Help with a Skittish Dog

[DirtAddict]

Okay so I know the simple answer to this is to cull this dog, but I want to explore some other options here. Curious if any of you ever worked with a skittish dog.

Here are the particulars of my case:
[*] Prospect dog is half catahoula half heeler
[*] being trained to hunt pig
[*] Parents of unknown lines. Was interested in the [accidental] cross and decided to take a chance. I got her as a puppy so she has been with me since the beginning. It's not an abused dog and has been socialized well.
[*] female and now 15 months old
[*] generally is submissive with other dogs until they become too pushy, at which time she puts them in their place. That is, she won't back down at all from a fight when other dogs push her around [I am a little surprised and don't know what to think about the wide swing from submissive to what seems to be very dominant behavior].
[*] has just started being put on live hogs in the past few months
[*] first hog she was ever on was small (about 60 lbs) and she went after it in a controlled setting along with a pack mate. She did fine here and bayed the pig.
[*] Pack mate is a younger BMC male (6 months old) out of hunting lines and seems to have a lot of drive.
[*] In the controlled setting, both dogs got teeth on the 60 pounder but did not "catch", which is okay with me since the male is on the younger side and ultimately all I want is for them to stop a running pig, which they did in the controlled setting.
[*] The last few hogs were much bigger, more rank and we hunted them (no controlled setting this time). She was also put with other more mature dogs who she never met before. She did not hunt with her pack mate, who's still too young for these much larger hogs who are more than happy to kill a dog.
[*] During the hunt she hung back with me and would not honor the bay of the other dogs. Also looked like she was real nervous.

I know this dog is nowhere near a lead dog but do you think she is salvageable? Is it relatively normal to not hunt when with brand new dogs? There were a few other new dogs there and they didn't seem to have as much of a problem as mine. Shouldn't hunting drive overcome the newness of the situation, in this case?

Anything I can do besides the obvious which is to keep putting her on hogs? This last time out was a little demoralizing.

[ferjr]

i have a bluetick male that is a year old, when i got him he was very skittish and nervous arround people. wasnt sure wether he would ever get over it or not but i have been spending alot of time with him and giveing him more attention than my other dogs, it has been about two months now and he has deffenitely gotten over it he is now probably my most aggressive bear dog, last saturday we had a bear bayed up that got ahold of him but didnt hurt him to bad he was able to hunt sunday and did just fine. so in my opinion you can work it out of them, it just takes alot of attention and handleing, were alot of people would probably not give it a chance. the better your dog likes you the harder he is going to want to please you. just my opinion, but it works for me

[DirtAddict]

Maybe it's the heeler in her but she definitely wants to please me. Still, I need her to be okay with different environments and be "game on" when hunting. There's just no way to control all the variables in the field to create a perfect environment for her to be comfortable.

Sometimes she going to be hunted with different dogs. Sometimes the pig is going to be really big, or be a runner, or be a fighter. Sometimes it's going to be raining. Sometimes we're going to bay up in a thicket...you get my drift.

Glad to hear your dog is turning out. We spend so much time and money getting these dogs ready, we don't want to just give up on them before you've tried everything.

[killemallboy]

some dogs are like that will not hunt at all around other dogs or newly introduced give her some time she might come around but i have dogs that dont not hunt around a new pack untill i hunt with those dogs a few times just trail and error so give sometime she may turn around if not you know she will have to find a new home. that is just my opionon 6 month old dog is not young too start neither that is when i start my pups and they do just fine so maybe take him out with you next time and it might make a differnce. have a great day.



hunting adventures unlimited and the home of southern california kennels

[bigboarstopper]

The experiences the dog has so far been exposed to my no means qualify it as a cull. Mabye just an indicator that the dog will come on later. More time, more exposure and then a determination could be made wether to its a hog dog, started dog, 3rd string or cull.

[DirtAddict]

Thanks BigBoarStopper, you gotta admit tho that your Wizard dog was pretty aggressive on those large hogs, and he had been on maybe a dozen max? Big difference between that dog and mine. The innate drive/need to hunt down game is what I was looking for. I was hoping for a little bit more from my dog...of course maybe that's something all of us feel at one time or another.

I agree that it may come with time, maturity and me doing my part. And then again it may not. Time will tell.

[bigboarstopper]

yea, I wouldnt be honest if I didnt say I wasnt concerned though. You would have to agree that your dogs mentality is quite different to a dog like wizard. The major difference between wizard and your dog in my opinion isnt the difference in experience. Its the dogs disposition, mentality and drive.

Skiddish or shy dogs can turn around. But its a personality trait that often dosent change in either man or beast often. Shy people tend to not be agressive or outgoing. When shy people become agressive its usually out of fear. Its the same in dogs.

The dog is very similar to my old pure queensland I used to hunt. It very much wanted to please. The problems with my queensland was that he hunted for me and not himself. He would do great once I arrived to the bay. Otherwise he would do nothing until I arrived.

You have a tough road ahead of you with this dog I believe. The dog needs to build a lot of confidence and independence to let the fear go. She also needs to have the natural instinct to hunt. Some of these things are very difficult to train into a dog. Others are completely out of your hands. If the dog becomes a cull in the end I would tend to think it had to do more with the dog than you.

There is a time limit where the decision to cull comes. Sometimes it takes a long time. Sometimes it comes quite soon. There has to be progression. Not every time but overall. Once the dog begins to understand whats taking place and decides to participate youll know that she will be a part of the pack. On the flip side if the dog understands whats going on and decides not to play then the dog has made the decision for you.

[wanchese]

[DirtAddict]

OK guys I really appreciated your input so I thought I'd just give a quick update from my first post on this thread. I've determined my CatahoulaX is just not going to work out. Since my last post, she's been in the woods with me every week. I've worked her on drags, put her on hogs, and even hunted her with seasoned dogs. She just won't leave visual range. I used to think it was just inexperience and hunting in new environments that was causing her not to get out and go, but what really did it for me was this past weekend. I have a younger BMC that I am training her with, and he is already leaving me for more than 10 minutes at a time following a scent, before checking back. She is very familiar with him, and even just hunting with me and the BMC, she won't travel further out.

My CatX shown herself to be aggressive on a pig, but she is such close range I don't think it is going to help much on a hunt. A good bay pen dog? I think so. Livestock dog? probably. A woods dog? Sadly no. I could probably put some more time in her and she might improve somewhat, but I believe there are much better dogs out there that are naturally better for what I need.

It's unfortunate because she is such a smart dog and does have a good nose, for a cur. My wife's taken a liking to her, so I think she's found her new role around the house.

[boardog]

looks like it got lucky! i had the same problem a while back. found some1 who didnt hunt but wanted to give the dog a good home.