The Trail Speaks. Are You Listening?

Every walk offers an opportunity to learn, if we're paying attention.

A few months ago, I was walking my dogs in a nearby field shortly after a heavy summer shower. The rain had passed almost as quickly as it arrived and the sun was already beginning to dry the ground.

As we walked, something caught my attention. In some areas my dogs became deeply engaged with the ground, sniffing with real purpose. Just a short distance away they showed very little interest. This wasn't the usual stop to investigate where another dog had been. Their behaviour had changed, and I wanted to know why.

Looking more closely, I noticed that the areas attracting the most attention were still damp. They were shaded from the sun, while the surrounding ground had already dried.

It made me wonder what the scent picture looked like.

We can't see odour, so we have to be careful not to jump to conclusions. But we do know that moisture, temperature, sunlight and airflow all influence how odour is released, moves through the environment and remains available to a dog. Even over a distance of a few metres, the scent picture can change dramatically.

That means a trail is rarely uniform.

In one area a dog may work with its nose close to the ground. A few steps later it may lift its head, slow down, cast from side to side or suddenly become much more interested in a particular patch of ground. Those changes don't necessarily mean the dog has become distracted or made a mistake. They may simply reflect a different scent picture.

This is where I think some of the most interesting learning happens.

Rather than asking, "Is my dog on the trail?", try asking, "What might my dog be experiencing here?" That small change in thinking encourages us to observe before we interpret. Over time we begin to notice how weather, terrain and vegetation influence the way our dogs work, and we become better at reading the information they're giving us.

The trail is constantly changing. Our dogs are reading those changes long before we are.

The question is whether we're paying attention.