Maybe a stupid question.

[Deano3]

Anyone ever have a dog that fell/got swatted off a cliff while on a lion?
I’ve got an otherwise awesome dog that’ll quit a track if the cat goes out on a ledge or cliff.
How can I get him past this fear, or is he done?
This dog is absolutely awesome, so I don’t want to give up if there’s anything I can do.
Been trying to walk him through stuff like that but I’m not sure it’s helping.
Thoughts?

[dwalton]

Some dogs are born afraid of bluff or ledges. There is not much you can do to get them over it. The ones that are real bold on cliffs will often times end up falling and die or get a injury that will end there hunting. Dewey

[Deano3]

Thanks , that’s what I’m thinking.

[Uncle Dave]

How old is the dog? I had one that hated running through bouldery stuff until he hit about 1.5 yrs. Now he runs and jumps from rock to rock like a goat, to the point where it can be pretty nerve-racking to watch some times. He's super comfortable in the rocks now, but we run in that type of terrain a lot. I've also seen some that were too nervous to even jump off of a tailgate and never got over that.

I'd try to run him through some smaller bouldery stuff where jumping from rock to rock is the easiest form of travel but there's no tremendous risk if he falls or slips.

Of all my friends that have had dogs die running lions, the vast majority were from falling off of cliffs/ledges whether they were dragged off by a cat, followed a cat off, pushed off by other dogs or simply lost their footing.

[Deano3]

He’s 3 1/2, bought him from a friend of mine who was in a tight spot. He’s been to many trees, before I bought him.
It’s just that any time we get a race going and the cat gets into rocks or ledges he gets antsy and quits the race. I didn’t realize it until we were cold trailing a bobcat in the rocks one day and observed it first hand.
My only guess is that he got knocked/fell off a cliff before I bought him.
Otherwise he’s a solid dog, I’d hate to lose him.
I’m going to start working him in the rocks/ledges this summer when there’s less pressure to move a track, hopefully that will help get him confident in these situations.

[tom jr]

He sounds smart Maybe you can teach him to circle around the rocks and pick up the trail on the other side?