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I have two dogs around six months and I road them in prime deer and coyote habitat. It's pretty hard to find a place around here that doesn't have much deer or coyote activity. Whenever they come on a deer or coyote track that is fresh they trail it and it's very hard to get control over them. I don't want them to be trashy dogs but I dont want to shock them for trailing something at this age. What do some of you think is the correct way to correct this problem?

Keep driving. Believe it or not, they will get the point that deer and yotes aint what you are after. Those pups are a lot smarter than you think. Explaining to them what you ARE after is the hard part.

I agree with the fact that the pups are smarter than most guys will admit. I have a different opinion on not stopping them from doing wrong though. I would verbally stop them from trailing the wrong game. Learning what not to do is just as important in life as learning what to do. If a dog will trail at that age, it is not going to stop trailing all together if you teach it not to trail a certain smell. If you can't stop it verbally I might suggest doing some more work on handling before roading them. Please keep in mind that this is just my opinion and worth exactly what you paid for it...

Scott

I don't trash break my dogs until they have been on enough good game to know better. even then I don't worry too much about it. have 1 or two trash races every year and usually still pull em off and tree game that day. never had a dog pull off game to trash, usually just if you don't find them something to chase they find something for themselves. can't get mad at a dog for huntin can ya?

i agree with houndnem

Thanks for input. I'm fresh out of college and new to the sport. It's been a fun and constant learning curve. I feel like everyday I have more and more questions!

I am with sheimer on this one. I do the same at that age and they pick up on it fast. I don't have coyotes where I hunt but plenty of deer. I don't let my dogs even start trashing on deer, people will shoot your dogs here if they even suspect them of chasing deer.

Also on deer I leave a bale of alfalpha hay near the fence so my pups could see and get used to deer. Every time they showed much interest in the deer at the bale I would corrtect them verbally, didn't need anything else.

I do have a shocker now and had to use it on a dog that was not raised from a pup by me, she was a deer runner, shocker took care of that though.

You'd have a bigger problem with those dogs if they didn't want to chase off game. Some of the best dogs start out as the trashiest sons-a-bitches in the box. Have fun.

I agree with BlacktailStalker, some of the trashiest turn out to be the best. Attached is a picture of the best hound I ever owned and also the trashiest one I ever kept.

I am not as severe on discipline on young dogs as some are. I have seen young dogs that appeared to have there spirit broken from severe discipline. Dogs over the age of 3 that trash need severe discipline.