correcting trash problems?

[stacey robeson]

I hear alot about straight dogs for rigging, But my question is if you catch a dog stricking crap do you shock em,scold em or what? I know it starts with ground work but what about on the box? I hear that it can ruin a dog to get after them on the box. Is there any truth to that.

[mike martell]

stacey. the objective is to have the dog associate the corrective behavioral problem with the problem itself,not you the handler. any time you yell at the dog or strike them with a switch, the association becomes directly related to the handler. now if the dog opens on trash and you have your e-collar on, you simply stop the vehicle turn your dog down ,as he begins to open, you apply the correct amount of stimulation to make the dog uncomfortable. when the dog returns to the truck, i praise there return. load them up and continue hunting. usally after this exercise i remove the dog from the rig deck. by putting the dog inside the box i control his ability to strike another bad track.i try and not repeat the corrective measure until i have a good race. i like to end a hunt on a positive note with lots of praise for a young dog. by not being heavy handed .the dog will soon retain his lessons learned in a favorable manner. the secret to hunting is consistency. don't matter how you handle the dog as long as nothing changes in his simple world. if you as a handler are working a dog as needed .you should have a trash free broke hound before one year old. 99% of the time the problem is the handler not the dog. good luck

[stacey robeson]

thank you for that insite. What is an e-collar? is it just a shock collar like a classic 70? would you start by using a tone mode or just level 1 shocking? (a quick tap on the lowest setting)

[stacey robeson]

mike,

what about if you can't see what the dog is running? I have had this problem before is why I ask. Also, how long would a person keep a trash prone dog? I had a blue dog that I think I did alright on, but after four years he still was nowhere near broke!, But when I got rid of him my other dogs started showing major inprovement really fast. I would like some insite to this as I don't want to remake this problem.

I am willing to give a hound plenty of chances but I think there should be a cut off point, but i'm not sure of when that should be. I would love some thoughts from some veteran guys. I won't thrash a dog so that help but just about anything else a person could help with will be much needed advice. thanks

[mike martell]

stacey. as you have figured out if you have a trashy dog you are done hunting. a four year old trash burner is not good. the common mistake most people make is by not knowing what the dog is rigging. if you suspect trash. i quit rigging,and hunting. take a little time out for some breaking. i drive up to some clear cuts and set up the dog by placing the dog directly on the trash i see with my own eyes.and now you can use the snow to your advantage by finding the desired track and putting the dog directly on the track. if you are rig starting without a track you are at the mercy of the dog. never allow yourself to be at the mercy of any dog. as they will run you to death. this process will seem complicated. but i assure you it gets easy as you begin to have total control of your dog.i will do another section on starting the dog rigging without having an old broke dog to train with next.

[mike martell]

once your dog is ready to begin rigging.i start them on coon. the reason being is you can head over to the coast,say the alsea river.from there run all the feeder creeks. you will average 25 coon strikes a night easy. you will even see some coon jump the road. even in a location you can't release the dog, you can still take advantage of the scent by encouraging the dog to strike. by the end of one winter, any dog worth keeping will be going strong. i just started a young dog that is going to be 7 months old jan.1. he was started with this method. has been on 37 coon trees,several cat trees.also knows how to locate. learned by coon hunting, so by doing this he got going early,he also discovered deer.as we had a problem i allowed him to start the trash on the ground and stopped him. we continue hunting.strike a good track and tree it, pretty soon the dog forgets trash. keep in mind i have not coon hunted for over a month so all the dog has done, has been before 6 months of age. this dog is straight. and will rig, start,tree his own coon right now.take full advantage of the abundent resources. he has since graduated to the cat dog woods. and is doing very well. as he is heading out as a clean dog ready to absorb his cat training lessons free from trash. remember one word.....repetition. keep it simple

[stacey robeson]

thank you once i start hunting again i will deffinetly use this info. I believe you said that you run coma/lipper dogs? I have heard alot about these dogs do you know where a fella might find a pup out of these dogs? probly won't be able to get one untill next season but would like to look into it just in case the economy gets alittle better.

[West]

I hear alot about straight dogs for rigging, But my question is if you catch a dog stricking crap do you shock em,scold em or what? I know it starts with ground work but what about on the box? I hear that it can ruin a dog to get after them on the box. Is there any truth to that.

You can deal with a dog in the box .. But be sure its trash he is stricking on and thats hard when rigging .. you might try setting him up on deer that is standing close alone or something like that .. when you can control the strike ..

[stacey robeson]

I am reluctant to take a dog out of the box to run trash. It seems like giving a kid dope an woopin him for smokin it. I would not like to start a problem I will have to fix later. maybe I am wrong but would like info an opinions.

[tramp]

set him up on deer, then lightem up.