Adding Trailing to what we do

As a continual learner, I have been following mantrailing for several years, gravitating to sites like K9 Manhunters that show what I’d also call – great tracking! The handling of the dogs with more freedom and the knowledge of how scent moves appeals to me.

Photo Gallery of the November 11-12 Trailing Seminar – Click here to view the teams at work!

The logo image above is my German Shepherd Gem von Wendelin, or Micah. I have been trailing with her for a few years now (since Winter 2021 when the photo was taken, trailing at an industrial park!

Our Trailing Story

Every great journey begins with a story. Ours is no different. In 2021 our training circle embarked on a mission to add new ideas to our training program, experimenting with article starts and split trails, along with incorporating more line and allowing our dogs to investigate where scent WENT rather than enforce nose down in situations where the track was aged, or where we knew it would move due to conditions.

For many years before this, I have been teaching handlers to use scent pools and understand scent cones and scent movement, especially on hard surface. Finding like-minded groups and trainers, who have established trailing methods (such as GAK9) has validated things I’ve done and observed. Clearly, observation and experience lead us all down the same path, enabling our dogs to work at their best, and learning from what they show us.

This quest has since grown into the recent creation of Trailing to enhance what Spiritdance Tracking & Coaching offers to passionate trackers. Thanks to the hard work, dedication, and unwavering support of our circle, we held our first Trailing Seminar a few weeks ago to discover what we already can do, differences between trailing and tracking, and how this will benefit us going forward.

Our Vision

Our vision is to be better trackers. It’s pretty simple! We aspire to pass tests in sport tracking (CKC field and urban, AKC for some of us too). We also hope to bring a seminar to Alberta, Canada in 2024. By then we hope to be fluent enough that the presenter can help us to tweak and improve, so we can also aspire to trailing certifications. Some of our group are interested in Search and Rescue too, and I love to work with SAR trackers to assist with their tracking validations.

Our Approach

We have chosen to follow Georgia K9 – GAK9 as our guiding star on this journey, but are also looking to see what we can learn from the many other mantrailing groups that train elsewhere. Since we work with all breeds and mixed breeds, we are not focused on the specialized trailing of hounds that most people associate the word ‘trailing’ with.

We are interested in the GAk9 approach because Jeff Schettler’s methods are successful and resonate with our desire to allow dogs freedom to find the scent, yet they follow close to or on the primary track where the scent allows. The program laid out in his books helps us to set goals and the videos and webinars he and others- especially Christoph Rosenberger, Dogs at Work – help us to understand things even better.

We are not affiliated with any mantrailing organization aappreciate all resources, examples the books and the online training, being so far away in Alberta, Canada. We are mostly a small group of enthusiasts with hopes and dreams, working towards our goals of better tracking, and trailing!

Tracking & Trailing Classes and Seminars

Seminars and Lessons will continue through the winter with the hope of being ready for a mock trailing test this spring! In addition, we train to be ready for spring CKC tests! Lessons will offer both trailing and tracking, according to each student’s goals and where they are at with skill development.

Lessons are held throughout the winter on Sunday afternoons between 2 – 5 p.m. in the Calgary to Olds area, Alberta with a maximum of 5 people working together for 2-3 hours.