 tracking. Today we progress to the next level of tracking. Before we talk about it I'd like to summarize the step number one we did, the phase number one we did. In the previous video I explained when we started teaching the dog what we need to do. So just to summarize what we've done in the past, in the past actually a couple of months since we've started tracking with Atos. So very first thing is that you want to make sure it's exciting for the dog. It's a positive experience and the dog is eager to do that. If you see that your dog is not very willing try changing the bait or try maybe feeding the dog a little bit less in the evening so it's a bit more motivated, hungry in the morning when you go tracking. If the dog is distracted make sure to pull the dog off the track because you want to make sure that the dog is concentrated focused on what on the work he's doing. And so the very very first step for the dog to learn is that first it's exciting to do. Second the dog is learning to use the nose. So at that point he needs to know that as soon as you hit the track he needs to start sniffing. And so pretty much that's what we're trying to teach the dog in phase one. And if you remember we're doing circles and I've done about 15 sessions of that where I had I always do two circles, separate circles and I've changed the shape of the circles and the size of them. Sometimes they would be smaller, sometimes they would be larger, sometimes they would be slightly elongated. But the point is that I let the dog work through all the problems that the dog has and he learns very quickly to identify where the circle is and if he leaves the boundaries with the bait he quickly comes back. And that's a very important rule, a very important troubleshooting for the dog to learn because later on when we track on the straight line the dog needs to follow this certain track and it's very narrow and he needs to know once he's off the track it smells different. So for phase one that's pretty much the introduction to troubleshooting for the dog because you can't help him at this point. He needs to learn his own. If he is outside of the circle he needs to come back. And so this is pretty much two main things that we want the dog to learn in phase one. But at the same time the dog learns to move around in a very chaotic pattern looking for the bait which is not what we need moving forward. So in phase number two what we need to teach the dog is that the track is narrow and it goes straight and you need to follow that pattern forward rather than being chaotic and making different movements around. So today you will see how I teach my dog to start with this. What I've done is that I've laid three tracks and what I do is that so basically what we need to teach the dog in this phase not only just to move forward but also to look for the each step that the person made on the track which means that the dog needs to learn to sniff from one step to another and it will be on the zigzag like this always moving forward. And this phase number two is pretty much teaching him this pattern first move forward second move in each step sniff each single step that was made. And so I've made three tracks what I've done is that so I do the scent pad so I step on in one place my feet are together and I step a little bit I leave randomly a bit of bait maybe five six pieces of if you guys remember I use hot dogs small pieces of hot dogs. So I left it there and then I start moving and I'll show you I don't make a full step because this is too advanced for the dog yet not in this phase in this phase we want to keep our feet very close touching like this. So this is how I move this is how I lay my pattern so my feet are touching and they're not fully extended they need to be kind of half steps right. And so when I move after the scent pad I make my first step and then I lift my heel and I place the bait right in my heel then I make my second step I lift my heel I put the bait in my heel and this is how I keep doing it for the beginning I usually make five six steps like this one two three four five six and then I make another scent pad and on the scent pad I randomly leave the again the the bait but it's like a reward so it's a lot of it and then I do again so in my first track I did three sections like this I did six steps scent pad six step scent pad six step scent pad and I finished my second one I repeated similarly and I made the third one just in case if something goes wrong I always have an extra pad extra track if the dog is still excited willing to do we'll do three if something goes wrong on the second one or so first one I always have an extra but my last one I laid about 15 steps straight yeah like 13 15 steps straight and then big reward at the end and that's the finish for today and I will continue doing like this for maybe another 10 15 sessions so just the dog learns the pattern it's very important so he remembers to sniff from one step to another this is what we want the dog to learn once I see that he's there I'll record the next session and I'll explain to you what we do next happy tracking that's the first patch of big reward then a few steps and then next page and then a few more steps and then the final patch and I leave the flag flat for me to know that it's indication of the end of the track that's our very first straight track you're going tracking tracking tracking it's going to be difficult with the camera but you have to point to the dog where the bait is and really hold the dog make sure that he picks up every bait good boy good boy cool so really hold the dog don't let him steer away I'm holding him really tight okay he pulled off so then that's it he lost it once he lost the tension we we pulled the dog off there was some sound there that got him distracted and he is distracted now so we're gonna wait a little bit for the next one okay you're going tracking again pay attention no atos pay attention good boy pay attention okay you need to drop it come on now if the dog is distracted just walk him a little bit good boy okay you ready you're going tracking again going tracking good but good boy that was second one that was very good he skips a little bit but at least he's going on the straight line which is nice he's distracted by guys and skateboards but hey leave it leave it he's uh he's going on the straight line that's he's very very first straight line so I don't I'm not very nitpicky about him skipping some of the bait but that's okay as long as he goes on the straight line and he's still excited to do that later on will teach him to go slower but I think the important part is to hold your dog really tight and very very close to the color so you can direct him he's still distracted a little bit but we're gonna try again that's the good boy I'm gonna hold him and so that also makes the dog pull which makes him really willing to work that's it good boy good boy that's his final pad when the truck is done I always say finish you're done finish finish good boy