The Finnish Tracking Trial
The Finnish tracking trial is performed in a forest. The trial is divided into parts. The dog must:
find the track from a searching line and
follow the track to it's ending point
A participating dog is working in a tracking harness and in a 10 meter long lead.
The searching line is a marked distance between two points in terrain. The track crosses the searching line at unknown distance.
The dog must independently find and pick up the track from this line. The instructor follows the dog at 10 meters distance (the lead). The dog must find the track from the line and start tracking it correctly in 5 minutes of time
The track itself (made by a helper) travels winding in and out, and forms angles, in the terrain. When the track is being made, on the track will be left six wooden objects, the last one at the end of the track. To estimate the accuransy of a dogs tracking, instructor must bring all the founded objects to the judge. The judge doesn't follow the tracking dog in the terrain.
Tracking objects (below) From left to right: Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3
CLASS I
CLASS II
CLASS III
Age of the track
60 minutes
90 minutes
120 minutes
Length of the track
500 meters
1.000 meters
1.500 meters
Searching line
30 meters
40 meters
50 meters
Objects
plain wood
painted wood
natural wood
several, also 45 degrees
Angles
one 90 degrees
several 90 degrees
Time to track
20 minutes
30 minutes
40 minutes
In Class III, a participating dog must also take part in Article search.
RESULTS FROM TRACKING TRIALS
CLASSES I & II
Finding the track - 40 points
Objects 1-5 (á 20p) - 100 points
Object 6 - 60 points
TOTAL - 200 points
CLASS III
Finding the track - 40 points
Objects 1-5 (á 15p) - 75 points
Object 6 - 55 points
Article search - 30 points
TOTAL - 200 points
To gain a certificate a dog must follow the whole track (find object 6!) and of course must have n acceptable obedience...
Titles awarded: JK1, JK2, JK3
