As opposed to sight coursing hounds that course/hunt/chase by sight tracking dogs course by scent and endurance. No huge speed.

After Demi learnes some obedience I decided, dunno how or why, to put Demi into tracking. She was a natural!

As a terrier 50% Jack Russell she had a high level of prey drive, the urge to chase prey animals and kill them. Lizards and rats on our block mostly.

Walking the Torrens Linear Park she saw a rabbit and took off after it. Alas, stumpy terrier legs, no deep chest with large heart and efficient lungs, the rabbit escaped.

In one of the tracking practice runs Demi drew gasps—she was following the track laid down by another member of the club and “turned on a six pence” making a very sharp 90° turn to follow the track.

Now we can have a look at tracking dogs.

Nice intro to the sport and activity (police dogs) of tracking:

https://dogsaustralia.org.au/training-dog-sports/tracking/

Quote:

Tracking refers to a dog's ability to detect, recognize and follow a specific scent. Possessing heightened olfactory abilities, dogs, especially scent hounds, are able to detect, track and locate the source of certain odours. A deeper understanding of the physiological mechanisms and the phases involved in canine scent tracking has allowed humans to utilize this animal behaviour in a variety of professions. Through domestication and the human application of dog behaviour, different methods and influential factors on tracking ability have been discovered. While tracking was once considered a predatory technique of dogs in the wild, it has now become widely used by humans.

—wiki

Feral dogs are poor hunters. Through domestication dog brains and teeth became smaller than those of wolves. I think they meant wolves not dogs.

Tracking criminals, finding lost children and adults etc is the business of police dogs, mostly German Shepherds. In normal dog tracking clubs tracks are laid down, left to ‘mature’ then one of the club member’s dogs has the 10metre tracking lead clipped to its harness (NOT the collar!) brought to the start of the track, given an article belonging to the club member who made the track and told “Go find!”

In tracking trials the dog can be “rescented” i.e. given the article ot smell again.

I had to drop out—my arthritic hip couldn’t handle the walking with climbing over fallen tree trunks, in and out of creek beds etc.

Demi was a natural at tracking.

Far from the long, trim, long–headed sight coursing hounds we have terriers and the ultimate tracking dog—the lugubrious bloodhound.

Terriers have a high prey drive and they are headstrong little dogs that want to finish whatever they start so good at tracking.

Pretty much any dog has an excellent nose—lots scent detectors, a big part of their brains dedicated to evaluating scents etc.

Here is a photo of a small terrier, a Tenterfield Terrier, on the long racking lead tho a fair bit of it is behind the handler, probably because the dog is too small to carry the whole 10 metres  :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracking_(dog)#/media/File:Tenterfield_in_tracking_trial.jpg

Remember: terriers have a high prey drive and will persist in trying until they achieve their objective.

I guess hot linking of the image is disabled  ;D


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e_oe2dQGtEHTmzthtVvNez1S80AmgeGj/view?usp=sharing

From the wiki article we see that there are “point detection dogs” which are trained to find a specific object—drug stash or bomb.

Quote:

Factors that influence tracking ability There are many different factors which influence a dogs ability to successfully determine the directionality of a track. The age, sex,[1] and even personality[12] of a dog can greatly influence tracking behaviour. Male dogs have been described to more accurately determine the direction of a trail than female dogs.[1] It is hypothesized that this is due to the evolutionary history of male dogs. Male olfactory ability of canines is superior to that of females because historically it was their duty to find mates and mark territory.[1] Canine olfactory sensitivity is also found to diminish, therefore younger dogs tend to have superior tracking than older dogs.[1] Personality traits of dogs affect both their ability to be successfully trained and their ability to successfully track. Dogs that are more active and confident tend to perform better during training activities and tracking activities.[12] The mannerisms of the handler[13] working with the dog can also affect tracking ability. It has been discovered that humans and animals share very specific social skills that enable them to bond and work together effectively.[14] Adaptations of social tolerance and attentiveness has enabled dogs to participate in cooperative problem solving with their human counterparts.[15] Social attentiveness refers to an animals ability to pay attention to their partners actions and behave accordingly.[16] It is this factor that explains how dogs are capable of interpreting and reacting to cues from their handler. Pointing, gaze shifting, and facial expressions demonstrated by the handler can be used by the canine to locate objects and follow a certain direction.[14] Although usually purposeful, unconscious signals are also capable of being interpreted by canines while working with humans. Therefore, handlers are trained to be cautious of their actions when working with their canine in order to ensure their demands are being properly perceived by the dog.[14]

Eleven top tracking dogs:

https://wagwalking.com/breed/top-11-dog-breeds-for-tracking