Your+Dog++May+2019

28 Your Dog May 2019

Steph Rendall with

her dog, Freyja.

Discover mantrailing — a fun, new

activity for dogs and handlers of

all ages and i tness levels.

on the scent!

M

antrailing is the art of working with

a dog to utilise his extraordinary

sense of smell to search and locate

a missing person. It is a popular sport in

America and Europe, but in the UK it is

a fun, reacreational activity for dogs and

handlers. This month we caught up with

Steph Rendall, from Bristol, who began

mantrailing with her Jack Russell Terriers

last summer, and is setting up a new

mantrailing group in her local area.

Q Tell us about your dogs.

A “I have Iti, a four-year-old Jack Russell

Terrier, who I bought to do heelwork to

music (HTM). I’ve done HTM for several

years and had visions of training her and

Q What made you decide to have a go

at mantrailing?

A “I was just looking at various dog training

workshops on social media, and I saw an

advert for an introduction to mantrailing,

which sounded interesting. It was in the

Forest of Dean, which is not far from where

I live, so I signed Freyja up for it. By chance,

someone else dropped out of the course,

and I asked if I could take Iti as well, so

perhaps one day even competing at Crufts!

Unfortunately, Iti had other ideas. Although

I competed with her several times and she

always got placed, I just didn’t feel she was

happy. It felt like she was only doing it for

me, and so I stopped competing. Then I got

my two-year-old Jack Russell Terrier Freyja,

and she wasn’t one bit interested in HTM or

l yball, so I started to look for a new activity

that they might enjoy.”

HOT

Dogs i nd the sport

intensely rewarding.

Focus

on dog

sports

24-26 Mantrailing CS(SW)ok.indd 28 26/03/2019 09:27