EASY-HARD-EASY

Many of you know I am a student of Hannah Branigan’s. One of the concepts she gently beats into our heads is “easy-hard-easy.” In tracking class I often use “educate, then motivate.” It’s the same thing.

If MaryAnn or I suggest you add a challenge to your tracks—say crossing a gravel path, or a ditch, or bare dirt, the goal of that challenge is to teach the dog to follow the track wherever it goes, and of course to add that challenge to his Rolodex . NOTE: I used the word challenge. IF a track has a challenge (planned or accidental), it falls under the umbrella of “hard.” And thus, you shouldn’t challenge the dog again until they’ve had at least one easy, fun, motivational track. More than one easy track is fine!

What does “hard” look like? Here’s a video of Gusto. https://youtu.be/isGEgEvM7XQ?si=fX_H1_tRsQmlsOw2 I thought this portion of this track would be easy. He told me otherwise. Can you see the change in behavior when he gets to the mulch? See how his rhythm changes—he becomes slower, picks his head up more? And then when he refinds it, his deep nose and rhythmic gait return.

Easy looks like a confident dog who is relaxed and happy, driving ahead, and generally showing that they own the track. Compare Gus to Fletch. https://youtu.be/3sHVeqfWtoc?si=gP-N9sYrNdBzH1Ef Fletch’s rhythm never breaks, his head never comes up—he is engrossed in following the scent. It’s pretty easy to see that he feels confident here.

The dog decides hard and easy—that is, we might plan something to be hard, and the dog might find it easy. Conversely, we might plan something easy (like Gusto’s track) and the dog finds it hard. If the dog found the track hard, then try to plan the next one to be easy.

What makes a track easy? Short &/or Double walked. Probably young. More frequent food or articles (IF your dog LOVES finding articles). Vince Rameriz will motivate his CT dogs with a 10 yard track. They go out, run it, and done. “Look Dad, I found the glove! I’m awesome!” Easy tracks make the dog feel powerful—they leave him thinking he can do anything. As anthropomorphic as that sounds, if you are paying attention to your dog, you will see the behavior/attitude.

What about adding age? Here Vince and I diverge. He adds age, and adds age, and adds age…and never goes back. I stick with easy-hard-easy. Young, older, younger, older, younger, older, with all of the tracks gradually getting older.

For where most of you are now, I’d treat age like any other challenge. Sometimes, the track is older than usual…in which case the rest of it is short, no other challenges. If you are crossing a sidewalk or hedgerow….make sure the track is well within the dog’s age skill set.

So let’s try something. On each blog post, and on every map….after the dog has finished running the track(s), write down “easy” or “hard” on the map or on your blog. I suspect we will all make better decisions on the next training session if we do this!