Finding the trail...... or not?

This last week one of our groups worked double blind problems, and what an adventure it turned out to be. We worked seperate trails, and we worked a couple as a group. One trail will go down in our memory for a long time!

One of our members went out for about a five minute walk breaking off trail at the end to find his hiding spot. 

Now, we gave each dog 17 minutes to find him.

5 dogs worked it- and none of them found him.

Why? Besides us thinking he had found his way into the Bermuda Triangle, here are a few of my thoughts.

1. Starting too quick before dog has trail. Meaning we knew where the start was so some of us may have moved too quickly while dog was still searching for trail.

2. Moving too quickly period. If you are moving too quick to respond to what your dog is telling you then you two need to slow down. Running down a trail more than not is a frantic search rather than a dog on trail.

3. Getting a negative and going back before you cast. How far do we go on trail to believe they are on trail?

4. Hot trail- are we working enough of them.

5. There is also that thing we call trusting our dog!

6. Dog's confidence to break off trail- bush whack!

7. Scent pocket. There was a huge area of odor and the dogs had it, yet could not find the trail out of it. Next time I hope to see this myself and take the time to cast around that scent pocket.

8. Time- yes, I think given more time, I believe each one of these dogs would have found him. 

Interesting fact- no two dogs worked it the same. 

The best part of this exercise is all teams were cheering for each other- working together, helping one another out. It was the most fun I have had at a training in a long time. And, that is saying something because I think most trainings are pretty great!

Other thoughts we had after.... 

Be careful how quickly you say someone must of had a car pick up. 

Be patient.

Take a break- think about what you have done and make a plan to cover your places of interest.

Train all ages of trails!

Don't be shy to ask for help.

Wow- that was frustrating, and cool, and frustrating, and so much fun!

And, in the end we called in the support of an air scent dog. She did not have an easy time either but she found him!