Re: ever have a good dog get worse?
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 3:54 pm
Good discussion. I'll add a few thoughts (cause that's all I have).
The way humans evolved caused us to have very good eyesight and to depend on that eyesight above all elese. As a result, we can't smell worth a dang.
Our hounds followed a different path up Darwin's tree. They developed scenting ability that we can't even begin to imagine. Hounds trust what their nose tells them above anything they see with their eyes. There is no way for us to know how that works or what they can smell. The only thing we can do is guess.
Just to make it so I can understand it, I like to think that what comes in through the nose of a hound makes a picture in their head similar to what we see. I watched one of my beagles stick her nose in a rabbit track in the snow the other day. Rabbits leave tracks with the front feet in back, back feet in front. That's how I know which direction they are headed (I might try that ‘nose goes where the toes goes’ though). When Katrina came along she stuck her nose in the first track she came to. Back foot. Then she stuck her nose in the next track. Front foot. Then she turned around and trailed away
I think most hounds on most days can get that picture in their head and know which way the track is pointing whithin a short time. Some days and some tracks are harder. Maybe the wind blew snow in the track and I have to follow it a ways to find a good one so I can see the toes
If you shock the crap out of me before I know what I am doing you are not helping the cause any.
I think that when hounds become habitual backtrackers, that follow a track for "miles" the wrong way, they know what they are doing. They can "see" the track just fine. They know they are going backwards. They are OK with that. They just like to follow tracks. This is the time that correction (or the retirement plan) can be effective.
The same holds true for slick treeing (and I've had plenty of experience with slick trees
). A hound that is mostly accurate might tree wrong once in a while. "I think he's there, I'm not sure, but I can't find any tracks going away, he MUST be in this one".
The ones that slick tree a lot KNOW there isn't anything there. "Trying to follow that old track is boring but barking at this tree really turns me on! Just look at all the slobber I'm slingin!!"
The way humans evolved caused us to have very good eyesight and to depend on that eyesight above all elese. As a result, we can't smell worth a dang.
Our hounds followed a different path up Darwin's tree. They developed scenting ability that we can't even begin to imagine. Hounds trust what their nose tells them above anything they see with their eyes. There is no way for us to know how that works or what they can smell. The only thing we can do is guess.
Just to make it so I can understand it, I like to think that what comes in through the nose of a hound makes a picture in their head similar to what we see. I watched one of my beagles stick her nose in a rabbit track in the snow the other day. Rabbits leave tracks with the front feet in back, back feet in front. That's how I know which direction they are headed (I might try that ‘nose goes where the toes goes’ though). When Katrina came along she stuck her nose in the first track she came to. Back foot. Then she stuck her nose in the next track. Front foot. Then she turned around and trailed away
I think most hounds on most days can get that picture in their head and know which way the track is pointing whithin a short time. Some days and some tracks are harder. Maybe the wind blew snow in the track and I have to follow it a ways to find a good one so I can see the toes
If you shock the crap out of me before I know what I am doing you are not helping the cause any.I think that when hounds become habitual backtrackers, that follow a track for "miles" the wrong way, they know what they are doing. They can "see" the track just fine. They know they are going backwards. They are OK with that. They just like to follow tracks. This is the time that correction (or the retirement plan) can be effective.
The same holds true for slick treeing (and I've had plenty of experience with slick trees
). A hound that is mostly accurate might tree wrong once in a while. "I think he's there, I'm not sure, but I can't find any tracks going away, he MUST be in this one".The ones that slick tree a lot KNOW there isn't anything there. "Trying to follow that old track is boring but barking at this tree really turns me on! Just look at all the slobber I'm slingin!!"