Maria Olsson of Hayabussa Kennel owns, breeds, trains and shows Picardy Spaniels and Saint-Usage Spaniels. She owned, trained and bred Curly Coated Retrievers prior to focusing on spaniels. One of Maria’s Curly’s became a Swedish Blood Tracking Champion one day prior to her first birthday.
In Sweden we have to present and use a tracking dog within 2 hours if an animal is wounded during a hunt. There are no rules regarding the breed of dog, and no certificate of merit is needed. But there is a requirement that the dog is capable so we need to train the dogs that we want to use.
Training for blood tracking is fairly easy if the dog has natural instincts like the Picardy Spaniel. You just need some blood, an empty water bottle and the lower leg of a deer or boar. When we first start training the dog we lay a straight track of 50-60 meters using the water bottle to drip blood. We drag the leg behind us as we make the blood trail. Shortly after the track is laid the dog is brought to the first drop of blood and then released.
Some dogs are very catious the first time they are released on a blood track, but if they are interested they will almost crawl forward. One can often tell quite early in the training whether the dog is interested, or whether s/he is just not suited for the job. As the dog learns to track we progress in the training by first making longer tracks, then adding angles, and finally parts of the track are laid without blood, just the dragged limb. We also lengthen the time from when the track was laid to when we release the dog.
In Sweden if you are interested in competing in blood tracking with your dog there are two levels, the Aptitude Class and the Open Class. You start competing by entering your dog in the Aptitude Class and if s/he is approved you continue in the Open Class.
The Aptitude Class is basically Pass/Fail. The track in the Aptitude Class starts at a well marked spot, marked as in kicking up the soil and pouring a bit extra blood and rubbing the limb on the ground. A portion of the track is unblooded, but the limb is dragged the entire length of the track. The track is laid about 2 – 5 hours before start of the competition. In Open Class your dog can earn either a 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 0 prize. The track in the Open Class starts at an unmarked and undefined area of 25 X 25 meters. The length of the track is also 600 – 700 meters and it is laid with 4-90 degree angles. A part of the track is unblooded and there is no dragging of the limb on that portion of the track. The track is laid 12 – 24 hours before start of the competition and always ”rests” over night. Three first prizes in the Open Class are needed for the title “Svensk Viltsparchampion, SE VCH“, Swedish Blood Tracking Champion.
US Picardy Spaniel Alliance 