Thread: Dog ready to go bush

Koolie, Kelpie or ACD, all pretty similar I think. The Kelpie would have the most eye out of the three. The ACD more bite/nip hardness, with the koolie somewhere between, though I have seen some hard Keplies with plenty of go for working cattle. Yeah the working dogs are a pleasure to train, keep us up to date with your training and how he gets on.

The Koolies are a suppose to be a more versatile sheep/cattle breed that and the smaller size is what attracted me to the breed along with an offswitch which some kelpies dont have, I wanted a smaller light footed dog in the bush after having my 35Kg Weimaraner as my last deer indicating dog who was a bit of an elephant in the dry thick North Island bush.

Cheers

Hi all,

I thought I would post an update on how the dog is going, we have had a few trips into the bush hunting over the last few months with no deer taken over her yet but she has lead me into fresh sign each trip and her range is improving.

I got Ziggy out last week in cut over pine with thick ToiToi and blackberry head high, a strong indication down a skid track and we came over fresh prints and shit, it was nasty country to push through and we ended up back tracking to overlook the old skid sites. Happy with her progress to date now its just more time in the bush for both of us. Had a good family trip down south where we didnt hunt but did plenty of tramps and bush time around Nelson/Hanmer and built good range and fitness, then I blew up...

Had to take a step backwards with gun proofing as she shows a bit of fear around the gun, so have been doing the .22 again at 50 yards away with her on a sit, we play find the deer skin or ball after shooting a few rounds which she loves, so even though a bit timid she doesn't bolt/run away and comes to the call all be it a bit slow if I have rifle in hand. She hates any loud noises regardless always has.

Due to her owner breaking down (Knee /ankle), this getting old sucks a bit, hunting the last couple of months has been limited. But ready to get back out there and hopefully get a deer or two.

Couple of photos from a Kaimanawa Trip back in Feb to show off. Cheers FBD



Time for a cuppa tea boss



toasty warm and knackered, its a dogs life

I love the photos and progress stories with Ziggy! Keep up the good work.

I love her scarf and hi vis jacket
I've had some dogs run around like a nutbag when I pick up the rifle due to being very keen to get a possum or rabbit, and others that skulk off. Your right it is best to make a game of it. I've found if you use their favourite squeaky toy or object, and amp up the situation of "lets get this thing" then throw the thing on the ground and you "attack" it with something that makes a bit of noise ( like a bit of pipe or wood), it can help to show that any noise is not directed at the dog. You can also set up a bit of roofing iron and whilst holding the dog and directing their attention to a toy by the iron, throw a stone at the iron ( about 10-15m away) and as the stone lands use your "get it" voice and bring the dog over to the toy and iron. It helps reinforce the fact that any noise is not aimed at the dog. Some dogs can be a bit more scaredy than others but the main aim is to get them to realise that any loud sounds doesn't mean they are in trouble.

I had a Jack Russel that loved guns.
If you took too long to fire he would start barking his head off ("Hurry and shoot!"). When you fired he would tear off in the direction you were aiming until he found the dead thing or the hole in the ground. He started to do the barking trick when I looking through binos or a camera too.

I had another heading dog that was fairly gunshy to start with, but once he found out it meant a dead rabbit/goat/pig/deer he totally changed and got excited when he heard a shot.

Go for a sniff up the Tauranga Bridge in the Waioeka gorge

Thanks for the comments,

Had her out today with the .22, I can throw a Frisbee, shot the .22 2-3m away from her and she shows no fear, runs off to fetch it when released, happy as. However walking around the paddock and I rack the bolt or lift the rife and she slinks in behind.. I have been making sure i dont shoot each time I rack the bolt or lift the rifle and mix up her stops and sits with shooting normally 30-50m away and never directly over her. She wont piss bolt off at the sound of the rifle, so maybe just too much training. I have also had her 10m behind sighting in the 7mm-08 and she stays on her sit and will work ahead when walking towards the target so no real fear just a bit timid while firing

In the bush she shows no fear when I am walking around the rifle so maybe its the 10-15 shots at training that's throwing her off. I think I will just hunt her and stop the gun proofing, she is steady to the shot and worst case is if she sees me raise the rifle she comes into heel or gets behind a few meters which will be good for her ears long term anyway. Probably just over thinking it, my last dog was a hard nut and nothing phased him, but harder to train.

I am sure once we drop a few animals and she goes and finds them it will all click, might have to go and snot a few goats.

Gibo - Yep have had a trip and a sniff up there, gut bags on the big clearing at the end so there are deer in there, along with plenty of broken windscreen glass in the carpark..

Originally Posted by JonP

You could come through the Waioeka gorge and try the Moanui area, Tawa or Koranga Forks Huts

Area gets hunted fairly heavily. Tawa hut requires a stiff climb up "the burn" so if you are still recovering, it may pay to wait until fitness returns.

Originally Posted by Gibo

Go for a sniff up the Tauranga Bridge in the Waioeka gorge

[ATTACH]197785

Tauranga Bridge

Went for a wander from the other bridge further up, spooked a few and had to put the handbrake back (longline) on Ziggy ,

Day went something like this:
Two strong indications and leads into Possums in dead trees.... a firm leave it and walk away

A strong indication up a supple jack infested creek until Ziggy push range and I had to verbally correct her

On the Long line and things improved

Sidle around a stream gut and had one crash off, thick bush I was going to fast and wrong wind direction for Ziggy it was comming across and down, rather than across and up or into our face

Stop for a cuppa a settle this down

A bit along the ridge and down onto a terrace Ziggy had a strong Air scent, up on her back legs tasting the air, I love that. Thick bush so we sat and waited then moved in on the wind which had built and was swirling a bit,
Ziggys has just started to let out a whine every now and then especially when close, today she did this and I had to correct her verbally a few times, not good if we are close

Put her in behind and hunted the rest of the afternoon out

Good day out, a bit of sign about not heaps, definitely a couple of animals in the area. Have a few things to work on with the dog, a calmer out in front especially on fresh scent, and try and get this whine out of her.

Bridge to somewhere


Six Months late to the party


I can smell one boss



Time for a cuppa tea boss


Cheers

Piglet Dog....


Not Really Keen on the gun and shut down a bit after the shot, I have put here through gun proofing the BGID way twice and she is more scared of the gun been raised than the bang to follow. So doing Conditional Training to get her use to just the gun been around.

Go the piglet dog
Another thing you could try is putting her favourite chewy toy out on the lawn and hunting it with her and the rifle ( pays to have a private back yard, otherwise use the hallway). Make a big deal about stalking up on it with her and using the toys name so she knows you are going for that. Say "BANG" when you have the rifle pointing at it and then rush up and make it squeak lots and chuck it to her.
Sounds like she is a bit worried about what you are going to shoot when the rifle is raised, so good to let her know it's for the "thing" you are hunting.

Thanks Ruggerman,

I am doing similar now, I fire 2 shots with her 50m away, then go get her and play tug/fetch etc. Funnily enough I can throw a ball/frisbee fire a shot and she doesnt give a care about the shot.

I think what I have been doing is glancing back at her when I am shooting to see her reaction and she maybe is taking this as negative pressure. She is a supper submissive/reactive dog anyway and a bit timid around load noise like trucks or even wind blowing curtins in the house. She was a little bull terrier when we got her at 11 weeks old and showed bugger all fear up until 12montsh, but has always had issues with cars/trucks going past, doesnt seem to get over things no matter what we do.

I dont think I will ever fully correct her gun shyness as she is that type of dog. i had my sisters beardie out on the weekend out with us gun training, it didnt give a fuck about the rifle, and was happy as walking about with it, shooting next to her etc.. No gun training at all. Nice and calm..

I will start walking around with the rifle and doing some simulated stalking on her toys and see how that goes.

Good idea cheers

Went for a little walk a few weeks ago with the plan to get Ziggy out and about, use to the bush and rifle again. Lucky for us a good bugger down here arranged some local access and it wasn’t long before Ziggy was keen and lead me off the track down the hillside and typically through scrubby ugly bush.



That indication came to a halt about 500m off the main track and we sidled our way around back to the main track, it wasn’t long before Ziggy was keen again, slowing down listening and tasting the air. All signs that something is close. 50m away from us I could hear the goats feeding, we slowly made our way up the main track and Ziggy came to a good stop looking to where we could hear but not see them. Ziggy was 10m in front of me and we waited, I saw a flash of light brown 20m through thick scrub, took the time to double check and took the shot freehand.
In the end I did rush the shot between thick scrub, she jumped and took off. Thinking I had missed another young nanny jumped up from behind a log and I took her in the front shoulder and she ran 10m and dropped. I could hear the first nanny 20m away and soon had eyes on her, hunched over and going nowhere, gut shot.... bugger

Ziggy didn’t like the rifle shot and slinked back in behind, I had to work her hard but calmly to follow up on the goat who hadn’t gone far and put another round into her from 10m away. Again Ziggy slinked in behind and we sat and took some time out with a couple of goats on the ground. Nice and calmly I got her downwind and walking in on the downed goat, she was pretty excited to find them but still timid and nervous around the rifle. She did eat a few scraps of meat as I whipped the back legs and steaks off the younger nanny and was trying to bail them as a I drag the bodies down the bank a little way. As i dont want her barking we put a stop to that.



We headed back in today hoping to putt another animal on the ground but didn’t come across any, the pigs have done a good job of cleaning up the area with only the feet and bones left.



A few good indications and follows off the track and plenty of raising the rifle and dry firing to get her use to it, I am just going to hunt her now and hope she will put 2 an 2 together to workout the bangs not so bad.
Nice day to be out and we came across a bit of fresh pig sig but outside our hunt area, Ziggy didn’t really lead me off anywhere exciting in that general area.



They will be there, most likely bedded on the sunny faces in the creek or gully heads, its pretty dry up on the ridges and not much water around.. Good to stretch the legs ahead of the rain and do some more training and time in the bush.



Cheers FBD

What an awesome diary of your dog.