Tracking Training


Irene Howcroft, Owner/Operator
Irene is a Certified Master Trainer in: Obedience, Detection, Tracking/Man-Trailing, Evidence Recovery and Certified Trainer for Patrol. Together with the staff of Ruidoso Malinois she trains all Belgian Malinois K-9's at our facility.


Training Program
Tracking training at Ruidoso Malinois is influenced by the techniques of the Scandinavian Working Dog Institute (SWDI) starting the dog on hard surfaces thus ensuring that the dog understands they are tracking human odor and not crushed vegetation. At Ruidoso Malinois tracking is taken seriously as it is the most dangerous of all K-9 disciplines for both the K-9 and the handler. Our training process is a minimum of 3 months with 3 tracks per day, plus handler school of 2 months which ensures 5 months of foundation training. We focus on:

  • Track Scent
  • Body Odor Dispersement Scenting
  • Airborne Scenting
A tracking dog is considered seasoned after 2 years of daily maintenance tracks.