Question about treeing
Question about treeing
I have a pup that will go to the tree and bark a few times and then wonder off; How can I get him to stay on that tree, barking?
Re: Question about treeing
I try and leash up the young dogs around the tree, and try real hard to get them to see the cat in the tree, to keep there interest. Alot of younger dogs seem to have a shorter memory when they get to the tree about what is up there and want to go look for something else to chase.
Re: Question about treeing
You didn't state if this is a training session, scent only, or if there is game in the tree or this happens when your hunting with other dogs. treeing is a genetic trait. barking at animals is a average dog thing. what i am getting at is this if your pup is young and will tree on scent a little by itself I wouldn't worry that much right now. often a really hard tree dog is more difficult to get treeing bobcats real well in my experience. as often the cat will travel in the trees or use them as a launching point to somewhere else leaving the super hard tree dog at the original tree. I know some areas its a requirement that the dog trees on scent and faith in tall trees. however often the cats don't feel as pressured by the hounds and won't try the acrobatics they will in bluffs or short trees either. so a hound that will tree and still be able to think while doing so will make sure his cat is still in the tree occasionally. and as long as a hound is treeing enough for you to find the tree that's the important part and often once you harvest game to the dog any interest in leaving the tree is usually gone. on the other hand if he won't stick to the tree with encouragement at all or show interest in the game it might be time to find different game for your dog. the real question is how old is the pup and what experience does it have?
Re: Question about treeing
As Pegleg stated it is hard to know the advice to give without knowing a few more of the details, but I will give you a general principle on pup training: Try to always quit while they are wanting more. Quit while they are extremely focused on the game. Then put them in a dog box or boring kennel with no distracting stimulus. Leave them there till tomorrow. They will sit there and think about that game, and the desire will grow. Dont let the pup get to that moment where he shows boredom. If you know about how long that is, quit the session before he is going to reach that point.
If you are in actual hunting situations and you have at least one other dog, you can intensify the desire of your puppy by tying him back out of the circle of action. put him far enough back that he feels left out of what is going on, and just ignore him. He might bark, and not really treeing, but just voicing his protest. Ignore him. Dont praise him at all unless you know for sure he is barking up the tree. This really is the best place for pups anyway. Even in harvesting game, I will leave a pup tied out of the action. It will intensify his desire, and it will keep him safe from wounded game. I will not let a pup physically encounter the game until it is dead, dead, dead.
If he loses interest and lays down or whatever, dont worry about it too much, but I would probably leave a pup like that home where my training sessions can be better controlled. I want to always quit while he is wanting more, and you cant always do that if you are seriously out trying to harvest game.
As Pegleg spoke of, a dog that is TOO tree minded is probably more of a problem to bobcat hunting than a dog that does not tree real hard. There have been many good bobcat dogs with some running dog blood that did not really tree till they were two years old or so. Some never do, but will not leave the tree area, and that is ok too if you got a dog telling you Where to go. You sometimes have to give a little in one area to get the extreme gift in another area.. Kind of depends where you hunt and what the trees are like if the cats even tree there.
If you are in actual hunting situations and you have at least one other dog, you can intensify the desire of your puppy by tying him back out of the circle of action. put him far enough back that he feels left out of what is going on, and just ignore him. He might bark, and not really treeing, but just voicing his protest. Ignore him. Dont praise him at all unless you know for sure he is barking up the tree. This really is the best place for pups anyway. Even in harvesting game, I will leave a pup tied out of the action. It will intensify his desire, and it will keep him safe from wounded game. I will not let a pup physically encounter the game until it is dead, dead, dead.
If he loses interest and lays down or whatever, dont worry about it too much, but I would probably leave a pup like that home where my training sessions can be better controlled. I want to always quit while he is wanting more, and you cant always do that if you are seriously out trying to harvest game.
As Pegleg spoke of, a dog that is TOO tree minded is probably more of a problem to bobcat hunting than a dog that does not tree real hard. There have been many good bobcat dogs with some running dog blood that did not really tree till they were two years old or so. Some never do, but will not leave the tree area, and that is ok too if you got a dog telling you Where to go. You sometimes have to give a little in one area to get the extreme gift in another area.. Kind of depends where you hunt and what the trees are like if the cats even tree there.