Get Cracking with Tracking

 

Get Cracking with Tracking is a Dogtaggs programme designed to result in quality tracking from behaviourally minded techniques.

 

The aim of the teaching approach is mindful behaviour in handlers. Mindful handling creates an environment which makes space for dogs to experience agency.

Agency in this case means that the dog perceives itself as in charge of the goal of solving the problem presented by a track.

Giving dogs an opportunity to exercise control over their lives whilst tracking means that the track will be completed in the most efficient means-end way possible. The sense of self control is good for the dog s/he has a chance to monitor the environment by themselves, selecting their own course of action. As dogs choose to investigate and follow the track, other behaviour is abandoned, so the dog is the architect of his/her own situational learning. This is a firm foundation for emotional behaviour change. In other words, it can help with behaviour issues.

 

Mindful handling creates an environment which helps people to experience a new dimension of the relationship with their dog.
Relationship means the way in which handlers and their dogs feel and behave towards each other.

 

By teaching handlers to concentrate on somatosensory sensation experienced as they learn non-invasive handling of the line, (what the line feels like and what it's doing) the dog's agency is preserved.

As dog and person track together, the line becomes a channel through which the dog can effectively communicate. By learning to feel and respond the handler introduces predictable behaviour to the relationship.

Reliability in the ability of each party develops, this is usually called trust. This too is a firm foundation for deeply bonded human-animal relationships.

 

Get Cracking with Tracking is founded on 6 x 1 day workshops which progress through a series of drills and exercises to help participants isolate and experience different aspects of touch, balance and proprioception. These are the skill areas that make for great handling of the tracking line.

 

Who is Get Cracking with Tracking for? Everything we do at Dogtaggs is totally suitable for the family dog accompanied by one family member. If you’re the partner of a dog that challenges you, this will be good for you. If you find yourself playing ‘catch up’ with the thinking and doing speed of your dog, this will be good for you. If you just want to learn how to do some great tracking. This is for you.

 

If you’re a dog trainer looking to invest in something to turn around, repackage and pass straight on to other dog owners, this is probably not for you. This work is personal consumption only, the investment is time, reward and practice in your own relationship with your own dog.

 

Maximum four participants

Payment Plan available

 

Please email hello@dogtaggs.co.uk if you have any questions