4 Signs Your Dog Is Over-Relying on You in Mantrailing
- 9 hours ago
- 5 min read
Blueline trails are an incredibly useful part of Mantrailing training, especially when you're learning to read your dog.
When you know where the Trail Layer has gone, you can observe your dog's behaviour and learn what they look like when they're confidently following scent, searching and making decisions.
But there's a potential problem... you know where the trail goes.
And without even realising it, you can start giving your dog information about where they should go. A look towards a path. A change in your body position. A slight shift in your pace. Even subtle changes in your line handling.
Your dog is incredibly good at reading you.
And if they've learnt that your body language, movement or line handling can help them work out what to do, they may start relying on you instead of making those decisions independently.
So how do you know if your dog has started over-relying on you during Blue Line training?
Here are 4 signs to look out for.
What Is Blueline Training?
Firstly, Blueline training is when the handler knows where the Trail Layer has gone.
It's a really useful way of developing your ability to read your dog, because you can observe and compare their behaviour with what you already know about the trail.
You can learn how they respond to decision points, changes in environment, contamination and different scenting conditions.
But your goal as a handler isn't to help your dog follow the trail route, It's to understand how your dog works the scent.
Although Blueline training is a vital part of developing your skills as a handler, it can also reveal that you've been influencing your dog more than you realised as you begin to progress.
Here are some signs to watch out for as you progress to Scent Article Starts:
1. Your Dog struggles to pick a Direction of Travel From the Scent Article
One of the first things you might notice is that when you progress to doing a Single Blind Trail (where the handler doesn't know where the Trail Layer went, but your flanker or instructor does) your dog suddenly can't seem to find a direction of travel from the scent article anymore.
Previously, they may have confidently headed off in the correct direction.
But if you've been unconsciously giving them clues about where the Trail Layer has gone, your dog may have learnt to use your body language or movement when setting off, meaning they've never learnt how to choose a direction purely from scent.
When we don't know as a handler, those clues disappear for the dog and they suddenly have to work out the answer independently.
Your dog may simply not have learnt to make that decision independently using scent alone yet.
2. Your Dog Becomes Much More 'Accurate' When You know where the trail goes.
This is an interesting one.
If your dog appears significantly more confident and 'accurate' following the route the Trail Layer took when you're Blue Line training, but seems to struggle more when you don't know where the trail goes, it's worth asking yourself why.
Your dog doesn't know whether you know where the Trail Layer has gone or not. To them, it's the same game either way.
But there's something else we need to consider here too... How do we actually know what's accurate?
As handlers, when we know exactly where the Trail Layer walked, it's very easy to judge our dog's performance against that route. If they follow the same path, we perceive them as being accurate. If they take a different route, we may perceive them as being wrong.
But we don't actually know where the scent is or isn't.
We don't know exactly what scent picture our dog is experiencing, where the scent has travelled, or which route gives them the strongest information.
So, what we perceive as 'accurate' is often based on our knowledge of where the Trail Layer walked, rather than knowing exactly what scent information our dog is following.
If you notice a pattern of differences in 'accuracy' when switching between Blue Line and Single Blind trails, it could suggest that your dog is picking up information from you and using it to help fill in the gaps when they're unsure.
3. Your Dog Seems less confident at Decision Points
You might notice your dog appearing to struggle more and lose confidence at decision points than they did previously.
Perhaps they used to confidently choose a direction to continue on the trail, but now they're hesitating or looking back at you.
When you know where the trail goes, it's incredibly easy to influence a decision without realising it.
You might look towards the correct route, change your pace, turn your shoulders, block options or take steps in the 'correct' direction.
Your dog can pick up on all of these tiny changes. When you stop giving them those clues, they have to make the decision using the scent information instead.
This can happen when handler influence has unintentionally reduced the dog's confidence and ability to make independent decisions on the trail.
4. Your Dog Becomes More Hesitant When You're Deliberately Neutral
As handlers, we should always be trying to take ourselves out of the equation when it comes to our dog's decision-making.
Keep your body neutral and allow your dog to lead the way, make decisions and investigate potential options without you influencing or blocking them.
If you haven't been conscious of your influence from the start, deliberately trying not to influence your dog may suddenly make them appear less confident.
They might hesitate, check back at you, take longer to make a decision or appear to 'struggle' where they previously seemed confident.
This can be a really useful training observation.
Ask yourself 'what information was I giving them before that I'm no longer giving them now?'.
Blueline Training Isn't the Problem
Just because knowing where the trail goes creates an increased risk of handler influence, it doesn't mean you should stop doing Blue Line trails.
Quite the opposite actually...
Knowing where the Trail Layer has gone gives you a fantastic opportunity to learn how your dog works scent in different scenarios and contexts.
The important part is remembering that knowing where the trail goes shouldn't mean showing your dog where the trail goes.
If you notice any of these signs, don't panic. Instead, use what you're seeing as information and a learning opportunity for yourself as a handler.
You may need to revisit your foundations and provide your dog more opportunities to make independent decisions while learning to be more aware of your own body language and line handling.
Sometimes your dog isn't struggling with the trail set-up at all. They may simply be struggling because they've never had to work completely independently before.
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