Motivation is what the dog needs to get into any kind of action. To do a motivation track is to focus the dog on a person (preferably you) and let another person walk it to find you.

This is how you do it.

You need to be in a forest/park with trees where you can “disappear” out of sight within a couple of meters. You have put the dog on harness and tracking line and let the other person hold the line. (If the dog is very keen on going to you, let the other person wear gloves to avoid burn from the line)

You must stand in front of the dog and call his name. You will turn around and run into the forest, calling his name. After 10-15 feet you stop and turn around. The other handler takes the dog away here, out of sight, with out talking to it. You turn again and walk about 20-30 meters in a straight line and hide where you find it suitable. After ten minutes of waiting the handler returns with the dog and lets it out on the line to the spot you disappeared. He must not talk to the dog here, and if the dog is confused he will circle around. It is crucial that you are silent and not calling the dog.

The dog will use its senses in the following order: Eyes, do I see my mum? Ears, do I hear my mum? Nose, do I smell my mum? If the dog is not used to using its nose, it can take a couple of minutes until he connects the last of his “weapons” to find you. It is easier to whine and cling to the handler, if the dog is not used to sorting things out for himself. Most dogs will turn to the humans for assistance here. The handler must stand and count leaves on the trees, as he cant help the dog out at this point. The dog will soon start to sniff around as he has no option (and if he is eager to find you) and when he does, the handler needs to follow him silently. After a few meters on the track, the dog will understand that the track smells stronger the closer he gets, and will speed up. When he finds you, all praise must break loose… he is the champion!! This is motivation tracking, and it can be repeated a couple of times, with longer distance to you as soon as the dog understands what is expected from him, most dogs do this after the first/second time.

As soon as the dog understands it needs to use the nose to find you, you can try and do this on your own, you let the handler hold the dog and you disappear as before, but you put a toy or food bowl where you would have hidden and then walk in a big loop to get back to the dog. If you don’t talk to it now, but just take the line and let him go on the track, he will go for the track and find not you but the food bowl (or your jacket with a toy/treat on, whatever you choose) and he has done his first real track! You praise him lots when he finds the object and then start to do the tracking as it was described before.