While sharing tips & tutorials for camping and outdoor life, here I thought to share what you can learn from a dog when it comes to tracking. According to my camping and outdoor experience, I can suggest that a dog can teach you 5 important things about tracking if you are ready to learn…
so I decided to share those 5 things about tracking a dog can teach us… Let’s start!
1. How to move with the environment
Pace varies effortlessly from stop to trot to flat out gallop back to trot influenced by scent, conditions underfoot, and surroundings. If you ever get the chance to watch dogs that are bred to take advantage of their hunting ability such as pointers look carefully and take notes!
2. Live in the moment
Unlike us, dogs aren’t always thinking about stuff. They’re not worrying about that meeting, about what to have for dinner tonight, about the broken door handle in the kitchen. They’re totally absorbed by the activity they’re doing NOW.
3. Head up
Other than the odd bit of sniffing, a dog will run with its head up, alert. If you watch most humans we walk around looking at the floor (or a mobile phone it seems).
4. Senses
A dog is entirely in tune with its senses because it still pretty much uses them for what they’re intended for.
5. Downtime
A dog will go from manic activity to deep sleep in the time it takes me to even unlace my boots. Maybe a slight exaggeration but not much. The uptime/downtime switch works well when not piled up with the stuff we’re still thinking about from number 2.
I hope you have enjoyed this short and simple post on what a dog can teach us about tracking and would apply it too, during your next outdoor venture.