Handling your line!

For years now as I have assisted and worked with new handlers, I have requested that they keep their lines tight and off the ground. Now this is very sound advice, but just as the Doctor says take two of these, he does not want you to take the whole bottle. True enough, working behind your dog and keeping the line tight is the start of our trailing dog basics. There will be times one will need to have a loose line and allowing the dog freedom to work an area and make their correct choice as to which way they wish to go.

When working a trailing dog distractions are of course one of our greatest enemies and sadly enough we as a handler are able to create our own distractions. A dog should not feel as a tight line is holding him back and thus we do need to keep it that way. A good trailing dog should have the ambition to pull us to our target and not let something like a tight line detour him from his goal. It also is a way that the handler gets their connection with the dog. This is something that can be paramount when working at night where there is little light for seeing. Another great benefit of a tight line is seldom will the dog turn back and then get it hung between his legs creating yet another distraction for a handler to work around.

I have often said that "trailing is where art meets science." One should note that never are two searches ever the same and we as handlers have to learn to adapt, improvise, and overcome unusual circumstances.

There will be times when working your dog he will come to an area that may require the dog time to work out the scent picture. Though the dog is motivated and is trying to find his target person, he just is unsure as to which direction the scent is taking him. This is an example of a time when a loose line can be beatifically for the dog to allow him room to move with ease throughout the area. A handler will however need to pay close attention as we still do not want to allow the line to gather under our dog’s feet. Once the dog makes a decision of his direction he wishes to go. You as a handler can again allow the line to come tight and fall back in behind the dog to follow his working position. We should also note that in having our line to go back tight we do not want any type of jerking motion to occur on our dog’s behalf as this would be yet another way to demotivate the dog. At any type of intersection is also another place where a line may be loose as we are not wanting to give any directions to the dog. We have a need for him to make these decision of where to go and have the intentions of going there. Because a trailing dog is using all of his natural instincts to search for this target person there will be times he is following scent on the ground and times he is following scent up off the ground and times he is in fact air scenting. Let me be clear on this, I do not a care how my dog get to the missing person. I just want them to do it as fast as it is safe for them to do it. If a dog is capable of air scenting the target and cuts the field not following a path they walked that is fine by me as I want my dog to want to find this person. Most times of course there is only the blown scent in the general area and that is what the dog has to work with. As the dog has a trail of scent to follow this is where a tight line is needed on a handler’s part. As the dog gets in an area where the scent may have disburse and he needs time to work out this scent pattern a handler will want to provide a looser line and do their part of keeping it out of the dog’s way. This most often will mean line is loose, line is tight, line is low on ground, and then the line is up above dogs head. It will be a task to keeping the line out of your dog’s way and then getting it tight again as he comes up with the solution of we should go this way to make our find.

In summing up this topic I want to remind each handler that working a dog requires a great deal of effort on your part. You have to read the dog’s body language, then react to his actions. Keep him and yourself safe and be able to work past distraction with allowing them to be distractions. You have to be a trainer of a dog, and a trainer of yourself. Remember that if this was easy everyone would do it. Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try, keep at it and Be Relentless!