Puppy training

[Fullcryutah]

I have a 2 yr old grade dog great blood on both sides he has started super strong but lately he will start to Trail and he will go about 300 yards and if he does not jump game he quits and comes back when the other dogs jump the game he runs straight to them and tree super hard has anyone had an experience like this and how did they break them of that.

[david]

With puppies (juveniles) getting started, I catch them up and put them in the box and they stay there the rest of the day. They have to stay in there and listen to all the action they are missing out on. I have always found with young dogs “reverse psychology” has worked well. What I want them to do is hunt hard and not come back. What I force them to do is not hunt and not do anything fun if they show up while other dogs are obviously working.

Hounds that are FULL HOUND blood have responded well to this and it intensifies their desire to hunt and they avoid behaviors that would land them in jail for the rest of the day.

However, I have experimented with dogs that are not full hound, (and not even cur), and what you describe is the reason I no longer have them. At times I could work them out of it, but it was way too much work, and if laid up for a time they might easily slip back into this behavior.

At two years old, I would be a bit worried, and each infraction would be placed on the evaluation balance. There is only so much of it I will take.

But also, some dogs just really need to be laid up for awhile, and/or left in the box and not allowed to hunt.

There has been more than once that I was frustrated to the point of culling from the pack. But instead, I laid the dog up for awhile until I forgot what I was so frustrated about. Two dogs who are still at the top of my list for all time favorites went through this process. They seemed to be going backwards but instead of pulling the plug on them, I kept them and laid them up.

If you have a Garmin, another option is to give stimulation when you see the dog falling out. This has worked for me in getting a dog not to get hung up at a location of heavy scent. I had to teach him a vocal command that meant “press on!” This took staying with him as best I could and giving the command while forcing him on in the direction I felt the game went. It took very little work and he quickly understood with the help of the Garmin.

If your dog is coming out on the backtrack, and you are coming in on the track, with the help of the Garmin it would be nothing to scold him (depending on his temperament and personality); turn him around and send him back down the track with encouragement. A few times of this, and tone/electricity would be appropriate, because he will understand what you mean by it. Without that training, many dogs will interpret the tone as “quit hunting and get to the truck”. But the tone or vocalization can easily become an encouragement to hunt harder and faster. I have seen this with my own eyes; first by watching Finney Clay, and then by using it with my own dogs.

Bird dog trainers have long used mild electrical stimulation to produce a more enthusiastic positive behavior. Think about it. The tone most certainly produces a shot of Adrenalin. With a little training and positive association, this adrenalin can be used toward a more enthusiastic desired behavior (eg. hunting harder).

But if it was me, I would begin by catching him up and putting him in jail every time he shows up at the truck while others are working. He definately would not be allowed to join them on the jump or at the tree!! This would be rewarding/reinforcing his lazy behavior.
Think about it; wouldn’t you also rather let others do all the work and you just show up on pay day and collect the same pay check as they are getting?

If you could get away with that, how many times would it take before it became a habit for you?

[DeerRunnerWolfSlayer]

The dog sounds like it just doesn't have the drive to continue on a cold track. This happens when the dog grows up running hot tracks, it never gets used to cold trailing.

[ALEX]

[ALEX]

[david]

[ALEX]

David,

Very appreciative of the in depth, detailed response touching on some things that aren't the most intuitive to consider. Those questions were hypotheticals more or less, because I've dealt with those scenarios in the past, like I'm sure many have. Your input touched on the deeper level of relations we can have with our hounds if we pay attention to it. Very insightful information.

[Fullcryutah]

Thanks for all your insight! If there is one thing I have learned I'm never too proud to ask questions or take recommendations year after year I seem to always find a new situation to deal with. different dogs respond better to different methods learned by all of you thanks for everyone's help

[pegleg]

Also trailing. Whether you call it ability or desire or both. If that dog doesnt believe its catchable is a possibility. So he naturally comes to you. If a hound is really excited about a track but comes back time and again. That falls into three classes for me. A honest loss. A dog breed one way or another to stay close to the handler. Or a pup with out the confidence/desire. If its very young it might grow out of it.
But at 2 if its been hunted/handled enough. The dog is either at fault or its training.
Hunting on foot or horseback can encourage a hound to hunt close. But if it has drive nothing should keep it close once it hits a track.
Its different but i once had a hound about a year old that was high drive but at a half mile or so would hang up. Until you could be seen or heard.
I dont like coupling hounds the drawbacks are numerous. But sometimes it seems to be the solution. Everyday i coupled that dog to another for a few weeks. Kenneled them at night. When i next took it hunting it stayed with the mate the whole time.
Maybe it worked or maybe it not hunting for a while like david said.
However for me if a dog doesnt have the desire to pound a track to death trying to line it out everytime even if its beyond its ability they dont stay long. But to be clear i dont own any hounds that dont hunt within a few hundred yards until a track is struck either.
All these things might have some small chance. But a hound that starts a track and quits while other dogs are continueing to move it. Has either been trained to by some experience handler/other dog etc. Or lacks drive..