Mantrailing
With Mantrailing UK
Mantrailing is a fantastic dog sport that allows everyday pet owners to practise search and rescue skills. You and your dog will be working as a team utilizing your dog's incredible nose to hunt down a missing person based on their scent!
Upcoming Events: Friday 18th April Introduction to Mantrailing Workshop 9am - 11.30am
If you would like to make a start in Mantrailing but cannot find a date to suit you, we may be able to fit you in for a 121 Introductory session. Please contact us for more info.
What is Mantrailing?
Mantrailing is when a dog uses his nose to find a person, because they are missing or in our case, just for fun!! Each person has a unique scent, made up of all the debris that falls off our body as we go about day to day life. It might contain your skin cells, sweat, hormones and bacteria.
As we move our scent billows from us and moves around with the air before settling and sticking in the environment.
We give the dog an article, contaminated with the scent of the person to sniff. Then our dogs can follow these trails of scent to locate that specific person.
This life saving skill is used by search and rescue, police and military forces across the world. However, Mantrailing is not just for use by professionals, but is also a great activity for anyone who wants to spend quality time with their dog.
Mantrailing is the most physically demanding sport we offer for our human clients. You won’t need to run but you may be marching at speed across challenging terrains and need to be able to confidently hold onto your dog while it pulls in a harness for a prolonged period of time (don’t worry we give very specific cues so your dog will not start pulling you out on a normal walk!).
Mantrailing is suitable for all dogs of any age with no previous training needed. All dogs love it! However this is the most challenging sport we offer and it takes time and repetition for the dog to learn how to truly work the scent. A process we are happy to guide you through.
It is also well suited to reactive dogs as only one dog is worked at a time. Dogs are kept on lead or long lines at all times
To get started with us, you will need to attend a four week beginners' course or an introductory workshop. Then you can attend any of our weekly 2 hour practice sessions from there.
Practice Sessions - more sessions will be added but this is our initial timetable for August 2024:
2 hour practice sessions - £35
(limited to four attendees)
Wednesday 6 PM - locations vary, held around Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge areas
Thursday daytime
Saturday afternoons/Sunday mornings
There's no need to book a series of sessions, participants are free to come to as many or as few sessions as they like each month. These sessions do however get booked up quickly to please book early.
*Remember mantrailing weekly practice sessions are for those who have already completed a beginners' course or introductory workshop.
What you will need to bring:
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Harness
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8-10 metre line
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Scent article sealed in a sandwich bag
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Tasty food split into four medium sized food containers or some pouches of wet food
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Flat collar
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Normal lead
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Water bowl
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Bottled water
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Dog's favourite toy
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Appropriate clothing and footwear for two hours outside on different terrain
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Dog's coat if raining
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Poo bags
Reasons to sign up for Mantrailing for you and your dog:
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Mental and physical workout for your dog
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Helps to build a great relationship with your dog
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Spend time outdoors in the beautiful countryside
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Take part in a fun and social activity
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Great low impact exercise for puppies and older dogs
