Obedience training your hounds

[bob baldwin jr]

I know it is a lot easier if you start with a pup . But lets say you get a one year old hound . What specifically do you do to to make said hound listen to your commands . ?

[dandavidson]

Tritronics collar, I was amazed at how the dog listen the first time, you can use a very low voltage and they get the picture quickly, treats also work good and of course a lot of praise.

Good luck!!

D

[mofo21]

Tritronics collar, I was amazed at how the dog listen the first time, you can use a very low voltage and they get the picture quickly, treats also work good and of course a lot of praise.

Good luck!!

D

if you are going to use one put it on EVERY time you let your dog out!! if you just put it on every couple of times they learn that if they dont have that collar on they can do whatever the hell the want (until you catch them) learned this the hard way with our bird dogs had one collar and two dogs so during training only one dog had the collar on at a time. if they have the collar on you dont even have to reach for the remote they are the best behaved dogs ever but if they dont have it on watch out they are gone! so just bought some old broke collars to use as dummies and they dont know the difference.

[cobalt]

Not knowing the dog or its temprament, I would leash train it first for a few weeks with or without the electricity. I've seen many dogs run the opposite direction when shocked, even on low settings. The mess you have to clean up if this happens can make things even more difficult.

[Trueblue]

Step#1: Make friends with the dog and do nothing else except leash train the dog for the first couple weeks.
Step#2 Take the dog to an open area like a school ball field if possible.Attach a 50ft check cord to him and let him go.Make sure his shock collar is on him even though you won't be using it at this stage.I just drop the check cord on the ground and stay close enough to grab it at all times.Let the dog get a little ways from you and then call his name.If he doesn't respond,grab the cord and reel him into you while you say his name.Love him up and let him know it makes you happy when he comes.Do this until the dog is coming to you without you having to reel him in with the check cord.Most dogs will learn this very quickly.I would do this every day for about a week.By then he should be responding well to your command.If not then do it longer.
Step#3: When the dog is coming to you and you are confident that he knows exactly what you expect from him then you can now incorporate the shock collar.Let him go and from now on if you call him and he does not respond then give him the slightest tickle just enough to get his attention and then call him again.You never want to use the shock collar until the dog understands what you want from him otherwise he will be confused about why he is being shocked.Once you have the dog responding well when you call him then you are well on your way to having a good handling dog.If he will come to you then it will be easy to teach him everything else.
Keep all these training sessions on a positive note.The dog will respond best if he likes and trusts you,then he will want to please you.If you are weak like the rest of us then there will be times that you will probably want to yell at that dog and give him a piece of your mind......don't do it.....take a break.I have seen dogs that have been trained by heavy handed methods and dogs that have been trained without being heavy handed.As for me I like dogs that are confident, happy ,willing participants.I don't like them responding to me hunkered down with their tale between their legs.Hope all this helps.

[bob baldwin jr]

Trueblue / Cobalt : It sounds like you guys have been down this road once or twice before I am NOT a big fan of using shock collars unless absolutely necessary .we have 3 blue dogs and 1 english .We mostly just do bear hunting . last fall we had a high school kid hunt with us that had an English hound I think at the time the hound was 9-10 months old . I thought the hound did well on 2 chases and probably has good potential . While on the chase no problems . but prior to and after the chases this hound just seems to NOT want to do what you are telling him to do . The kid claims he just did not have the time to train him .

I don't expect my hounds to be like " MISS MANNERS " Barking Please and Thank-You . Yet I DO expect them to honor one word commands like : Hounds name first COME , STOP , LOAD SIT etc; I feel this is a realistic endeavor to pursue .

Anyhow I ran across another bearhunter at a convenience store ,We got to jawing and I told him the kid was going away to college in the fall and wanted to know if I wanted to have the hound . I still might consider it but the other hunter told me he had also hunted behind that pup and the pups mother . Both he deemed as being SIMPLE Minded Hounds . Good at running bears but NOT worth feeding the rest of the time . Also he would cull them before he would let anyone breed them

Same guy is telling me he thinks I am going overboard with trying to have the hounds HONOR all voice commands. His thinking is it takes the SPIRIT of the CHASE out of them .

I guess this leads to a few questions :

Did anyone ever feel they had a SIMPLE hound
Do hounds have the equilevant of what we call ADD -Attention Deficit Dis-order
I have not heard of this in hounds before
Personally at this point I would rather NOT take the chance of a DEFECTIVE HOUND unless you guys feel differently

THANKS

[cobalt]

I won't debate the "spirit" issue, but I will say that I hate being around dogs that act like idiots. The fun goes out of hunting real fast and it doesn't take much to teach a dog his name and to come when called under reasonable situations.

[Trueblue]

Same guy is telling me he thinks I am going overboard with trying to have the hounds HONOR all voice commands. His thinking is it takes the SPIRIT of the CHASE out of them.

I don't really know what you mean by all voice commands ? You don't need to clutter up a hounds mind with a bunch of stuff you don't need him to know.Don't OVER handle the dog.Just get him to come every time you call him and then teaching him to load up,get in the kennel,behave in the woods etc. etc. will be easy.If the dog is free and already does good on a bear what do you have to lose.Not many hounds out there that can't learn a few basic things to make your time in the woods with them enjoyable.

[Trueblue]

Forgot to mention that a shock collar is the best tool in the world for training hounds in the hands of the right person.It's the worst tool in the world in the hands of the wrong person.

[bob baldwin jr]

There are only 5 or 6 commands that I use . I don't think that is stretching a Hounds Memory Capacity that much

[deuce]

I think obedience training is one of the most important steps in a good hound. I would start with leash training and then move on to a shock collor.

[imchestnut]

Can you really clutter up a dogs mind with too many commands? I have at least two dogs that don't need a shocker and don't need a leash and they will do everything I ask until they hit a good bear track and then they are gonners and hunt as hard as any dog I've seen.

I teach all my pups the following: Their Name, Sit, Come, No, Bark, Hush, Backup, Load, Leave it (if they've got their nose in a deer track)...

I work with the others I've picked that are older up to know their name, sit, Hush, Come, and No. The smart ones, its easy to teach them, some its more difficult.

I use treats to train more than shockers. Most hounds really respond to food (bits fo cheese is good)...I also train all mine to take whatever I am giving them out of my hand gently without snapping...

[BlacktailStalker]

I get somewhat of a handle on them when they're little and as they age, they seem to wind down as time goes on and handle fine.
None of them walk behind me but I dont hunt that way, although it sure would be nice at times.
No, load up, back and 'shutup' covers their obedience.
"Find 'em" or "wheres the cat" and they start fanning out all over unless I "pssst" my finger on a track or w/e when i put them down and "show 'em to me" at the tree when i pet them up.
Then the curses are a whole new thread
They dont sit and stay but I dont want them too either.

The 'beep' is my best friend.

[horshur]

I know it is a lot easier if you start with a pup . But lets say you get a one year old hound . What specifically do you do to to make said hound listen to your commands . ?

this is a valuable thread on the subject
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1714

[fox hunter]

hounds women and kids all need to mind and handle if they dont their not worth a f$$k. all jokeing aside if a dog cant be taught to respond to simple comands like come and shut up I wont keep them the most important tool a hound has is the stuff between his ears with out it what is the since in keeping one that is not a pleasure to hunt