Why will my dog love mantrailing?
You don't have to work for the police to get your dog to love mantrailing! This activity is fun for our canine friends due to excersising their best sense, the sense of smell. Futhermore, at the contrairy of most other diciplines, here it's the dog that's into the lead. This makes it perfect for boosting the self-confidence of our pets, by giving them room to make their own decisions and lead their owner to the solution. Of course, this makes it a great mental exercise, where the dog's got to keep focus on a task whilst getting tired mentally. But it's an excercise which is pased by the dog itself, without any risk of overexercise for instance it's muscles (it's fun for 2 months old Olivia like it's fun for 10 year's old Inca!), whatever their physical state (even for dogs who are for instance dysplastic).And what does it mean for the owner?
It's the owner's task to learn read their dog and help them to not get into errors (don't run behind your dog like a fool's errand!). The owner has to be a help when the dog has lost it's track, without forcing them. It's all about helping each other at each other's pace. So it's a mental exercise to the owner too, and will help reinforce the relationship between owner and pet by some healthy teamwork!Is this only for workdogs or hunters dogs?
Not at all! All dogs can do mantrailing and get their own level of pleasure out of it. Everyone goes at their own pace in function of their own capacities, and what counts is having fun as a team!What if I feel like developping me futher?
There are several federations for mantrailing. With the American GAK9 there are multiple levels of certification, depending on terrain and difficulty. To simplify, the certifications have been grouped in 4 groups with increasing levels of difficulty (the more mineral the surface is and the more cross-contamination it got, the more difficult the parcours is):Name | Description |
---|---|
Field | Field or woods with few human residues, surface entirely vegetable. |
Countryside | Similar to "field", yet with some variation in surface (say a road or two). Few human residues. |
Suburban | Industrial or commercial areas, with some human residues. M. |
Urban | Cityside with lots of human residues, and a mix of mineral and vegetable surfaces. |
In all these categories there are 4 levels of certification
(the longer and older the trail is, the more difficult it is)Name | Length | Trail age | Time: | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Field | Countryside | Suburban | Urban | ||||
Level 1 | "Handler" | From 500 to 600 m | About 30 minutes old | 15 minutes | |||
Level 2 | "Specialist" | From 700 to 800 m | About 1 hour old | 25 minutes | 20 minutes | ||
Level 3 | "Expert" | From 800 to 1000 m | About 2 hours old | 35 minutes | 30 minutes | 40 minutes | |
Level 4 | "Master" | From 1000 to 1500 m | About 4 hours old | 45 minutes | 50 minutes |