Training a bobcat dog

[dwalton]

I couple of disclaimers to start with. This only MY opinion, I do not mean to point to anyone or OFFEND anyone. If you are offended by what people say on this or any other time, it is not about you or not about what they said or did to you. The way I think a dog should be trained,in reality it won't work for all dogs or people. It starts at 2 weeks, when the puppies come to food well use a cap gun or something before feeding. Gun shyness handle before it is a issue. As soon as possible around six weeks,when a pup comes lift up on chin, push down on butt and give the command sit, thus they learn not to jump on you and sit for attachment of collars. After weaning the pups should be let out before morning and evening feed. Let them play when they start thinking about food and head back to kennel have food ready and call them. Start working individual pups on coming to name. When they notice you and are headed your way call name,If you are down close to the ground the pup will come easier, sit them and rub ears. Do NOT call them if you do not have their attention. Make it easy on yourself choose your timing. By 10 to 12 weeks all pups should know their name and come when you have their attention. At this time take on a lot of walks to build muscle and let them get use to the world. Start watching for timing to teach no. This is my way of train a pup to stop what ever he is doing and come to me. When a pup is seeing something that he is afraid of or new he will stand high and stretch out his head. YELL no and clap hands to get pups attention then call to you. In time he will stop what he is doing and come to you at the command no. At around four months the pups will know more than you and look when called as to say I am busy now get back to me latter. Time to get a 30' check and shock collar on them with treats teach them to come when you buzz them, pull them to you if you have to and reward them. When they have that down after several days of it take the cord off. Call them if they do not come hit with buzz, still did not come shock lightly and reward them when they come. Always choose your timing to get the best results. At this time they are taught that they can not leave home for a walk without me. NO wandering remember they hunt with me not I with them. The home work you do now will make a better hunting partner in the future. Enough for now let them be puppies and grow up. Next time I will give my way of starting them on tracks. Dewey

[newby]

Dewey, those are some really good ideas on laying the groundwork for basic obedience/handling. If my bitch took, I'll be putting some of these ideas into practice around the end of June. I noticed you're selling a litter early now because of health issues in the bitch, but under normal circumstances, how long do you like to keep the litter before you start letting them go?

[dwalton]

By six to eight weeks I have the ones that I want to keep picked out. I will usually keep twice as many as I want to hunt and thin out as time goes by. I am keeping eight out of my three litters for myself this year. Dewey

[Unreal_tk]

All of your methods i apply myself in different times than you though. But basically same ideas.

[slowandeasy]

i pretty much agree with ya dewy, not to say in the past when i may have been a little busy might have skiped a few steps. i really posted this to get it back to the top, because i really thought it should have bought all kinds of different views.

[flannel]

Thanks for the tips.

[R Severe]

Thanks Dewey, enjoyed reading your methods. Looking forward to your track starting.
RS

[TRW]

Just a question for the avid cat hunters we all like a good hard round and round race till it climbs or gets stretched why don't you push them dogs to the next level and fox hunt at night I feel like if your caching fifty percent of what you run my hats of to ya! I personally like to cat hunt but fox hunting them dogs sure shows what they have in em after a few days. Good place to weed out a a few questions in a pack.

[dwalton]

Track Starting... I walk my pups as much as possible from a early age to get them independent, to learn to get around, find me and home. They get hauled a lot on short hauls with out the older dogs to get over car sickness. At 5 to 6 months I will walk hunt them with the old dogs to see if they are ready to go and can keep up with out barking behind. They should be going on races, not barking or treeing at this stage. If they are barking behind the dogs they get to stay at home. I never encourage a young dog to tree. It will start treeing when it knows what a tree is for. The young dogs that open at this stage or tree are usually culled by 2 years. I want the natural locating tree dogs to do it by themselves to find true tree dogs. The ones that tree because the others do, may not ever learn to locate. While walk hunting with pups that are tone trained I can tell when they get flighty on off game and tone them. I do not shock a young dog for running off game until they have been on cats for awhile and some kills. I want my pups born from Dec. to March. They are at the age to start there first fall and make the races but not old enough to run independently enough to run off game. If they have been tone trained most of the deer breaking is done maybe one or twice they will have to be shocked. If a pup wanders at a tree I tone and tie it, I always tie the pups at a tree first. If a pup goes to a tree and back trails away from it it will be shocked. I try to get to the tree quick and tie if possible. I will not tolerate a dog trailing off a tree. It has to be stopped immediately. I think a lot of the problems that people have with running dogs is not knowing how to deal with them around the tree and let a lot of bad habits get started. If a young dog is barking off track on a race they get toned. Barking off track is barking going to dogs, barking behind, barking when they see a dog giving tail ahead and barking over running the track. This is why one walk hunts or hunts open country to see what is really going on. If a young dog is coached from the beginning A lot of the problems do not ever become an issue. I do not jump game out. I am working to get a dog to stay and tree not look for a track leaving. As soon as your young dog is going well it should have the chance to run its on game by its self or with other young dogs. This is ideal which does not always work in the real world. Things that I don't do... Shock a pup on off game before it knows what is good game[ 5 or 6 cat trees]. Shock a pup on the box for any reason. Let a pup be hauled with strange dogs or a dog that might bite it.Set a pup up on game at a early age to break it. When Tanner was young he started running deer at 4 months old, by the time I ran him with the older dogs on cat he would not stay on the cat track long until he had a deer going. I had to break him off deer before I could get him on cats. By the time I got him stopped from deer he would not run anything. It took a lot to let him know that he could run and cats were OK. This is what has worked the best for me. I spend more time out there walking with the dogs than most people do. I want to know what everyone is doing not making up a story as to what I think they are doing. In open country people that have mules or horses can sure have some great days watching there dogs work. As far as fox hunting I am a cat hunter not a fox hunter. I do not hunt at night unless it is in the open timber over east or in the desert. My dogs have to pay for themselves a $30 fox does not look as good as a $1000 cat. When you are running fox you are wasting time that I could be catching a cat. My dogs do not run lion only bobcats. With one species[ bobcats] I have very little trouble with trash. If you have a combination dog that runs several species you are giving him permission to run anything and everything. Dewey

[slowandeasy]

[TRW]

Well correct me if I'm wrong but one side of tanner is full fox breed didn't his mom come from playboy and ready prob some of the best fox dogs I have ran with in shape and the father is a reg finly river dog just big game breed I thought and I personally think you run pups to young and you can brush burn em and hurt them with confidence never had to many pups shine at eight months old at night swim run in blow downs be a champ when it has trouble loading in the box i hunted both thoes dogs for mike for a had a great time with em loved there track style . I just thought maybe you would peck with the chickens to sore with the eagles

[dwalton]

Tanner is out of Rose,5\8 running dog. She is out of Star and Reddy Butch the Sire of Tanner is Finely River and Vern Hopins bred Treeing dog. Dewey

[TRW]

Well star must of came from arrow cause I know playboy and ready are related not trying to stir the pot just think that a good cat dog can run both and be a broke dog and for the younger gen I started with a bounch of dogs that's it keep em on game that trees and then fine tune em I coon hunted one of the brokest dogs I have trained for two years prob killed fifty or more started killing cats and she left the coon alone with a little time the fox are easy to get after and keep things fun especially if you don't own a high powered cat dog sucks just hopen to tree some thing l say if your trying to make a young dogs keep fur in there mouth then when the time comes there not standing in the road there at the tree when cat hits the dirt

[Ringo]

If you were starting a new pack with no older dogs to do the treeing, how would you go about this as far as not encouraging to tree? At what age do the dogs start locating trees well on there own? I catch quite a few lions and the dogs tree hard but they have only caught acouple bobcats and dont seem to locate and tree as good. Is there anything I can do to help or just get them on more bobcats and see if they get it figured out?

[TRW]

Ya practice makes perfect after a while they just figure it out especially if you don't have a jewel to train your young dogs its confidence and repetition even if they falts tree here and there what elts you got to relie on if they do it cause they make a loose and babble up a tree then make a point but if they are trying let them mess up and help them till you find a old dog or they turn the corner I have hunted bear dogs that have never ran a bob and they sen enough game they located and tree on bobs by there self its cause they seen a pile of game