How do you get a dog to stick to the tree?

[Bluefloyd]

I have a dog that I taught to tree (I'll never do it again, due to better bred dogs)
This dog would locate game and tree for three to five minutes and then run off to find another track. He only did this with coon and unseen game.
I cured him of by taking a rope bag with a coon in it and laying a drag to a tall tree at night so he cant see it, and tie it up the tree with the other end of the rope tied of about fifty feet away.
I would cut the dog loose, he would tree the game and i would just sit and listen until the dog quit barking and started milling around the treed, then id drop that bag of coon down the tree on top of him. This would fire him back up and i would sit in my lawn chair and wait until he started to mill around again, then drop again.
He would stay at that tree longer and longer thinking that any minute that bag of coon is about to climb down the tree.
This dog became my best locater for treed game in tall trees, because he always trees off both scent and sight. never a slick tree with him.
But It was a lot of time and work and i will never do it again. It was a waste of time because this dog will never be bred, he has a genetic treeing flaw and lacks the complete package. Better bred dogs train themselves if you give them the oppurtunity.
Just my thought.

[Tim Pittman]

Man I can relate to this.In bobcat hunting here in the Northwest where almost all of our dogs have some running blood in them or just the simple fact that a bob 60-100feet off the ground is hard to locate.
I'm not argueing with anyone on this,so anybody does'nt take this the wrong way.But any dog can be taught to tree[NOT LOCATE]but tree and stay there,yes.
One of the great hound trainers of our time Mr.Mike Kemp,shamed me one evening years ago.Told me he could fix this problem as easy as wiping off the table after dinner.I was all ears,and here's what he told me."Tim,get into your pack and pull out that tri tronics remote you got,and give that dog the juice until she heads back to safety at the tree[with them other dogs] "".
I shared this with some guys,some agreed,some disagreed,BUT I CAN PERSONALLY TELL YOU THIS WORKS.If this dog is trainable and intelligent in other areas,it's really that simple.If you do decide to take the advice on cutting your losses call me I'm interested in the dog.Call me if you like anyway,we've had whole packs of young dogs in the past do this crap and it is fixable,especially if this is his only problem.
Tim Pittman 541-912-6464

[Ankle Express]

Only thing I would consider and is truly unfixable is possessiveness. This dog still being young and hunted under his elders may be holding back on claiming his spot or worse claiming the whole tree. Males always worry me more because they seem to be slower about showing tree possessiveness when raised and hunted in the pack. You won't change their natural treeing style ie. chop/bawl or how hard they bark or stand up or sit down but you can train them to stay and tree. I've tied dogs with a set-up coon just before dark and left them till way after dark. May take a few times and some firing up. Reward them some way when they show progress. Treats, food and fur will get into their mind pretty quickly. I agree jump outs makes for loose tree dogs. When your doing the jumping and to much of it. A little squirrely acting critter of some sort running up and down and jumping out seems to work wanders though. Not much you can do for that but keep going with lots of exposure and you'll hit one. Little bears work great with a little attitude or wildness. Jump one for him and let him have the reins for a minute or two or completely. Easy to get frustrated, I know but just keep in mind there is twice as many useable decent dogs out there than natural world beaters and most likely with the true story told those decent dogs had good and bad days that would've frustrated the pope but somebody kept trying them and they eventually figured it out. Good Luck.

[Bluefloyd]

I agree with you Tim, I used the juice method as well. I just was a little shy to post it due to the recoil. But it gets to point where it is a make it or break it for the dog.
I used to zap them on a low volt just to make him uncomfortable off the tree. and a dog that would meet me off the tree would get a nice twitch to the rear. and them immediatly praised when returned to the tree.
I never had luck with tying the dog to the tree, he would just look at me and bark. and when i cut him loose he would be even more eager to run off the tree. every dog is different and one training method will not work for all, figure what you are willing to due and see what works best. good luck.
Good thread.

[J HUNT]

YOU CAN'T TRAIN A DOG TO TREE?

I wonder how the 1st tree dog ever was started? Sure, you can train a dog to tree, there is a lot of methods for this, John Wick's book is a good reference.

You can breed to good tree dogs and you should, but you have to be careful there, you can get way to much tree and end up w/a lot of slicks.

If you breed to good stock of hounds you will get smart dogs that you teach them to do about anything you want. I'm not saying that 100% of dogs will turn out to be what you want, but there is trainging methods for everything lacking in a dog.

[dhostetler]

If I have young dogs that don't tree, I always tie them up when I get to the tree, usually when they see the game in the tree a few times they always stayed and treed well. Last year I had a young dog that wouldn't stay treed and would going running around after being at the tree for about fifteen minutes, so I wouldn't turn him loose and just lead him to the tree. One day I was hunting with another guy and led the dog in and told him that I don't know what's wrong with him but the other dogs barking seems to be hurting his ears, he said he probably has ear mites. After squirting ear mite pesticide into his ears it cured his treeing problem.