Let’s start with a fact: Until about the mid 1990s, TD tracks did not have a start article. Repeat, there was no start article. So there was no way to re-scent your dog. I honestly haven’t ever seen a time when re-scenting a TD level dog was helpful.
Re-scenting became a ‘thing’ when VST came along, and was heavily pushed by one particular person, who was/is making substantial amounts of money giving VST clinics. In the “old days” we didn’t re-scent in TDX either—we assumed that happened when the dog found an article.
Does Judi Edwards think re-scenting has a place? I have seen it appear to restart a dog who had clearly hit the wall, and the dog completed its X track and passed (it was watered and re-scented). I have seen my own dog appear to refocus after I have watered and re-scented. I personally think the water is more important than the re-scent, that’s an opinion, not a fact. Most of the time, I’ve not seen a significant change in behavior associated with how most people re-scent.
This weekend, I watched a good, well trained TDX dog fail….the handler inadvertently dropped the start article, went to re-scent about 50 yards after the start….didn’t have the article, panicked, and failed to follow the dog when it clearly indicated the track.
There are lessons there. If you need to re-scent your dog in the first 100 yards of the track, you probably left the start flag before the dog was actually tracking. Wait for the dog to actually start—don’t just assume since they sniffed the article and moved away from the flag they are tracking. And, train without a start article. We titled hundreds, maybe thousands, of dogs in the days before start articles. Pass rates did not change when the start article was added. The day recently when I was in awe of Gus….I never re-scented. He followed whatever he was following, came back, identified and followed the track.
It is probably way more important that you know the general direction your dog was tracking than that you re-scent. If you are paying attention to the general direction, you are more likely to identify tracking behavior….you are likely to miss it if you are flailing around with an article.
Here’s one thing I know for sure. Dogs are able to concentrate scent. We can not. When we walk into a bakery, in a few minutes we can no longer smell the bread. Your dog can concentrate that smell, and he will never go nose blind. Your dog is concentrating the scent he is following as he goes down the track. He might check something else out, but that doesn’t mean he’s ‘forgotten’ what he was looking for—the scent he was following is actually physically concentrated on his nasal shelf and he can re-access it easily. Also, scent can’t be “too hot” for your dog (I’ve never figured out where this idea came from). Look at it from a purely practical standpoint—if “hot scent” (whatever the heck that is) was hard for dogs, our dogs wouldn’t be able to indicate the article (hotter than the track), hunting dogs, wouldn’t be able to locate freshly dead or wounded birds (that’s the hottest scent one can get), hounds would never get the fox or rabbit, and truffle dogs would never actually find the truffle.
If you do re-scent…..the proponents of re-scenting are very very dogmatic—you must water, and then re-scent. Re-scenting is defined as wrapping the article around the dog’s muzzle/nose, and keeping it there for a few seconds, or having it hold the article in it’s mouth. The article is not a magic amulet—waving it around under the dog’s nose probably isn’t terribly helpful. Setting it down on the ground is illegal.
Next soap box….When entering a test, you sign a document that states you have read the rules. HINT: It’s a super good idea to actually read them. I’m happy to answer questions if you have them. This weekend we had one X handler set the start article on the ground after she had started. That is an illegal restart, and will buy you a whistle (Ch. 4, Sec. 7). After an article, the track must continue straight for at least 30 yards. Super helpful if you know the direction you were going to get to the article, so you can handle the dog after it. Two X dogs failed for that error. So 4 X tracks, 4 unsuccessful tracks, all related to handler errors or not knowing the rules. Three of those dogs clearly came to pass. This is what gives judges nightmares on the drive home—realizing what could have, should have, been. Dogs fail—the test is HARD. Handlers will make mistakes—handling an X dog is HARD. We understand, and are sad it wasn’t your day. Not knowing the rules….that’s hard for us to embrace.
If you haven’t read them, read them. They are are free, a pdf, download from the AKC.
See everyone on Saturday or Sunday.
I am glad you wrote about this as to whether re-scenting does help or hinder. By your opinion, the water is just as if not more important. Thank you