Mantrailing - how I got started

Mantrailing - our journey

I originally started Mantrailing after trying Scentwork with Merlin. As he doesn’t like other dogs, I found myself on edge and having to work out in the corridor outside the village hall rather than inside with everyone else. Although we did finish the course, it wasn’t as much fun as I’d hoped because I was always worried and Merlin struggled to concentrate.

Our instructor suggested we tried Mantrailing, and I signed up without any clear idea what I was letting myself in for. We attended an Introduction Workshop. Here was a sport that, because the dogs work one at a time, Merlin could take part in on an equal footing and I wouldn’t feel as though I was on the outside looking in all the time. I was hooked!

After a year or so I decided to try to become a Mantrailing instructor so that I could bring the sport to other dog owners. I had been travelling at least an hour’s drive to my instructor, so I knew there was a gap. I signed up on the Instructor course, passed both the Theory and Practical assessments and 1066 Mantrailing was born!

Since then Merlin and I have passed our Level One assessment and are working towards our Level Two. There’s no time limit so we are just enjoying the journey and getting out to trail when we can, in between running Mantrailing workshops and sessions in and around Eastbourne.