|
Written by André Brun
|
|
Page 4 of 9
| Official tracking dog in Norway |
 |
To become an official tracking dog for moose, deer and roe-deer in Norway, the dog and handler has to go through two tests. Of course these tests are just the beginning of a tracking dog, but they are important in the matter that they focus on the basic skills of the dog, both for fresh tracks and blood tracks and the cooperation with the handler. The experience is achieved only by tracking wounded animals: |
|
|
Part 1: Blood tracking: The scheme used for training is 600 m. in normal rough terrain. We use 0.3 litre of blood spread out along the track and it should be 12-24 hours old. It consists of 4 angles (and those that comes natural of the terrain) and 2 blood stops for 10 m. - one in an 90° angle, and a simulated stop of the wounded animal. At the end of the blood track we always used to hide a foot of a roe-deer or similar. |
 During the test the judge is noticing several thing such as the collaboration between the dog and the master, the dogs capabilities and will to follow and search, how he does it, the right speed of the dog so that the following shooter can walk comfortably and silent by the side, that the dog never must leave the original track if he finds a fresher track and a lot more. If the dogs fail in any of this and more he'll be disqualified.
Part 2: Fresh track: From either a moose, deer or roe-deer. The dog has to follow the track for at least half an hour to an hour, and the track must be at least one hour old. An early morning track from an animal is suitable to track in the afternoon.
"Aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem" - "Remember to keep
a clear head in difficult times" Horace
|
|
