Mantrailing as a species-appropriate occupation

By Suzanna Simon

Why do we recommend mantrailing so much?
On the one hand, because every dog is equipped with an incredibly fine nose, on the other hand, because it is in the nature of the dog to follow tracks.
But these are not all the reasons why this form of activity is so popular with us.
If you trail with your dog, he takes you into his world. A world that can otherwise never be opened to us.

You can learn from your dog how he perceives the world, how he shows himself in body language when he is on the trail, as well as how he shows himself when he has lost the trail. He tells you the story to the trail with his body and tells you how he solves problems. Experiencing this is magical. It creates a stable team relationship where both can rely on each other and both give everything for each other.

The great thing is that you and your dog will also benefit from this in everyday life. Because you understand him much better now, see much faster what he wants to tell you. Your dog experiences you as a competent person, who is smell-blind, but can penetrate the dog's world of smell through other sensory channels.

Insecure dogs become much more confident through mantrailing, because through mantrailing it is easier for them to master situations that were difficult before. This is due to a positive neurotransmitter level that comes into play during this work and strengthens the dog. In addition, selective perception helps. The dog is focused on his trail and does not perceive stimuli that unsettle him. In this way he can learn that he can evaluate these stimuli in a different way.
Of course this requires a very well thought out and adapted training, so that exactly this effect is achieved.

Very independent dogs can become more cooperative through good training, because various tasks can only be solved as a team.

As you can see from this small list, the possibilities of what mantrailing can do are manifold.