Some guys actually put the dog towards the animals anticipated approach. May sound backwards, but think about it. Which is more likely to wiggle if stepped on, the loose jaw or the dogged jaw?

I know you have your special traps that have neither, but just another thought to throw in the mix for those who like to over think things.:D

I keep it simple, pocket sets and flat sets dog facing directy at pocket or object; dirthole face the dog at 1 o'clock. Keep it simple and you will catch more fur. K-9's approach down wind almost 100% of the time. They don't circle your set either like a lot of people think. They will pace back and forth on the downwind side of the set trying to figure the smells out. You can't predit the wind at the exact moment they will show up, so make your set keep it simple and move onto the next.

I generally set the dog at 2 or 10 oclock with the pocket, poke hole, etc at 12 oclock. Depends which way I think they will approach. I mainly trap coon. If you have a corn field with a trail coming from a crick to it and the trail goes up the crick to a bunch of den trees then you could reasonably assume that the coon will be entering that trail from the direction of the den trees first thing in the evening when they leave their dens. Some trails are pretty obvious which way they are usually walking on it. Most of the coon I see while bowhunting go certain ways. Maybe it is just an observation by myself on a small scale but I've watched alot of them. They seem to stick to the water straight out the gate in the evenings but in the mornings they seem to be more on dryland.Like I said just my observations and it doesn't always work that way. Feel free to tell me I'm nuts.

I set the same for trail sets and for k9 sets also. I don't do much k9 trapping though.

I am a little confused on the concept of stepping between the jaws and not over them. To me, it seems that in order for it to reach the pan, it will have to step over the jaws. can someone please clarify?

stepping over the hinge, instead of over the middle of the jaw.

A = over the jaws
B = between the jaws

Got it now, Thanks guys