Track and Search
Track and Search Dog (TSD) Trials
The Bendigo Obedience Dog Club strongly supports our members to attend a tracking workshop before commencing training in Tracking and Track and Search.
WORKSHOPS THAT PROVIDE EDUCATION ON SCENT AND HOW SCENT WORKS ARE RECOMMENDED. This will provide the basis of understanding what your dog is doing. It will also enable you to trust your dog and not try to control and interfere with what the dog is doing. The dog is the expert in this competition and should be allowed to lead you.
If you understand how scent works, how it moves and flows, how thermals and temperature create pools of scent, then Track and Search becomes much easier for you to understand the way the dog works.
The club holds tracking workshops each year and provide support for training and trialling for all our members.
Entries for these trials are open to members of Dogs Victoria with dogs that are also registered with Dogs Victoria (or other state body).
Track & Search Dog tests should be a test of credibility, verifying the dog’s ability to recognize and follow human scent while adapting to changing scenting conditions. Unlike the Tracking Trials, which are conducted in a rural setting, Track and Search Dog Trials are mainly situated in urban areas.
The tests require the dog to work on varied surfaces including gravel, sand, paved surfaces, and roads as well as bush. Tracks should be laid so as to represent the meanderings of a lost person and not always be ‘straight line’ tracks.
Tracks can also cross small streams or shallow bodies of water, roads and may be laid in contaminated areas which may include houses, bridges, shelters, stairs and ramps, parking areas or similar structures.
These tracking tests are set out to simulate finding a lost person.
It should be noted that this competition does not mean that any dog gaining a championship title in this sport is eligible to be used for finding people in a real life situation. Specialized training is given to dogs and handlers who work for specialized teams like the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR). The Track and Search Dog Tracking Trials are for competition only and your dog and you CANNOT and under no circumstances, SHOULD NOT claim to be qualified search and rescue handlers.
For more information on Track & Search competitions and rules, please refer to the BODC Trials Page - Starting to Trial (Compete).
A full description of the ten tracks required to become a TSD Grand Champion are available by clicking the icon below
Contact Details
Bendigo Obedience Dog Club Inc
Training Ground:
Finn Street Recreation Reserve, Bendigo Vic 3550
Postal Address:
PO Box 2396, Bendigo Mail Centre, Bendigo 3554
For enquiries please contact: Heather - 0409 429 972
Alternatively you can email your enquiry.