Mantrailing is like no other activity or sport that you can take part in with your pet dog. It is completely unique dog training in many ways but quite interestingly, it can help solve a number of unwanted behavioural problems that may challenge your every day life with your dog such as fear, hyperactivity, phobias, stress, anxiety, reactivity and aggression.
Mantrailing is a combination between hide and seek with your dog and search and rescue as a fun sport.
Mantrailing combines the amazing ability a dog has to recognise the scent of skin cells, to distinguish between individual scents and put them in chronological order to move ahead on a trail. The missing person goes to hide with the dog’s reward.
Usually the reward is food but it could be also a toy. Before they go they leave behind an item with their scent (smell). The dog uses their nose to follow this particular’s person scent for the reward.
In time we increase the difficulty of the trail, increasing distractions, using different locations and weather conditions.
The training is based on methods used for real search and rescue dogs on an operational level. Only here we do it for fun.
Although Mantrailing is a group sport, every dog is trained individually and trails are adjusted according to the specific dog’s needs. That is what makes this sport ideal for dogs with reactivity, anxiety and other behaviour issues.
Also, because we adapt the trails to dog’s personality, breed and age, dogs of all ages could enjoy the experience. From puppies( since they are fully vaccinated) up to older dogs.
And… dogs love it, they do it naturally and for them this is the best game! We don’t teach something they don’t know already. All we do is harness their natural instinct to use their nose, their sense of smell to find a missing person.