Mantrailing is a ‘sport’ where you teach your dog to trail the scent of a person.
According to Eva Michen, the owner of Canine Focus, the recent certification by the International Mantrailing Academy in Potchefstroom is a first in South Africa.
“Of the 15 participants, 11 went through for certification. It took a lot of hard work and exercising the dogs in trailing to prepare for the certification. On the day, 11 participants were local, two came from Parys and another two from Johannesburg. The instructor selected an extremely difficult course.
Many within the farming com- munity train their dogs for this, considering stock losses, fence cutting, theft, etc.,” Michen said.
The instructor who did the certification was Clinton Cilliers, the founder of Tactical K9 Africa, an international K9 breeding, training and certification centre for K9s and dog handlers for law enforcement and security companies.
“Clinton is passionate about mantrailing and became an International Mantrailing Academy instructor back in 2018. It has been a huge privilege to be mentored by him,” Michen said.
