BigGameHoundsmen.com

To start your young dogs or pups, what methods do you use to start them?

We use rabbits at a young age, and progress up as needed. I have been doing small drags for my two pups using mike leonards methods now. Ill keep doing them off and on until I can get them on good game. I also use those drags in helping them strike as well.

I hope to hear more indeph answers than just put them on game, if that's your answer explain it more. Do you just walk hunt them in a good area, are you knocking cats out, are you just finding a track and walking it out? I just want more ideas for myself and others who may be new to the game!

Looking forward to dewey, clays and all the coastal guys responses.

when starting from scratch i have used coons ran over on the road that i new were fresh. tie a rope around there mid section and pull them up and down a tree . then walk hunt along the river coon hunting . once they are treeing coons head to the mountains and sick them on fresh cat scratches and shit. if i already have a cat dog i just turn the young dogs in with them . let the finished dogs train the young dogs. i like natural starting young dogs . i have trained quite a few young dogs to me it seems like most of the allstars have it from an early age .

jc

How old are your dogs and what game have they been on? I start my young dogs walk hunting with the old dogs. I introduce them to dead bobcats if they are not old enough to go hunting. If they are old enough then walk a track out in the snow make sure you get them on cats before anything else. It is so much easier to make a cat dog if it has only been on bobcats. I don't use drags I think it can hurt them more than they can learn from it. That is only my opinion you will hear a lot more opinions that are different. Dewey

The older one is 8 or 9 months, the last couple races he made with my older dogs. The new tyke is almost 5 months. Im not worried about them in training to much but I did want to hear ideas. All the slack time we have until next season. They have only been worked on bobcat scent or tracks, the little one is good at finding bobcat feet I kept from my bobcats this year. And yes I work on the handle more than I worry about hunting until they are about the older ones age.

Unreal_tk,

We start Dad's pups @ about 3 to 3 1/2 months of age in a Rabbit Pen for 1 hour or so 2 to 3 times a week for 2 weeks....depending on the Pup. This is after they have been back grounded in the basic commands with the 40 ft rope and the Tri-tronics. The Pups are to learn how to use their nose and go to another Hound barking to see what all the excitement is about.

They are then allowed to SOAK for a couple of weeks. This allows their minds to process what they have learned.

At 4 to 4 ½ months of age we try to get them in a Grey Fox starter pen (less than 10 acre in size). They get 3 to 6 trips, depending on the Pups, to learn how to run a Track, Honor another Barking Hound, and begin to acquire the skills used in pursuing a squatting, ducking Varmint.

After this the Pups are hauled hunting and put down with the Rig Hounds when they Strike. This is so they learn to look for the Game off of the road and navigate the Vegetation. No expectation is made for them to run the Cat with the pack; if they do the Pups are picked up at the 1st opportunity. Dad does not want them to be out run and/or run to hard to where they do not want to run.

When they approach 7 months old they are run every other time with the Pack. By 10 months old they are participating with the Pack but contributing very little. At 12 months old they should be exhibiting their Style and the Traits that they are going to excel at.

This is just what we try to do with Dad’s pups and has worked, there are plenty of other ways to turn the Young prospects into Finished Cat Hounds.

Pups should be handled as much as possible from an early age and tought comon comands. The more a dog is handled and worked with the better you can control them once in the hunting stage. I haul my pups in the box from an early age. All pups that I keep are loose on my place at all times and have the run of the place they learn to trail rabbits at a very young age and are exposed to all eliments of the out doors from being loose. Once they get to the point they are not wanting to stay at home is when they are taught to stay at the house and then chained in the evenings. I have found that when raised like this they are ready to run with the old dogs buy around 7 months of age. Andy

Awesome, this is excatly the type of stuff I wanted to hear! The pen idea for foxes sounds excellent if a guy had one nearby and was legal.

Alright you guys gotta let me know what the deal is on training with rabbits. Are you guys training with live rabbits? This is gettin pretty crazy

Im not knockin the training with rabbits it just blows my mind. I had a guy mention this live rabbit method and I had a hard time buyin it. I just never heard of such a thing.

I have never done it but I have seen it done from some top hound guys. I would do it before I would use drags with scent. Dewey

Its a techinque to get pups chasing a live critter at a young age, helps to have multiple pups. Get a pen that is decent size that the rabbit and pups can't get out of and let them chase the rabbit around for awhile but not enough to burn them out. Usually done with young pups 6 to 15 weeks id say. First time they may not do anything at all but pretty soon the rabbit will be running like crazy from them.

Ringo,

Lots of Folks do not have the benifit of having Pups raised "Outside".

From the early 70s into the 80s we had a Ranch in N. LA. All of Dads Pups were raised loose on the Outside. They learned to run Rabbits, Deer, Yotes or whatever they smelled till they were 4 months old. Then they were shut up and began their lessons in becoming Hounds.

Today and for the last 25 or so years that has not been the case. The Pups were raised in Pens and never got the chance to be a "PUPPY". Therefor it has worked best to let them go to "Kindergarten" so to speak by starting them on the Rabbits like they would have raised up "Outside".

Next comes "Elementary" School. This would be the Grey Fox Pen. The Pups have certain "Beginer" Skill sets that they have to Learn before they can begin to Learn how to be Bobcat Hounds.

Very Seldon will a Pup have to be "Broke" off of Fox after they run a Bobcat a few times...and never have I seen one run a Rabbit after removed from the Rabbit Pen.

The "Jr. High" period for the Pup is that period from say 5 1/2 to 8 or so months when we try to run the Pups with one or two Old Broke Hounds either retired or about to be.

Again there are certain SKILLS, Social, Pack, and Game sensitive Skills that this manner helps the Pup learn before being subjected to the Pressure of the Main Pack and that Smart Ole Short Tail.

Just what has worked for us.

The only good rabbit is a dead rabbit.

So you dont use any cat sent or anything on the rabbit. Its mainly just to get the dogs chasin game?

Do you guys train your dogs to do big loops to find a possible out track on what you guys call a loose, or is this just a trait dogs either have or dont have?