and she tracked pretty well on variable surfaces.
> 
> ...


Skin rafts sitting on the trail of water. hmmm. if they fall out of your pant legs and their temperature is cooler than the surrounding air, then they should just fall. IE 98.6 degree epithelials should hit the ground pretty quick if the air is 98.7 or above. Skin temp is cooler than core temp..Cooler skin rafts with weight should fall if cooler. Seems like it would work in the summer.

I have only seen a few dogs at various stages of training and none finished. I do know dogs can find dope without a toy or stimulation after they are trained. Does it just get extincted and leave the great nose to ground behavior that it instills in the beginning? 

You mention dogs following run offs and not the tracks. were those finished dogs?

Always skeptical, I am of the magic that is training...


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## Chad Byerly (Jun 24, 2008)

I highly recommend joining the HITT yahoo group (for folks working the system who have attended a seminar or watched the DVD). Steve White is on the yahoo group, and he might even still be on this group (?). 

I played with HITT with my last dog, and pretty quickly you spread the spray, run longer tracks, and the wet track fades pretty quick. Also, there are lots of early discriminations/tricks you should do, like spray your line so that when it hits a big crack (or tar line or paint line or whatever) the spray line turns away. Mix visual distractions early, train on wet lots (after rain), etc.

There are lots of foundation steps that you could be skipping. The whole system is just about foundation, and then later it's a way you can split and help one area of problems and bring a training aid back in (and fade it again) to help the dog. 

How long have you been struggling with it? How many others have you trained with whose dogs are distracted by visuals? I'm asking because I'm surprised and found Steve's new system elegantly simple.


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## Ariel Peldunas (Oct 18, 2008)

Chad Byerly said:


> I highly recommend joining the HITT yahoo group (for folks working the system who have attended a seminar or watched the DVD). Steve White is on the yahoo group, and he might even still be on this group (?).
> 
> I played with HITT with my last dog, and pretty quickly you spread the spray, run longer tracks, and the wet track fades pretty quick. Also, there are lots of early discriminations/tricks you should do, like spray your line so that when it hits a big crack (or tar line or paint line or whatever) the spray line turns away. Mix visual distractions early, train on wet lots (after rain), etc.
> 
> ...


Honestly, I didn't put a whole lot of time into training my own dogs with this system because I was skeptical and pleased with the results I had using traditional footstep tracking methods and adding in some moist/sweaty feet when on hard surfaces. 

I've only trained with one other person who used the HITT method and I don't know that every step was done following Steve's method to a T. I purchased Steve's DVDs, watched them and began following the system, but because of the concerns I had with the method, I decided not to continue training using the HITT system. I guess I subscribed to the thinking that I would prefer not to create any undesirable habits that I would have to later extinguish.

As Dave suggested, I did consider that perhaps the water allows the dog to follow a track and create the association between the water spray/food reward and human scent, but I wonder if the tendency to follow water could be avoided by not making that the most obvious factor. Could we have just as much success baiting a track with food that was laid without water. 

I'm certainly not opposed to training a dog using the method if there are people who have used this method and had operational success, but it is incredibly time consuming and tedious and I would hate to put all that time in to learn I had created bad habits I had to spend more time extinguishing. As I mentioned, I am happy with the results I had using more traditional FST and mantrailing training methods. I was also time consuming, but I could tell that my dog was problem solving and focusing on human scent. With the same dog using the HITT method, I felt she was just following water instead of human scent. Additionally, watching videos of Dick Staals' dogs tracking, you can see the concentration and focus and actually see them working scent. I've not seen HITT dogs track like that on hard surfaces ...not saying it's not possible, just that I haven't seen it.

I will join that group because I would definitely like to get some more feedback. I'm not knocking the method, just expressing my skepticism. I am a "see it to believe it" type person.

I should also add, I didn't notice the dogs being distracted by visuals. Honestly, they were using their noses well, just following water and not human scent ...IMO.


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## Chad Byerly (Jun 24, 2008)

Cool.

I also just want to make sure you understand, criteria should be raised quickly as long as the dog is succeeding (80 20 rule, 80% success means make 20% harder). Spreading the spray and longer tracks should lead relatively quickly to dry tracks that have wetter corners or transitions if needed... The system isn't about tracking water lines forever, and also it's important for the water not to have chlorine... Cheers!


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## Ariel Peldunas (Oct 18, 2008)

Chad Byerly said:


> Cool.
> 
> I also just want to make sure you understand, criteria should be raised quickly as long as the dog is succeeding (80 20 rule, 80% success means make 20% harder). Spreading the spray and longer tracks should lead relatively quickly to dry tracks that have wetter corners or transitions if needed... The system isn't about tracking water lines forever, and also it's important for the water not to have chlorine... Cheers!


I was just reading a topic of the HITT Yahoo group that actually brought something else to mind. One trainer notes that she can spray a track for her dog and allow it to evaporate to the point it's not visible and the dog will track fine. Without spray, the dog actively searches for scent but is unable to follow a track without spray. There are also a number of other posts from trainers who encounter a great deal of difficulty on wet pavement even though their dogs are completing fairly difficult tracks on dry pavement with spray. I've always noticed that tracking in wet conditions (as long as it's not currently raining more than a light mist) is much easier than tracking in dry conditions. That little voice in the back of my head keeps telling me to question exactly what odor the dogs are learning to follow.

I'm going to stop looking for things to support my skepticism and look for success stories in that group. Maybe I just need to pick a dog and train it using the HITT method and see what I think. I know what a proficient tracking dog that is actively working a track looks like so I believe if I follow the method, I will know if the dog is tracking human scent or not once the spray is faded.


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## Chad Byerly (Jun 24, 2008)

Well, it's been over 4 years since I played with it. But to what I remember, you go to having the spray in bursts and to just spraying parts of the track. I will be seeing Steve and Jen in a few days, while in Seattle to pick up my new puppy. And I'll chat with them about it since I plan to play with it again...


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## John Simpson (Jul 17, 2011)

Try Dick Staal's method to teach hard surface tracking. I've used both HITT & Staals method. Staals' is by far the best, particualy if your goal is operational police style H/S tracking.


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