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I'm training my own dog without older dogs, he's caught on to coon quick and turned him out on his first bob today, i followed behind him and would help him when he got hung up, we finally jumped the cat about 1/4 mile in and then things seemed to pick up, but the cat started rock jumping and ledge jumping bluffs, and it really slowed my dog down, im just wondering if there is a way i can work with him when we aren't hunting to try to get him to jump ahead and circle to find the track again. This is a 11 month old blue tick with good instincs. maybe it will all just come with experience but if there is any way i can help him out id like to not be the one holding us back. Any advice is appreciated.

Pretty tough to make him trail faster in your situation as he needs another experianced hound that has this tracking ability to teach him, some learn with more age and some never learn, there is no dog alive that can keep up with a bobcat in heavy rocks no matter what some claim. Andy

so andy would you suggest not turning loose in these types of areas? The cat did seem to have a huge advantage and at times even had me scratching my head.

My dogs have issues with bluffs as well, I've had to walk them around even on a jumped track. Sometimes you can get lucky and pressure the cat into a spot where he feels uncomfortable and will go up.. sometimes will stay in the bluffs. If you can use a spotlight and night hunt, you can sometimes get one jumped, and spotlight it infront of the dogs. We've got a spot here where every cat will always rockpile, I still haven't had one tree in that area but sure makes for good training!

backwood, when I was young i turned my hounds on every cat track I could find did not matter where it was at a good bocat race was all i was looking for it sure dont hurt the hounds one bit but over the years i have came to hunt in more desirable areas and way less rocks and the success rate went way up also. But for me to say dont turn out on a bobcat track for you would be wrong do what makes you happy as that is what this hound hunting is all about. Remember a bad day of hound hunting beats any day at work! lol Andy

As Twist said you need to choose where you run cats. I have and do own dogs that can catch them in bluffs and rocks but will hole a lot there. If it is rough bluffs or rocky country I have two that I turn lose because the are fast and quite. All of the good bluff dog usually end up dying from falls. It it up to you to decide where to run. I would not expect a young dog to do well in rocky or bluff country. Dewey

thanks for the advice fellas, i"ll run with it.

Instead of running behind try to run in front of your dog. Then when your dog hangs up under trees in the brush or at logs or rocks you already have things lined out and can get him going before he makes it look like a bomb went off where he has troubles.

11 months old--- try roading him every day with a 4 wheeler... get him up and running there are a good many that develope the love for the run doing that..
I would think it will get more speed as it ages too..