Need some some advice "Please"

[luvdemhounds71]

My cameron bluetick is 1 1/2 old and is not treeing hard or very little on the tree. I don't understand why because last year when he was 7-8 mo old he was running and treeing good. Now when he gets to the tree he will show treed for just a little bit and then he starts to look around for the track and will leave the area, but will come back to it and bark again and then leave. It's like he knows the coon is in the tree but not 100 %. Also when I get there he looks like he is winding the trees. It's like he rather run the track than tree. When I get to where the area is where he keeps going back too, there is a coon in the tree but the dog will be out in the corn looking to run another coon. I will stand there and he eventually comes back and will go right to the tree and stand there and look at me and I ask him where the coon is and sometimes he will bark and start to tree and sometimes not. The other night he did that and we shot the coon out but didn't let him have it and he was pissed but someone told me to try that so thats what I did. He is a very independent dog and doesn't like to run with other dogs that much. If there is a dog treeing he acts like doesn't even hear it. Sorry for going back and forth here but any help will be appreciated. Thanks

[1bludawg]

Once you're sure there is something up a tree use a shock collar to buzz or lightly shock him until he goes back to the tree ,then enthusiastically encourage him to tree .You might also use a caged critter to work on his treeing.REMEMBER this though,there are many varying degrees of how a dog trees and not all dogs make good tree dogs no matter how well bred they are.

[Old dog]

try tying the dog to the tree and climb up and fling the coon down to him. this has worked for me in the past. if that don't work then ask that varminator kid. some one said he was a know it all and maybe he is?

[david]

I would be afraid to throw the coon down alive, because if he does not catch it and kill it at the base of te tree then the coon will lay a trail away friom the tree. And that Is already your problem. In fact, I was going to ask if you have ever done shakeouts for that dog. ? Because it sounds to me like you have. Some dogs are helped by it. Many dogs are ruined by it. I would say just the opposite. If a coon is coming out of a tree, it comes out dead enough that it can not possibly lay a trail away from that tree. If you are making bad shots, then don't even shoot at it unless you have a good clear killing shot. "If the coon comes out, it comes out dead". If this is your philosophy, you will be less likely to end up with a loose tree dog.

My next question is, what has gone on at the tree? Some young dogs have had a bad experience at the tree. They might not even remember exactly what happened there. They just know that the tree is not a safe place for them to be. a) You need to scrutinize every dog he has or is now treeing with. Those mean dogs get smart about when to lay it on the young dogs without getting caught at it. B) There are some pretty smart folks like John Wick who believe you started your pup too early. HE was doing adult things while he was still a little kid. Think back to the days when he was treeing good as a pup. Did he ever get hurt by a coon at the tree when he was a little kid? If so, here it is again: deep in his emotions from youth, he still has this feeling that the tree is not a real safe place to be. Might not remember why. Might love fighting coons as an adult dog but...it is still there. The tree is not such a great place to hang out.

In any case, get to the tree as quick as possible. Tie your dog back away from the tree so he can watch everything going on if there are other dogs.This will intensify his desire to be at the tree. Just plan to tie that dog every time there is a tree. Don't give him the option of wandering off. Maybe even for the rest of his life. Just get in that habit.

[david]

I know it is not convenient, and might not even be fun, but if you really want to help this dog, you need to try to stay close to him. When he locates and trees the first time, you will be there to hopefully spot the coon, praise him like crazy, and tie him immediately. Tie him EVERY TIME. And make sure that everything that happens at that tree is positive. Protect him from any dogs that you might be suspicious of, And make sure that coon never leaves a track away from that tree. EVERY TIME. If that accidentally happens, and you know it happened, try to keep him from knowing that it happened. Praise him some more, just like you would if you were not going to shoot the coon, and keep that leash on him and lead him away into the wind where he will not smell the track or wind the coon.

If he started out as a tree dog and no longer is one, he has learned that the tree has not always been a nice place to be, or that he is missing out on something by being there at the tree, Or both. You need to unlearn those lessons for him by repetition, and making sure those fallacies are never again re-enforced in his mind. And as was already mentioned, when you can, make leaving the tree an unpleasant experience. Before shock collars, competition hunters would wait on the back track of that coon heading for the tree, or have help hidden around in the woods outside that tree. When the dog showed up coming down that back track, or casting about, he got a big surprise. He learned that the tree was the safest place to be, because the boogie man is waiting for him behind every bush out there once he marks his tree. If he is leaving the tree to greet you, come armed with a twiggy branch. Make him uncomfortable to be there with you. Don't let him near you , but brush it across his face or whatever and tell him to get on the tree. Then once you get there with him praise him profusely.

[david]

Here is another thought. I have treed hundreds of coon in Wisconsin and I know that some of them learn they are safer in a cornfield than they are in a tree. (Especially if they figure out it is a bluetick after them. Sorry, I couldn't help myself. : ). But I am surprised those Wisconsin boys are letting you get away with hunting a bluetick in their state. They have been trying to get some laws passed on that. : ) ). Any way, some dogs won't really tree right until they have the last one up a tree. Those corn feilds often have more than one coon running the rows. Other dogs are first-one-up tree dogs. Then a good cur will tree the last one, wait for you to shoot it, then go back to the second to the last tree, wait for you to shoot it, then go back to the third to the last tree etc. : ) anyway, if he is going back into the corn and running open trailing, you probably have more coon out there, and they are not always easy to tree. I remember one I swore was a fox, and was just about to shock the dogs when the darn coon ran over my boots. There were a couple of high poeered coon dogs on him too. One was even a cur dog. Hahaha.

If you think he is going out there and finding fresh coon tracks, and that is his problem, it is a whole other issue. Hopefully you can get him in some situations where he is only dealing with one. Dogs can be broke to becoming first-coon-up dogs by methods already discussed. But a lot of good dogs do not stop at the first tree.

Remember, if you see a truck in Wisconsin with a bumper sticker on the left that says "I hunt Blueticks", and a bumper sticker on the right that says "I hunt deer" You might want to leave your dog in the box till they are gone.

[BAR BAR 2]

The way you say that he doesn't like to hunt with other dogs, I am wondering if he may have been fought off the tree by another dog. Does he do this more when you hunt him with other dogs, or is it about the same as when he is by himself? I would suggest hunting him by himself until you get the problem figured out.


Tex