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Mantrailing is all about learning to read your dog and knowing when they’re on or off the trail. It’s a skill we develop as handlers, being able to tell when our dog is unsure about the scent and needs some time to figure it out, or when they’re charging ahead, eager to find their reward. It’s not always easy keeping an eye on your dog, managing the line, and watching your footing, all at the same time. Sometimes, in the process, you might miss some important signals, which could lead to either influencing your dog or not being able to support them when they need it. To help you get better at reading your dog on the trail, we’ve put together 6 tips to make things a little easier! Here are some top tips to help you get better at reading your dog while Mantrailing: Record your trails.   If possible, have an instructor or a flanker record your trail. A chest-mounted camera can also give you a great perspective but having you in the shot helps you analyse your handling skills better. This allows you to see what’s happening in real-time, as well as subtle behaviours that you might miss while you're focused on handling. Watching the video later helps you understand the trail, figure out what you could have done differently, and spot the things that helped or hindered your dog. Plus, you can share the video with others for feedback—sometimes they spot things you might miss! Reinforce the foundations.  It’s easy to get carried away with advanced trails, especially with a high-drive or smart dog. But don’t forget to revisit the basics from time to time. It’s perfectly okay to slow things down and inject some fun back into trailing again. This lets you better read your dog’s decisions and ensures you are reinforcing the foundations. Line handling.  How you handle the line can greatly impact your dog's success on the trail. Mastering line handling is often the key to a smooth and effective trail. Get a new perspective.  If you’re always trailing in the same location or with the same instructor, you might miss certain behaviours. Trying different environments—like moving from rural to urban areas or taking your dog into open spaces—can help you see new ways they work the trail. You could also try visiting another Mantrailing Global instructor for a fresh perspective. Every instructor brings their own experiences, and sometimes a different set of eyes can really help. Blueline trailing.   Blueline trailing is when you know where the trail layer went, and you can step in to help your dog if needed. This doesn’t mean rushing to the end of the trail, making your dog go faster or second guessing their decisions. It’s an opportunity to observe your dog’s behaviour at decision points, surface transitions, different environments or weather conditions to build a better understanding of how they work the scent in different contexts and scenarios. Keep a behaviour log.  In addition to logging your sessions in your level books, make note of your dog’s behaviour on the trail. Focus on body language—how their head, tail, ears, and nose move. Tracking these subtleties will help you spot when they’re on the trail or when they’ve lost it. This log will be a valuable reference as you continue to learn about your dog’s trailing behaviour. Learning to read your dog’s body language while Mantrailing is a skill that takes time, but it’s incredibly rewarding. It’s not just about trailing—it helps you understand your dog better in everyday situations too. Remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to reading dogs, as every dog has their own way of communicating. Be patient with yourself as you learn—dogs are natural scent masters, and our job is to fine-tune their skills and learn how to support them.

‘Mantrailing UK’ launch as ‘Mantrailing Global’ as we become international leaders in the sport of Mantrailing. As we evolve, grow and learn as an organisation, we wanted to share with you our journey so far and reflect back to where it all started as we begin a new chapter of our story launching globally. Mantrailing UK was born back in 2017 after Founder, Lisa Gorenflo, discovered Mantrailing in Germany and quickly became hooked. Upon returning home to the UK, she began searching for this kind of training but was disappointed to not find anything available. There was only one option: to start a Mantrailing club. At the time, Lisa already had an established dog training business so began introducing Mantrailing as a new service to offer her clients, all the while continuing her training in Germany gaining her status as a Certified Mantrailing Instructor. As it received more and more interest, Lisa saw the benefits that Mantrailing was having on the participating dogs and their owners. She then made the decision to begin offering Mantrailing Introduction courses to her already thriving dog-training business. Very quickly, Mantrailing took off as a new dog sport and began to take up all of Lisa’s time. Not only did she have pet owners travelling across the country to participate, but other dog trainers became addicted and wanted to offer it to their clients too. Eventually, Lisa made the decision to coach and train up some new instructors which developed into the esteemed Mantrailing UK Instructor course, or as it stands as of today, Mantrailing Global Instructor course: An international organisation maintaining high standards of Mantrailing training with instructors spread internationally across the globe. We pride ourselves in providing high standards of training to our instructors worldwide to make the sport of Mantrailing accessible to dog owner teams internationally. Mantrailing Global currently has instructors based across the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, USA, Canada and Australia! Each country where Mantrailing Global Instructors are based, now has their own website platform, including individual country Facebook pages and community groups to keep up to date with country specific Mantrailing information. To find out more please visit www.mantrailingglobal.com . From there you can select your country by clicking on the 'find an instructor' tab where you will then be redirected to your country specific website and social pages.

''MASTERY IS ACHIEVED THROUGH DELIBERATE PRACTICE'' - Author Unknown FOUNDATION TRAINING The strength of a building lies in its foundation. The main purpose of the foundation is to hold the structure above it and keep it strong and upright. If we progress our training without the correct foundation in place, it will crumble and come back to bite you on the butt! Building a foundation is a process which takes different ingredients such as trust, patience and A LOT of training and is what ensures both handler and dog understand the game and have the skills to be successful during a trail. Mantrailing is a 2 way sport which relies on communication between you and your dog which means that both ends of the lead must be open to learning in order to create a solid foundation, not just your dog! UNDERSTANDING TRAINING COMPONENTS AND CRITERIA'S What do you think happens when we constantly set our dogs up for failure? In other words, if we make it too hard for them to succeed. See graphic below: Less success = Reduced motivation, which then leads to a decrease in the overall performance. More success = Increase in motivation, which then leads to an increase in the overall performance. Think about it.... Imagine you have been set a really difficult task at work which was outside of your skillset and knowledge without any adequate training. You tried your very best but missed the deadline as your struggled to complete it and then your boss says he was cutting your wage because he wasn't satisfied with your performance. Would you do it again with 100% enthusiasm? No you wouldn't. So, where do 'components and criteria's' fit in to create success in training? A training component is the individual aspect of training you are working on (example: Split Start). A criteria is a standard which something can be judged or decided. (example: A confident decision on the direct of travel from the scent article.) By focusing on one chosen training component (example: Split Start) at a time and understanding the training criteria for it, whilst lowering the other criteria's (example: length of trail, decoys, contamination), we create the best chance of success for our dog. PROOFING YOUR TRAINING Proofing means practicing a behaviour (example: practicing a component) in different environments and situations until your dog has generalised it and can do it anywhere and in any situation, even with distractions. Just because your dog chose the correct trail layer twice 6 weeks ago on a Split Start exercise does not mean they have proofed the behaviour and can move on. - What happens if it's a windy day? What happens if there are decoys? What happens if they just did it by 'chance' last time? So, it's very important that we 'proof' their new skills through our training at sessions so that we can then trust them to make the correct decisions in future. ''Sometimes being successful means taking a step back. And that’s ok!'' THE YO-YO EFFECT Now that you have scratched the surface in this blog (just!) to try and understand your Mantrailing dogs training needs better, you may now see what we mean when training sessions are often described as having a 'yo-yo effect' and why you will focus and jump between different skills, start types and components throughout your Mantrailing journey. The 'Yo-Yo effect' reflects our constant evolving and the adaptation of our foundation training, training components/criteria's and proofing of behaviours so that we set our Mantrailing dogs up for the best chance of success, thus creating a motivated and resilient problem solver.

It's time to talk about a topic that nobody really talks about, but that everybody does.... Let's set the scene because we've all been there. You turn up to a Mantrailing venue after traveling for over an hour, you get out of the car already needing a pee after your travel from home and instantly start hunting for the best spot as your outdoor toilet to use for the next 3 hours. To your surprise, you are overjoyed to spot an actual real toilet at the venue. What an absolute privilege! and even better, there is toilet roll too! Now let's face it, we all know that the above is a rare and best case scenario at your Mantrailing sessions, so what about all those times that you don't have toilet access when you turn up to your session? Well, that's what our blog is about! Step One Wild peeing is actually illegal in some countries and can land you with a fine! Please check with your local country/state laws before taking a wild pee at your Mantrailing session. Step Two Ask your instructor where the best spot is for wild peeing...Believe it or not, our instructors have to pee too and they are the most familiar with the area to recommend the best discreet spots of out view of the public. Step Three Before choosing your perfect pee spot, please please PLEASE make sure you check where the next trail will be taking place and go to a different area or wait until your chosen area is free to use. Our dogs can pick up the scent of a decoy during training or follow the wind out on trails. Don't risk being caught in the act! Plan before you go. Step Four Remember to take your high visibility gear off before you go! Nothing screams 'Hi, I'm over here peeing in a bush!' louder than a bright yellow or orange jacket squatting in the woods. Step Five Get your pee positioning right. To all of our male Mantrailing clients, you've got it easy! We wont bother describing what you need to do to wild pee, which means you probably also don't need to read this blog any further unless you want a good laugh... Women, it's time to practice that perfect squat: Now this is a Mantrailing blog...So why not take advantage of perfecting your wind direction reading skills too and make a decision about which direction will give you the least 'blow back' of pee splash before starting. Place your feet apart, as far as you can whilst being able to still balance. Bend your knees and lean back on your ankles for support. Arch your back and lift your butt for better aim. Get as low as you can to avoid pee splash. If you available, pee downhill for less splash. Step Six Who knew there were so many options to finish your wild peeing experience to your liking. Here are our top suggestions to finish off the perfect wild pee: Method 1: Shake it off with the drip dry method. Do a little jiggle to get rid of the pee drips and just pull your pants straight back and get straight back to your session. Method 2: Are you someone who can just never perfect the squat and end up with the worse aim ever? It could be time to look into adding a pee-funnel to your Mantrailing kit bag. These are special devices which are made to enable a woman to stand up whilst peeing which then funnels it to not go all over you and exits the funnel straight onto the floor. They can be washed for hygiene and reused each session. Method 3: If you prefer to stick with the option of toilet roll, please make sure to take it home with you. Our instructors do everything in their power to remain respectful to the area they are holding their sessions at, so please do not encourage littering. Your dogs Dicky Bag can come in super handy with this by doubling up as your used toilet roll bag! Method 4: If you're not fussy, want to cut down on single use materials and just generally want more than just a drip and dry, check out Pee-Cloths . These material rags are designed for this specific purpose and can be folded up and tucked away after use before being washed, dried and ready again for your next Mantrailing session. If you choose this option, please ensure you DO NOT mistake your pee-cloth as a scent article and pass it to the handler or instructor by accident! Like anything with Mantrailing, wild peeing isn't a 'one size fits all'. We hope our guide has given you some ideas on how to take the perfect wild pee at your future Mantrailing sessions.

With 2023 seeing lots of new teams trying a paw at Mantrailing, we thought we would start the first blog of 2023 by sharing some beginners tips and who better to ask than some of our existing addicts to share their top tips for newbies. ''Give your dog the best reward food that they love, they will show you the way...'' - Rodney Mouring ''Follow other teams and watch and learn.'' - Paula Harrison ''Trust your dog, have fun, and practice your line handling!'' - Klaudia Sapieja ''We always learn more with fun & laughter rather than stress & anxiety! Rome wasn't built in a day so slow and steady wins the race'' - Cloud K9 ''Use loops to hold excess line or it will become a tangled mess and a tripping hazard'' - Aylish Prince ''Be the best misper you can. Get in those bushes!'' - Megan Allen ''Spend time getting the foundations right.'' - Mel Trevor ''Be prepared to get addicted.'' - Kirsty Watts Don't forget that once you've attended an Introduction session with an accredited Mantrailing Global Instructor, you can trail with any of our Instructor team! We pride ourselves in creating a network of Instructors who work together to deliver you the best Mantrailing experience for you and your dog. If you'd like to find out where your local instructors are based, visit www.mantrailingglobal.com and click 'find an instructor'. We'd also recommend to join your local Mantrailing Global Community Group on Facebook to ask questions and connect with other Mantrailing teams. Click on your country below to join your community:

We recently interviewed one of our Mantrailing dogs to ask for a real account of a trail from a dogs perspective. For confidentiality reasons (and to save handler embarrassment) we can't disclose who the handler of this dog is, but if you're reading this and know it's you, please get in touch with your Mantrailing Global instructor so that we can help you improve your handler skills.... Here's what they had to say when we spoke to them: ''First of all, i'm here to tell you that you are REALLY bad at keeping a secret. I watch you all morning being weird in the corner of the kitchen trying to quietly prep my food tubs. It really confuses me why you do this with your back to me 'out of sight' as if blocking my vision will stop me smelling the fact that you have just opened a can of sardines. I mean, seriously?! You're regularly spending your hard earned cash to teach me how to use my nose to sniff out people, yet here you are acting like I don't realise what you are doing...Who's the stupid one? It's not a secret! You put my harness, line and pots into the car ready to go so I know we are going to Mantrailing today. One thing I really want to ask you is why do you always run around in a panic as we are about to get in the car and then look delighted when you find the sock you were wearing yesterday? I never see you happy to find socks around the house, in fact, it usually makes you angry. Yet for some reason on a Mantrailing day you always look happy to find a sock? And then to confuse me more you put it in a little bag for safe-keeping like it's really important or something? We then arrive at Mantrailing after a morning of watching you being weird. It's my turn and I absolutely cant wait! You open the boot, pick up my harness and line and off we go to follow the instructor to our starting point. I'm so excited to get there that I could explode!...Oh no, wait, I actually do need to explode💩. Anyway, back to the task at hand. I watch you place my harness and line on the ground and I spot the person who I will be finding waiting to cheer me on (these types of starts are my favourite!). I'm about to do a sniff sweep of my start area and surprise, surprise, you forgot my reward pots. Again! Luckily my assistant is there who enjoys coming along to watch how fantastic I am, so they run back to collect them from the car for me. You help me get changed into my official uniform and start my check of the area. My person shows me what is in those little pots, they're such a tease! Then calls my name in squeaky baby voices (which I love may I add) before running off. Ok, Now it's time for business. You point at a bag with a glove in it (this glove must be really important too if they put theirs in a bag like your sock?), I take a whiff of it and await to hear my trail command. It's time! I pick the direction and dig deep, pulling into my harness and picking up speed to show you the way, then BAM! Just like that I glance around to see you tangled up in your longline, despite the fact I watched you take 5 minutes to get it ready and you haven't even walked 5 paces yet. I patiently wait and begin sniffing the air to gather some more information whilst I feel you frantically trying to sort out our line again. Second time lucky now I guess. I continue on and take a left to follow the scent up a bank, I turn the next corner and feel myself unable to move forwards as if I have a weight attached to me. I turn around to find out what's happening and find you on the floor after falling over another one of those invisible branches you say that grab your ankle. I'm running out of patience now so I just carry on anyway, which works to my advantage as it helps pull you back onto your feet to continue on our way. I get excited and speed up, telling you that the person we are looking for must be close now. I can hear you stomping your feet louder and louder as you try to slow down the pace, but there's just no stopping me now! To my absolute delight, I take another turn and find my person hiding in a bush. They reach for their pocket and pull out my pot then I relish the moment, flicking sardines all over my face...and theirs. What's even better than that? I get to do it all over again on a mini-trail, then get to strip off my uniform and walk back to the car naked whilst everyone tells me how amazing I am! I'm still not really sure why you have to be attached to me when I go looking for people, but sometimes it is helpful to have the support when things get challenging I guess. My personal feedback for this trail for you would be that you could do with some more practice on this teamwork stuff. Please can you listen carefully to our instructors feedback as we have 2 trails left to go and I'd be grateful if you could at least stay on 2 feet for the next one.'' Before we ended the interview, we were also asked to include this small but important piece of information: ''Please stop forgetting to drop your scent article for my trailing pals. It's becoming a standing joke back at the cars.''

With temperatures rising and the summer heat fast approaching, we have focused this months blog on educating and preparing our Mantrailing teams for the heat. WHAT IS HEAT STROKE? Heatstroke occurs when heat generated by metabolism, exercise and environmental conditions overwhelms the body’s cooling mechanisms, meaning it can no longer dissipate heat. Heat stroke is a potentially fatal condition that can be classified into classical heatstroke, caused by exposure to high temperatures and humidity, or exertional heatstroke caused by strenuous physical exercise. HOW DOGS REGULATE THEIR TEMPERATURE Dogs are particularly at risk of heat stroke due to their physiological cooling mechanisms. Dogs only sweat from their pads, and use panting to dissipate heat through evaporation. When ambient temperature is less than body temperature, 70% of canine body heat is lost from radiation and convection. As environmental temperature increases beyond body temperature, dogs must rely on panting alone to maintain normothermia, and this becomes ineffective in high humidity. Sudden hot spells are most dangerous as your dog can take about 6 weeks to acclimatise to heat. ( Hemmelgarn and Gannon, 2013a ). SIGNS OF HEATSTROKE & WHAT TO DO SPOT THEM – spotting the early signs will give you time to take action. STOP THEM – from getting any hotter, e.g. stop the exercise, get them out of the hot car/building/garden. SAVE THEM – seek veterinary treatment and cool them (using water) (Credits: Canineheatstroke.dog & VetCompass) ADVICE FOR MANTRAILING IN THE HEAT Due to our dogs working one-at-a-time during our Mantrailing sessions, our vehicles are a huge consideration when it comes to the safety of our dogs. The environmental conditions within a car on a hot day will rapidly prevent any effective heat loss by a dog’s normal cooling mechanisms. Take a read of the findings below from an experiment carried out by PDSA in 2016: A dark coloured car, parked in full sun on a day with an ambient temperature of 22oC, can reach an internal temperature exceeding 47oC within an hour (McLaren, Null and Quinn, 2005). The same car’s internal temperature reached 40oC after 10 minutes and approached 60oC when parked in full sun at 31oC for an hour. Opening the windows slightly was shown to have very little effect on the rate of temperature increase, and no effect on the overall total temperature increase (McLaren et al., 2005). This highlights the importance of why we need to ensure the following adjustments are made when Mantrailing during the summer months. ADJUSTMENTS YOU CAN MAKE: - Park in the shade during the session, be prepared to move your vehicle and follow the shade as the sun moves throughout the day. - Invest in a reflective sheet, we highly recommend the Aluminet which reflects the heat but also allows for a breeze to pass through. - Ensuring your dog can be secured safely to enable you to have the vehicle windows/doors open to allow airflow. -Invest in a Tailgate Vent Lock to safely keep you boot popped open to assisting in allowing a through breeze. - Providing readily available access to water at all times. We highly recommend non-spill bowls such as the Road Refresher . - Although our instructors will always have these details to hand too, it is wise for you to also research where the local vet is to where your session will be held in the case of emergency. - Take a break from observing other trails and prioritise supervising your dog throughout the session. Check in regularly with your dog to ensure they are not showing any signs of overheating. If you are not available to stay with your dog, please ensure another member of the group will be doing welfare checks on them on your behalf. ADJUSTMENTS YOUR INSTRUCTORS MAY MAKE: - Session times changed to a cooler timer of day. - Locations moved to a cooler location with more shade. - Shorter 'component' trails to avoid dogs working for long periods of time. - Cutting a session short due to temperatures rising more/quicker than expected if necessary on welfare grounds. - Cancelling the session and re-booking for when it's cooler. Please remember to ALWAYS advocate for yourself and your dog. If you feel it is too hot for yourself or your dog to work when a session is still planned to go ahead, please speak to your instructor directly to discuss with them. If you'd like to do more research on Canine Heat Stroke, please visit https://heatstroke.dog/

Canine olfaction is a rapidly growing area of scientific research, with new discoveries and applications popping up all the time. A dog’s brain is built around the information it receives from scent, which is closely tied to emotions. A dog’s sense of smell is incredibly powerful and plays a crucial role in their health and overall well-being. It’s an important tool that helps dogs explore, understand and interact with the world around them. A dog’s nose pad produces an oily fluid to help scent molecules stick to it more easily which allows them to pick up and process a wide variety of smells. When they sniff, the air they actually breathe in and out goes through different pathways, with 88% going to be used for respiratory function, and 12% being used for olfactory processing. Dogs have a 3-dimensional sense of smell, allowing them to map out their surroundings and track movements in ways that humans can’t. This includes not just where something is or has been, but also how recently it was. Even more impressive is that dogs can sniff with one nostril at a time, which helps them determine the direction a scent is coming from. They can also inhale through one part of their nose to gather scents and exhale through another to avoid disturbing the smell they’re analysing and they even have a built in ‘temperature control system’, heating or cooling the air as necessary to ensure that the smells are processed at the right temperature for maximum accuracy! The more you can engage your dog's brain with new challenges and behaviours, the more relaxed and content they’ll be. Mental and physical stimulation are key to helping your dog manage stress and maintain balance, especially if their endorphin levels are on the low side. With this super tool at their disposal, there's no wonder that smell is their primary sense! So as a result, it should hopefully come as no surprise that sniffing also provides a variety of mental and physical benefits such as: Activates the seeking system:  Sniffing stimulates a dog’s brain by activating the seeking system, which is essential for their overall health and mental well-being. It keeps their mind engaged and sharp. Encourages exploration and learning:  Every time your dog sniffs, they gather new information about their environment. This exploration helps satisfy their curiosity and encourages them to stay active and alert. Releases dopamine:  Sniffing also triggers the release of dopamine, a chemical in the brain associated with feelings of pleasure and reward. This means sniffing makes dogs feel good and satisfied. Provides mental and physical exercise: Sniffing offers a dual benefit—it's mentally stimulating because it requires focus and concentration, and it’s physically beneficial because the act of sniffing itself requires effort. Strengthens the bond between you and your dog:  Allowing your dog to lead and explore during walks and activities strengthens the connection between you and your pet. It builds trust and lets them know that they are free to engage with their surroundings. Promotes independent thinking and problem solving:  Sniffing activities encourage dogs to think on their own and develop problem-solving skills, whether they’re following a scent or figuring out a scent-based puzzle. For dogs, the sense of smell is not just a way to explore—it’s essential to their quality of life. When dogs lose their ability to smell, it can lead to depression, as they lose one of their primary ways of interacting with the world. Regular sniffing activities, such as Mantrailing , are crucial to keeping dogs mentally stimulated, happy, and healthy.