Go Find!!

by Glenn Pollock

Tracking is one of the most important and rewarding activities that you can share with your dog. If you enjoy the outdoors, nature and the company of your dog, you should enjoy tracking. Tracking allows the dog to be the guide, since we must follow them and allow them to decide the way. They alone have the power to find what we are unable to see. No one fully understands how a dog is able to follow a track, but I have been told that if a single drop of scent was hidden in the city of London, a dog would be able to sniff out that scent. When the 94 mile Alaskan Pipeline was built, all the available technology and equipment was unable to pinpoint the exact locations of the pipeline leaks. After all else failed, a team of three dogs with handlers were called in. Those three dogs and handlers were able to locate 150 confirmed leaks. One of those leaks was buried 18 feet below the clay surface, and another leak was 12 feet above the ground.

Today we use our canine companion's noses to locate victims of earthquakes, lost children, lost property, to detect cancer, locate drugs and for numerous nosy tasks. The simple command, "Go find," will transport you and your dog to a new, stronger bond. You will learn to "trust your dog." I can not tell you how wonderful it feels when your dog (20 - 40 feet ahead of you, on the tracking line), puts its nose down, pulls into its tracking harness, and guides you on an unseen path directly to a single "lost" glove. The dog is the leader. The dog is allowed to do what nature intended, to sniff, to find and to share the prize with you. I hope that you and your canine companion will: "Go find."