Dog Training Dick Staal

09/10/2026

Teach this FIRST, and your dog will track for 30 meters in 2 weeks:

Most people start tracking by placing food on the track.

But the (not so obvious) problem here is that…

Your dog learns to search for food.

NOT human scent.

That’s why – as soon as you decrease the food – your dog gets frustrated and loses motivation.

And in real tracking, spoiler alert…

There's no food on the ground.

So you have to teach indication FIRST.

Your dog learns that finding and indicating an object with human scent is what earns the reward.

Once that connection is solid…

You place that same object at the end of a short track.

Now your dog isn't following food.

It's following the human scent trail that leads to the object it already knows how to find.

From there, you just make the track longer.

And longer.

Until your dog is following tracks of dozens of meters…
With its nose locked to the ground, ignoring everything else, finding a tiny nail it can't even see with its eyes.

In two weeks.

If you want to see exactly how to build this from the ground up…

Comment "Guide" (of "Gids" voor Nederlands) and I'll send you a free tracking guide.

07/10/2026

👇How to teach tracking in just 2 WEEKS:

It sounds complicated… I know.

(Especially with puppies who don’t even know where their tail is.)

But this tracking system is SO simple that literally anyone could do it.

The first step is just a food bowl.

You have that.

Rub your hands on the bowl so your scent is on it…

… and then you feed your puppy from it as normal.

Every time its nose goes toward the bowl, it's ALSO smelling your human scent.

The dog doesn't understand it yet, but that’s okay.

It’s already building the first connection:

“Human scent near an object means something good is coming!”

Genius, right?

Maybe, but definitely not complicated.

From there, you replace the bowl with a smaller flat object.

Same exercise, same reward, smaller target.

Then smaller again.

Until the object is a tiny nail pushed into the ground with only the head above the grass.

COMPLETELY invisible to the eye.

By that point, your puppy has been smelling human scent on objects and getting rewarded for it

SO many times…

That it simply starts using its nose to find it.

Within about a week, your dog will be indicating a nail it can't even see.

And in the next week…

You’ll make the “indication” from farther and farther away… until it starts to look like tracking.

I made a NEW full guide that shows you everything you need to know about teaching indication in 5 days.

A day-by-day breakdown…

Which mistakes to avoid…

And how to know you’re READY to move on to tracking.

Comment "Indication" (of "Verwijzen" voor Nederlands) and I'll send it immediately.

06/10/2026

Teach your dog to retrieve without biting the object or running off with it:

Step 1: Your dog ONLY takes the object in its mouth.

As soon as it does, reward it.

It won't understand "hold" and "out" yet…

…and that's fine.

Your dog needs some time to LEARN what those mean.

Step 2: Sloooowly start delaying the reward.

Your dog needs to hold the object for a little longer before you say "out".

When you see that happen, reward.

Step 3 is where it gets interesting.

Throw the object close to you…

And as soon as your dog picks it up…

Say "out" and reward immediately.

Step 4: Teach your dog to sit in front of you, but train it SEPARATELY from the retrieve.

Most handlers do both in the same session…

And they end up overwhelming the dog and getting no results.

Once all of that is solid, your retrieving should look something like this:

Your dog picks up the object.

Comes to you, sits down.

Releases it neatly.

Without biting or running away with it.

Follow for more working dog training content.

04/10/2026

How to go from ZERO to having a dog that indicates human scent in 5 days…

It all starts with something your dog already knows:

A food bowl.

You rub your hands on it so your scent is on it, and feed your puppy from it as normal.

Your dog will have no idea why you’re doing that…

But it will begin learning that putting its nose on human scent is what brings the reward.

From there, swap the bowl for a smaller flat metal object.

Then smaller again…

Until you're using a TINY nail pressed into the ground.

Now your dog can't find it with its eyes anymore.

So it has to use its NOSE.

And because it's been smelling human scent on objects and getting rewarded for it so many times already…

The scent starts becoming familiar.

Now the dog gets it.

“If I find this object with my nose, I get rewarded. Let me do that more often!”

But there's one more step to add before the foundation is complete.

You have to teach your puppy to lie down when it finds the object.

To make that new step clear, temporarily go back to a slightly larger object…

So your puppy isn't trying to learn two difficult things at once.

One session later, it's back to the tiny nail.

And this time, it finds it, lies down, and indicates it with its nose locked onto the scent.

Once you have this foundation…

You can start the first short tracks almost immediately.

If you want to see exactly how to build your indication step by step…

I’ll send you the guide that already helped HUNDREDS of handlers teach indication in 5 days

Comment "Indication" (of "Verwijzen" voor Nederlands) and I’ll send it instantly.

02/10/2026

How to teach a 9-week-old puppy obedience in just one week:

You DON’T use commands yet.

Nope.

Just lure the behavior you want… and reward it.

Do it over and over again…

And somewhere in between, start dropping the command in.

Naturally, your puppy won’t understand the word yet.

But every time it hears the same command paired with the same behavior and the same reward…

The connection gets a little stronger.

Until one day, the command alone is enough.

And if, while doing obedience with puppies, you think:

"Ugh, the dog isn't focused on me. It’s focused on the food”...

That’s NORMAL.

With a young puppy, that's exactly how it should be.

You can't expect a puppy to listen out of obligation before it even understands what you want.

(Later, there will also be an element of obligation. Your dog will learn that certain things simply have to be done.)

But you can't rush that.

First, you make the behavior clear, positive, and rewarding.

Then you build from there.

Follow for more tips like this!

01/10/2026

Before you lay your first track, your dog needs to pass ONE test.

And that is…

It has to be COMPLETELY focused on the indicated object.

Not on you, okay?

Ears down toward the object… fully locked in…

Waiting for the reward without looking back at the handler.

That's what I call the “hunting drive.”

And until your dog can do that, starting tracking is pointless.

(But luckily, it only takes around 1 week to get there).

If your dog is focused on you instead of the scent…

It will never develop the focus it needs to follow a track independently.

It happens to the best of us too, and I correct it by…

… not doing anything.

That’s right.

When your dog looks at you, don’t do anything.

Don’t correct it.

Don’t say ANYTHING.

Just wait, and as soon as the dog looks back at the object, reward immediately.

Your dog learns through its own behavior that focusing on the object is what produces the reward.

Not looking at you.

Not waiting for a signal.

And once your dog can hold that focus consistently, you're ready to start tracking.

If you want to see how we get SOLID indication in one week…

And how I teach my students to get reliable tracking in 60 days…

Comment "Guide" (of "Gids" voor Nederlands) and I'll send it to you.

30/09/2026

🎙️ Kynotalk #141 – with Dick Staal

In this episode, Flo talks with *Dick Staal* about police tracking, hard surface tracking, working dogs, puppy training, fair corrections and the difference between teaching exercises and dealing with unwanted behavior.

🎙️ Kynotalk #141 – with Dick StaalIn this episode, Flo talks with...

29/09/2026

👇You get called to track someone who ran off.

You have their scent, but the problem is…

Nobody knows where they went.

And you think:

“Where the hell should my dog even start?”

This is one of the MOST common real-life scenarios handlers face.

(I saw this dozens of times in the Dutch Police… it’s a real mission killer.)

But no worries.

I’ll show you precisely how to train for it:

Give your dog the scent and give it the tracking context, exactly like in a normal track.

But…

Do NOT actually set a track.

Instead, secretly drop small objects with your scent on them somewhere in the area while your dog isn't watching.

It will search… find the object… and you reward it.

That reward teaches it that searching calmly and using its nose from the very first second is what pays off.

Even when there's absolutely nothing obvious to follow.

The idea is:

In a real situation, that object would be the moment your dog picks up the actual track and starts following it.

And then, the mission continues from there.

Without this training, your dog has NO idea what to do when there's no clear starting point.

So it either runs off randomly or stands there waiting for direction.

Sadly…

Neither of those works when the mission depends on finding the track.

If you want to see how to build a tracking dog that's ready for situations like this from the ground up…

I’ll send you my FREE tracking guide.

Comment "Guide" (of "Gids" voor Nederlands) and I'll send it immediately.

27/09/2026

What do you do if your dog follows a track perfectly… but the track just stops?

It happens more than you'd think in real missions.

The suspect gets into a car, jumps on a motorcycle, gets picked up by someone.

So the scent trail ends, and your dog has nothing left to follow.

Does that mean the mission failed?

Nope, not at all.

Your dog may have done everything perfectly.

But now you have a different problem.

Do you reward it or not?

If you give the big reward every time…

(Even when your dog finds nothing)...

It learns that finding something isn't actually necessary.

“Oh, I don’t need to find stuff to get rewarded. Okay!”, it might learn.

That's not what you want.

But you also can't just walk away and end the session negatively.

Because after all… the dog DID search well.

So here's what you do:

You call your dog back, give it attention, and reward it with something small.

(Food, a pet, some praise.)

You keep the ending POSITIVE.

Just don't give the main reward.

So your dog stays motivated for the next search…

Stays sharp when things get difficult…

And keeps working hard even when there's nothing to find.

^ Meaning, you get a dog that you can FULLY trust in any motivation.

If you want such a dog, I’ll send you the tracking guide that makes it easy to achieve.

Comment "Guide" (of "Gids" voor Nederlands) and I'll send it to your messages.

26/09/2026

👇Fix overshooting the track with 2 simple tricks:

If we’re being honest, your dog probably doesn’t use its nose at the start of a track.

It just shoots off in the direction it expects the track to go.

Sounds familiar?

(Well, that’s because you always set it to go straight!)

And as long as the track keeps going that way, nobody notices the problem.

Not you, not the dog, not your missions.

But as soon as the track starts left, or right, or back…

Oh, no… now we have a problem!

There are 2 fixes I like to use for this:

#1: The ‘no track’ track.

You put your dog into the exact same tracking context as always.

(Same line, same command, same hand signal.)

But… there's NO track.

You only put a tiny object at the start, so your dog can't rely on expectation.

It can't shoot off in a familiar direction.

It has to actually use its nose to find the scent right from the beginning.

And when it runs too far in the wrong direction, you don't correct it.

You stay where you are and let the line stop it naturally.

Your dog corrects itself and learns from its own behavior that running off randomly doesn't work.

#2: Use a VERY tiny object.

It’s not because we’re looking for objects in real missions.

We train dogs that look for people, just like you.

But using a very small object means your dog can’t SEE it.

It will have to rely on its nose.

And after a few sessions…

Your dog starts calmer…

Uses its nose immediately…

And confidently finds the scent instead of guessing where it is.

If you want to see our FULL tracking system, I’ll send you a free guide for your first 60 days of tracking.

Comment "Guide" (of "Gids" voor Nederlands) and I'll send it immediately.