While I focus a lot of my trailing sessions on “pet trailing” so “lost dog search” we do also offer “man trails”. This is where a person hides for the dog to find. During the session in Whitchurch, Shropshire on the 7th of July 2024 we decided to try something a little different for one of my more experienced teams!
Buddy finding his “criminal” in the get away vehicle!
Team Buddy were founding members of the Nose to Trail membership and one of my first clients to start pet trailing.
As they’ve consistently put in the work, and many hours of trailing Buddy now needs things to challenge him and push him onto the next level.
Information on the Buddy Pet Trail Service
I recently introduced “Buddy pet trail sessions” named after this wonderful fluffy boy to help him and others to get more opportunities to trail and I’m looking forward to running his first session of back to back pet trails with fellow Nose to Trail member, Luna Lab next month but before then we had to find something else to challenge this super sniffer!
Now, I’m assuming my followers would never have robbed a bank….. but go with me to set the scene. You’re doing the Hatton Garden robbery….. you get all the stolen goodies into a van and drive off at high speed…. nothing left behind, nothing dropped and no traces for the police to come and get you from! I can only assume criminals probably think this makes the ideal getaway but we have news for you…. Buddy would still find you!
Buddy being rewarded at the end of his mantrail
He really would! Even when his “missing criminal” (sorry Laura) was put in a getaway vehicle and driven away from the scene…. Leaving seemingly no trail on the floor… Bud still found her…. In just over3 minutes flat.
How did this wonderful rescue German Shepherd manage this?
Well, vehicles aren’t air tight…. so although there is nothing left visibly to the naked human eye, scent made up of the air Laura was breathing out, dead skin cells, perfumes, hormones and all sorts of other bits and pieces is still available for our experienced trailers to sniff out with their far superior sense of smell to our feeble human olfactory system and that means a well trained dog will get you!!!!!
Photo from Buddy GSD Instagram
Now ultimately we train for fun. We train for the enrichment it provides the dogs, the mental challenge, stimulation and good old dopamine hit that quite often results in the post trail snooze you can see Buddy demonstrating above from when he got home after his session.
If you would like to get involved in either pet trailing or man trailing with your dog then you can find my next sessions with Nose to Trail here: *LINK TO EVENTS TAB*
And if you’re not in my area then why not check out my other business The Canine School of Trailing as we may well have an instructor nearer you!