Sallie

I am starting to teach my puppy to track and would like to know what people prefer to use for tracking? My club uses both and I would like to have Doberman owners preference as we are the only dobe in the club..

Thanks

2RescuedDobies

Hi Sally
I use a bottcher harness on both of mine, but both my boy and girl are 2 1/2. I wouldn't use a choke chain on a pup for fear of inadvertantly giving them a correction. In the beginning I tracked mine on leather collars until they were ready for the bottcher. If your just starting, make sure your really laying the foundation work with the scent pad. Good luck!

Julie W

I use the dead ring on her fursaver. IMO it's really 6 of one 1/2 a dozen of the other. Just whichever you prefer, or if your dog works better on one vs the other.

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bonzo

When tracking you should never put the choke chain on "choke". I think the bottcher harnes is superior to the normal harnes where you lock your line on the dogs back because with a bottcher or just the line under the dog attached you can make a lighter correction when needed because the dog's head will be more to the ground. I bought a normal harness some 20 years ago and I've used it maybe 3 or 4 times in all my life so for me it's something that hangs already a long time in my garage

talentdobe

I also use a fur saver, with the leash attached to any link other than the live one. Regular harnesses encourage the dog to pull too much and go too fast. I have also used a bottcher (sp?) harness on one particular dog, but haven't used it since.

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WorkingInSTL

First of all, are we talking schutzhund (which is my assumption) or AKC ? This will make a difference, because I believe that in AKC, the dog is required to wear a harness in trial (could be wrong...someone please correct me if I am).

shadeslane

Just a question - are you talking tracking for points (Sch or AKC) or tracking for SAR? A simple harness works best for me.
Before all else, tho, you should have absolute obedience so you have control of your dog with no mechanisms. You don't want to accidently give a correction when your dog is trailing well. If you've established "slow" or a similar word, you can get them to ease up a bit without correcting them and losing their drive on the scent.

Rosamburg

Dead link on a fur saver. I no longer even own a harness. If left on for more than a couple of minutes Hara would eat it. She loves the taste of leather! I know this from first hand experience. Besides that I am also too lazy to take them on and off all the time.

Sallie

I am talking Shutzhund.

Thanks for the replies!

robinb

Sallie,

I'd see which the dog works best in. I'm pretty new to the sport and started tracking my boy late last fall, he was 2.5 years at the time I started tracking with him. I actually now rotate between the Bottcher and the fur saver attached to the dead ring. I'm sort of on the fence with which to continue with, and will go with what he works the best in. When I started him I used the fur saver for over 6 months of tracking 4-5 times per week. With a young pup I'd probably use a flat collar.

Robin

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