Thread: How to turn it down a notch

Young Bruce is getting better with every trip.
He’s now hunting a nice distance ahead and waiting for me. That is until he scents something, then he gets real amped up, noisy and pulling ahead.

Can anyone suggest some work ons, or is to just down to time in the bush?

Loving spending time with him though. Great to have a buddy to enjoy the day with.

Practice control in every day situations especially when he is excited.
Have a get in behind command.
Don't be afraid to correct him in the bush and call him in.
Try slowing down and making sure he is hunting at your pace.

stop whistle...a no bullshit,no matter what,plant your arse on ground NOW.....
working 5-10mtrs ahead..good shit leave him to it,when he gets 12-15mtrs,plant his hairy arse on ground untill you are alongside him again,then allow to continue..and keep doing it till he gets message. and/back on longline or in behind whenever he starts to pull ahead.in behind is something neither Meg nor I prefer,so she gets message pretty darn quickly...usually

You could try “when he gets out to far, call him back and walk 180 degree for about 10-20 m, then proceed back in the original direction”.
The idea is he learns that he can only go in the direction he wants if he stays close to you.

5-10meters is further from my farts...so she has cleaner air..its also easier for her to lead me,in really close I lead her.but I can see your point has merit.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

Re your farts Micky, I have a book by a well know dog trainer who quotes "it is amazing how a dog can be sprayed by a skunk five minutes in to the day and still put up Pheasants all day".
So if you have smelt a skunk you would realise that your farts would have very little impact on you dogs scenting abilities.

When I was farming in Uruguay we had a dog on the farm, German Shepherd, that loved going to get the cows in and went with anyone who was bringing the cows. He used to chase Foxes and Nutria's and Armadillos and all sorts of things, he would even bail up snakes and bark and carry on at them but if we came across a Sorillo (skunk) he would make a point of giving it a massive wide berth!

And to answer op question, longline, longline, and more longline. If you want the dog to hunt a certain distance in front of you then a physical stop to his desire to move further out is an effective way of instilling that distance. It kind of rolls into the basic commands though a good bush dog should have a stop, a sit, a wait, a heel, and you have 95% the makings of a proficient indicating dog. I have Bo on those commands with "bush friendly" sounds, ie: heel is just a quiet "psst" and sit is a "kissy sound" and if I do the kissy sound twice he will stop and wait.
He'll probably test you and you just need to go back to the longline again. Bo is pretty good now but I have been guilty of not hunting him enough and he has gotten a bit excited a few times, I only need to pull the long line out of my pocket and show it to him and his memory kicks back into gear. Although I don't have kids I would liken dogs to kids in that the threat of restricted freedom is like motivation in a can.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

Are you still using a tracking collar Ryan?
I presume it has a vibrate/correction feature.
Does he know the rules when he's wearing it?
I have a young heading dog and a Wirehair Lab who both turn in to absolute little angels when wearing a collar. Very seldom do the need reminding.

Yes I use the collar but only for its tracking functions if we are on public land. He does know about the "correction function" it has though as we did a little possum aversion training with it and I used it once when he bolted at a deer and I've never had to use it again, likewise he turns into a very obedient dog when he has it on which I'm not sure if I like or not haha

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Yes I use the collar but only for its tracking functions if we are on public land. He does know about the "correction function" it has though as we did a little possum aversion training with it and I used it once when he bolted at a deer and I've never had to use it again, likewise he turns into a very obedient dog when he has it on which I'm not sure if I like or not haha

Wonder if it would work on children

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

You should hit up Garmin for a bulk deal and run a few on the trouble makers where you work dannyb.

Have you seen "Demolition Man"