Blood Tracking Dogs

Almost weekly, I get a call from a hunter wanting to buy a puppy for blood tracking wounded game.  Of course, most of them are interested in a Drahthaar but there are other breeds, e.g. Dachshunds (Tekels) that are good choices too.

Training a dog for blood tracking is actually kinda easy.  Early in life...say 16 weeks of age....you begin with food tracks. I like Vienna sausage bits.  I just put a few pieces out in a line with the juice from the can sprinkled between the tidbits.  Normally, I start with fairly short tracks...50 feet or so.

Then, gradually, over a period of weeks, the tracks get longer and longer with fewer and fewer actual meat pieces on it.  Eventually, I switch to other scent sources.  Buttermilk is a good one.  There is no reason to introduce real blood at this point.  You are just trying to get the puppy to learn the command "Track It" and to put it's nose down when they here those words.

Simple foot tracks where the puppy merely tracks you are nice too.  You just walk through an area of long grass, woodlands, etc. and scuff your feet in each track. Eventually, you introduce turns, gradual at first but over a month or so, you make a "box" with three 90 degree turns and the track ends up in the same area (but  
several yards away) from the start. Once a puppy completes a true box track, you are making real progress.

I always have a nice treat at the end of each track. The Germans recommend training on a empty stomach where the puppy is quite hungry but that has not been important in my experience.  The treats at the end are anything from a hamburger to a full can of Vienna's. (Be sure and pick up the empty can when you leave!)

When switching to true blood, any type will do from hog blood, cattle blood, or even real deer blood.  Getting and keeping blood is an art form.  I like to bottle it in pint bottles, freeze it and have several in inventory for training. Some people strain it but I am too lazy for that so I just freeze it as whole blood.

At first, you can use a lot of blood but over time, you want to get more and more skimpy with it.  Wounded game often drop scant blood and if it is spraying everywhere, well, you can find the game without a dog. So, the dog must learn to track flecks of blood.  Believe me, they can do it.

Eventually, you need to put the blood out and wait at least two hours and five is better for the tracking exercise. I use colored clothes pins to mark where I laid the track.  You must know where the track is yourself if you are gonna train the dog correctly!

Over a period of weeks, you use less and less blood and the tracks get longer and longer, again, finally ending with a "box" layout that makes the dog track regardless of the wind direction.

Normally, I track wounded game "on lead" but if the briers and swamps are bad, I may turn the dog loose and keep up the best I can.  This means a special lead and collar designed for blood tracking which are available from various vendors online.

While blood tracking is fun it can be a hassle when someone calls you at 9 PM to help with a lost deer after several hunters have walked all over the track since dark.  Also, the dog is a blood tracker.  No blood=no track.