Thread: Not a hunting dog as such

well Ive never had issue with gunshyness so must have done something right...... right from start lots of loud noises at feeding time,banging bowls,tapping iron shed,clapping wood blocks,dogs just wants the dinner and dont give a monkeys about the noise.
the only gunshy dog Ive had(was a heading dog first and hunting mate 2nd) hunted with me just fine,he would just hang back a bit as I stalked in for shot,he knew the good bit outweighed the bad,just didnt like the bang.sure as shit didnt make him hold back on pigs.
so lots of loud noises at fun times and you should be fine,surprised Ruff hasnt chimed in on this one????

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

well Ive never had issue with gunshyness so must have done something right...... right from start lots of loud noises at feeding time,banging bowls,tapping iron shed,clapping wood blocks,dogs just wants the dinner and dont give a monkeys about the noise.
the only gunshy dog Ive had(was a heading dog first and hunting mate 2nd) hunted with me just fine,he would just hang back a bit as I stalked in for shot,he knew the good bit outweighed the bad,just didnt like the bang.sure as shit didnt make him hold back on pigs.
so lots of loud noises at fun times and you should be fine,surprised Ruff hasnt chimed in on this one????

Yes - it’s very common for strong eye heading dogs to be gun-shy - hereditary

I have usually done the intro to gunshot via a 22 short fired into the ground beside me when using the pup just out in front excited of something like a dead bird etc

My stuff up with GWP was disciplining my sheep dogs that seemed to lose their ears and manners @ 3-500m away and decided they knew intended direction to go better than me.
223 Armalite in cruiser with 20 shot mag put a few missiles under their toes occasionally to bring the arrogance back to earth and to my way of thinking.
Unfortunately - did it once with said GWP on back that had not had full/correct timing of intro to rifle.
That was it - buggared it

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

well Ive never had issue with gunshyness so must have done something right...... right from start lots of loud noises at feeding time,banging bowls,tapping iron shed,clapping wood blocks,dogs just wants the dinner and dont give a monkeys about the noise.
the only gunshy dog Ive had(was a heading dog first and hunting mate 2nd) hunted with me just fine,he would just hang back a bit as I stalked in for shot,he knew the good bit outweighed the bad,just didnt like the bang.sure as shit didnt make him hold back on pigs.
so lots of loud noises at fun times and you should be fine,surprised Ruff hasnt chimed in on this one????

Yes - it’s very common for strong eye heading dogs to be gun-shy - hereditary

I have usually done the intro to gunshot via a 22 short fired into the ground beside me when using the pup just out in front excited with something like a dead bird etc

My stuff up with GWP was disciplining my sheep dogs that seemed to lose their ears and manners @ 3-500m away and decided they knew intended direction to go better than me.
223 Armalite in cruiser with 20 shot mag put a few missiles under their toes occasionally to bring the arrogance back to earth and to my way of thinking.
Unfortunately - did it once with said GWP on back that had not had full/correct timing of intro to rifle.
That was it - buggared it

yip that would tend to make pup a little wary.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

yip that would tend to make pup a little wary.

It was more the point that it took the mood of the other dogs it was with and it stuck.
It was about 6moths old and had been introed via above method prior - but was still young enoguh to be effected.
Farming was a very stressful occupation you know

nothings changed...always has been and always will be stressfull in times of hardship.....I remember the glory days of "Rogernomics".......now them were some stressfull times indeed.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

nothings changed...always has been and always will be stressfull in times of hardship.....I remember the glory days of "Rogernomics".......now them were some stressfull times indeed.

That was the EXACT era this happened (1984-5)
Deer went from 5500 - 500
Cull ewes - you got a 50c bill from freezing works etc etc

Pup is about 8 months now. Coming along quite nicely. She loves her kennel and run and is more than happy to hang around in it for most of the day wihen the miss and I aren't home. Pretty lucky to have a dog that doesn't bark or whine when we aren't there.

She is pretty well socialised and loves nothing more than running around with another dog at the park.

Have just been doing mostly basic obedience stuff with her so far. Long extended sits, sits with distraction, wait, come etc. Havent trained heal yet. Have done a couple of skin drags and one session walking into the wind with a skin hung in a tree. Need to do more deer specific drills.

Have been having a few issues with sorting out her range. Trying to get her to keep a consistent distance in front of me when we are walking around.

I have her on about a 4.5m long line and as she gets around 4m away and isn't focusing on me, I have been trying to do a sudden change of direction and then get her walking out in front again. Have been doing this pretty consistently for about the last 3-4 weeks and she isn't really picking it up. I have been walking with the longline loose (with a big belly in it) so she cannot pull/feel when she is getting to the end of the line as I don't want her using the longline as a gauge of distance.

Anyone got any thoughts on this?

I have been wondering whether it has anything to do with the area I have been walking her in. It's s massive park with not a hell of a lot around and I wonder whether this pushes her to move further out in front of me. The reason I say this as she tends to stick a bit closer to me when we get into bush / tighter stuff as she doesn't like going out of view of me.

Also been noticing that she spends a ridiculous amount of her time when she is walking in the park with her nose to the ground ground scenting.

dont hold the end of longline....step on it preferably with dog at high speed....she will turn around and think"how the heck did boss do that???" keep at it and dog will soon learn range you desire her to be within.... mine now pretty much keeps within 10-15 yards in good going and gets single quiet whistle if starts to get too far ahead sort of an "oih you" and she stops and looks back with silly grin then settles back into distance,it gets challenging when sign is hot and may just go back to using lead again for a time myself as bad habits creeping in due to not getting out enough.

I took my young dog to the local clay target club. He was in the back of the wagon. I hadn't figured on the old girl though. She was climbing the walls wanting to get the pheasants! She had been picking up at driven pheasant shoots and equated life fire (as opposed to blanks at trials) with getting a bird. He didn't know what the big bangs were all about but they must be something good!! I've never had a problem with him around shotguns .

Originally Posted by HF1

I took my young dog to the local clay target club. He was in the back of the wagon. I hadn't figured on the old girl though. She was climbing the walls wanting to get the pheasants! She had been picking up at driven pheasant shoots and equated life fire (as opposed to blanks at trials) with getting a bird. He didn't know what the big bangs were all about but they must be something good!! I've never had a problem with him around shotguns .

Can't take the dogs with me when I go to the range, make a mess of the truck scratching everything trying to get out

Dog has been out into the hills a few more times since I last posted. Shes about 10-11 months now and coming along nicely. She has a great calm nature and has been a real joy to have around the house and up the hill.

Took the pup and a couple of mates away to a wee spot close to home last week where we came across a couple of hinds and a small group of pigs. One of the guys we took away hadn't seen deer or pigs in the wild so was good to see something on the first evening. Got some cool footage of some little suckers scaring off a hind and a yearling at around 700meters away. Camped down on the flats and the dog tucked up in my swazi tahr for the night.

Climbed up a creek the following morning before pushing up through a beech spur absolutely riddled with sign. Came across a ton of fresh hind and stag sign, some of it less than 24 hours old but no animals seen. Broke out onto the tops and the fog and clag kept rolling through so glassing was a bit hit and miss. Some good country seen and it was great to get out and explore a new area. Came back from the tops down a scree slope, dog was a bit hesitant about all the noise and movement but after a bit of whining (not sure whether excited or scare) she got the hang of it. By the time we got to the bottom we were both down into the creek for a much needed drink.





A couple of days ago I had a bit of time off work and a mate called and asked whether I wanted to head up past the lake to have a play with some of his rifles and new chrono. Decided it would be a good opportunity to give the pup some exposure to gun shots. Had 280, 7mm rem mag, 22 swift and 300 win mag out. Testing them out with the magnetospeed v3 and shooting out to 800 yards. Had the truck parked about 10 meters away from where we were with the windows half down. Pup was pretty content just hanging out in the truck for a couple of hours while we were shooting.



Yesterday I took her into the vet in Christchurch to have a wee surgery. Felt a bit bad as she has a wonderful nature and a litter of pups from her could have been a cool thing to try out in the future. Picked her up around 3pm and shes a bit unsteady on her feet in the clinic. When she saw me she just sprawled out on the ground like a starfish and lay there. She started licking at her stitches before we'd even left the clinic so I had to purchase a cone of shame for her. A wee bit of food for her when she got home and she tucked up for the night. Shes a bit unsettled today and taking a while to get used to her silly cone but she gets the luxury of sleeping inside for a few nights.



Changed her diet from dry kibble to frozen cubes of minced mixed meats from Canterbury Pet Foods about 2 months ago. Spending roughly the same money but for a much higher quality feed. $70 gets a 20kg box of 1" cube of frozen meat. I think the one I have been purchasing has a range of beef, chicken, fish, and a few other meats. Have noticed she isn't pooing anywhere near as often as she was on the kibble. Kibble was causing her to poo at least 3 times every day. Now shes down to one. She seems to like it a lot more than the biscuits. Still take the biscuits with me when I head away into the hills for convenience but she doesn't seem to interested in eating them.

bull terrier x dogo argentino. 35 kg, 10 years old and can still chase down a rabbit

Girl is about 16 months old now. She has been an incredible young dog to have around the house. Since the last update we have recently purchased a property over the other side of town so things have been a bit all over the show. Hunting and training the pup took the backseat while sorting the mortgage and work was in full swing. Starting to find a better balance now and have gotten out a few times, once successfully and once just for a scout.

Took Girl away for a tahr hunt down the lakes recently. Had a wee walk up the hill on the night we arrived and sat on the edge of a gut for an hour or so until dark. Darkness came quickly and the wind drove me insane so we headed back to camp. Next day we climbed up into the snow and sidled around the hill for a few hours before getting hungry and deciding to slowly make our way back to camp. We stumbled upon a small mob of tahr crossing a scree slope and knocked a couple over.



Excuse the shot placement on one of the tahr. That is actually a result of a pass-through of the first animal and unfortunately wounded the second. A mistake I do not wish to make again.

A couple weeks later I went exploring with the dog in some poor weather looking for sign of animals in the area. Came across a few hot spots but not enough to encourage me to head back for another look. Might have to try further up the river. Find it quite hard to keep the dog in close in situations like this as the area is so vast and open that she wants to explore as much area as she can.



Training is ongoing - continuing to work on trying to establish a solid range for her walking out in front and continuing work on extended stops. I feel I have a lot to learn around steadiness, especially when other dogs are nearby. Seems that she just cant resist the urge sometimes to go and play with a nearby dog.

So far the pup has been introduced to a few geese, a couple tahr, a chamois and spooked a few pigs. Yet to stumble across a red. Looking forward to this spring and getting out more. Fingers crossed a deer is next on the list.

I recently went for a day walk in an area I haven't checked out before in Canterbury. Spotted this fella feeding on the edge of the creek at 1200+ masl in mid morning. He was a bloody big guy and unfortunately I wasn't able to position him for a decent photo. The pup was pretty stoked to have her first deer. She was nice and calm throughout the entire hunt. She cruised along nicely in front of me and kept coming back to check in on me when we were climbing the hills and I was blowing hard. Turned what I intended to be a gentle day walk into a 12 hour slog which had me feeling sorry for myself for a few days following.