Mantrailing in Marlborough, Pewsey, Hungerford, Swindon, Devizes, Tidworth, Market Lavington and Warminster.

In principle no, not at all. You can sit with your dog between goes. However, you will miss out on some learning as watching other dogs work and hiding for another dog to come and find you gives you just as much information as working with your own dog.

But it’s not a problem if you’d like to sit with your dog when it’s not their turn.

Here at Lucy Ward Dog Training, we’d say no. The introduction workshop is as much about your learning as is it your dogs. Once you’ve completed an intro with one dog, you can then book your other dog on to a training session of your choice and we can easily accommodate.

However, you’re very welcome to do an intro with both of your dogs if you wish. Please note that other instructors may have a different policy for people with multiple dogs.

In short, yes. Mantrailing is a sport that involves your dog being out in front of you and pulling. It’s not safe or appropriate for your dog to pull into a collar.

We have a large size range of spare harnesses that you can borrow for the introduction workshop if you wish. Then, if you decide you’d like to carry on with the sport you can purchase your own harness.

No. Running when mantrialing is a big no no, and not required.

We walk behind our dogs when they’re searching. It’s safer; we’d never be able to keep up if we had to run behind them (no matter how fit you are) and as running induces panting in our dogs, they’d be unable to sniff as well and therefore make the search for their missing person much harder

Absolutely not, no recall is needed for mantrailing. Dogs stay on a long line at all times; at no point in a dog’s progression in the sport do we take the dogs off the lead.

We may start a very very young puppy off by having them off lead or trailing the long line behind them, but this is quickly progressed into you holding the long line.

For the majority of dogs, absolutely. The sport is a fantastic way to build a dogs confidence.

However, mantrailing isn’t a magic wand that can suddenly create a social dog, it takes time and patience like any training and it may be that you need to muzzle train your dog for them to safely do the sport. Or, we can work on tracking first (no person to find) to build their understanding and your confidence as a team.

If you’re concerned or have further questions, please get in touch with Lucy before booking. The safety of the other participants is hugely important as they’re the ones hiding for your dog.

Yes of course. Learning broadly from multiple instructors to give yourself a rounded learning experience is something we advocate and encourage. If you’re unsure about the style of training you’ve done so far, you can always get in touch with Lucy before booking.

Absolutley! No prior training or learning is required to start mantrailing. Naughty dogs are very welcome!

Yes! Doing multiple sports or types of training with your dog is no problem at all.

Tracking is a huge help when it comes to mantrailing, scent detection adds a lot to a dog’s skill set and helps build their independence when searching, agility can aid body confidence, and obedience can help with building motivation for rewards.

For the majority of dogs, yes. As long as they’re comfortable to move, walk, and wear a harness then they can do mantrailing.

We’ve had dogs trail with us that are deaf, blind or missing a limb and are amazing mantrailing dogs. It’s a great sport due to it being low impact, perfect for dogs that have had to retire from more active sports, such as agility, due to age related problems or mobility issues.