Our beginnings

I always wanted to build the strongest and healthiest relationship possible with Mako, and the best way to build a relationship is by doing various activities together. That's how we discovered tracking. Mako is rather wary of strangers and needs a moment to feel comfortable around them, so besides having great fun, she was also supposed to gather good experiences with their participation. Naturally, she was the first to try.

Our first tracks were very chaotic. Even though Mako tracks at a walking pace, I was constantly tangling the leash, tripping, or stopping her for silly reasons. But my beloved girl forgave every mistake and pushed forward. It was amazing to see her determination and willingness to complete the task. Only on the track did I realize how motivated she was, and even though I initially hindered more than helped her, seeing her determination motivated me to get better.

I was surprised when I took Tamiko out for a track and found out that tracking appealed to her even more than to Mako. I was even more surprised to learn that understanding Mako's body language on the track didn't mean I could do the same with Tamiko. I was so wrong. The theory might have been the same, but the dog was completely different. Tamiko likes to seek support from me, so when I asked her to be independent and take the lead, it took us some time to switch roles.

The girls track distances of 300 meters without scent placement, meaning they start tracking shortly after the decoy signals that they are in position (this position is nothing more than the end of the track, for example, a tree 300 meters into the forest). Over time, the distance will be increased, and scent placements will be introduced. But first, we need to master the basics. Even though we are fully engaged and focused, as a team with an Akita and a geographically challenged handler, we work at our own pace.

(For the uninitiated, on mantrailing app screenshots, the red track is the dog's path, and the blue one is the decoy's.)