come on then

[poacher3161 1,766]

Leaving this type of dog a year before it runs anything depending on were your running it will more than likely get the dog injured i am in favour of early SENSIBLE entering at a young age.

[Guest 2GOOD]

i think its all down to the mentality of the dog and the owners ability to read this and bring it on in the right way.ive seen whippets catching rabbits on the lamp at 6 months old and still going strong today,and ive seen them enterd later and open up and pull up purely down to the owners ability as a dog man to read the signs imo

take an 8 week old pup out he mostly sits back and watches for the first couple of months,they love going out ( better feet more stamina better brain ) you have got to know what you are doing what ever age you start them

you have got to know what your doing ,[thats you fecked then ]

[waidmann 105]

do you not think that a dog working at an age where the joints are not fully formed or the surfaces hard would do damage?

if a pup is playing it stops when it wants,if working it will go through tiredness and push itself maybe too far.

thats my thinking.

[FightTheBan 1,147]

I've bred and worked whippets for more than 20 years some do mature mentally at a younger age even if you run it with another dog if it isn't mentally mature it will yap. Personally I start mine around 10 months on their own usually ferreting or bushing gives them an ideal start letting the dog find the rabbit itself. If started to young can lead to toe and joint problems not to mention the fact it can dishearten a dog because it can't get to them, they may look quick but put with an older experienced dog of 14 plus months you will notice the difference. I've found through past experience that an immature dog will no doubt yap if run with an older/faster dog through sheer frustration at not keeping up with the older dog. My advice would be to enter them alone at an older age and be patient give the dog time to learn.

 

 

Thank god there is someone with some sense about them.

Fools talking about running a 4 month old pup thats just recently aff the tit

 

No wonder theres hoards of dogs going through the for sale section:-

 

"9 month old pup"

 

or my personal fovourite

 

"swop pup for Bullx"

 

FTB

[FightTheBan 1,147]

do you not think that a dog working at an age where the joints are not fully formed or the surfaces hard would do damage?

if a pup is playing it stops when it wants,if working it will go through tiredness and push itself maybe too far.

thats my thinking.

 

 

Structure of a pup, although it plays a big part, isnt the be all and end all imo.

Some dogs arent mentally mature untill a later stage, which also must be given alot of consideration.

 

Running a young dog that is not yet mature mentally can be just as damaging as running a dog that is not fully developed physicaly.

 

I will never understand people who rush to get a pup working, you will have it for the rest of its working life (or you should), so a precautionary principle should be used. ie wait untill you think the pup is ready to be introduced and dont rush it.

 

As per, this is just my opinion and i respect those who disagree

FTB

[huntingalltheway 2]

"YOU FXXKIN MAD a whippet can easily catch a rabbit at 5 months"

 

That says it all, what is it you are trying to prove by running a puppy on rabbits.

 

Up untill 10-12 months old all a running dog should be doing is training, socialising, getting used to its senses and growing up fit and healthy.

 

But i am sure you know all this, and judging by your attitude in your response you will give me a brief, poorly spelled lecture on how much of a wanker i am

 

Cheers FTB

not really being funny but not much training apart from retrieving you can do out of the field. plus this is a dog site not an exglish class so dont care to much about spelling. in the field you can train pups like flint08 says when there really young they mostly sit back and watch and learn which i see is training. it gets plenty of time as a pup to socialise when young i only take them out once a week on the lamp which gives me 6 days 18 hours to do the very limited training for the field. also by taking them young you get over the nonsense of fence training as there small enough to go through the squares or go through small gaps this teaches them that there are other ways if they cant jump so what ever you come accross your dog can always follow. plus i also drag a dead rabbit around on string to simulate the course which makes them very game aware. i do this daily. and after so many months of watching the older dogs work they slowly join in and participate more and more each week untill there full flight running all night all this is progressionly done ive seen hundreds of dogs run and the only ones that ive seen that stand out have been started young. now im still pritty new at doing this myself but like i said ive seen the qualities it seems to bring out but each to there own. but thats why i laugh on this site people say there massive dog men now the people i used to go with used to have massive bags so i thought this was normal then come on here to meet more serious hunters and find most people struggle to get any were over 20 regularly. which has been a massive disappoinment. now all there dogs were started young a few are posting now on here and all the people who've been struggling have started there dogs later. hence why my conclusion has come that it must work to start them early atb jamie

[waidmann 105]

fight the ban..i totlly agree,the post was asking the one above what he thought.

i am totally happy waiting untill my wee one is fit and able(see my previous posts on this thread) as with my terrier

 

i don't get the push and rush mentality(like starting a terrier on rats at 12 weeks :sick: )

 

each to their own i'm afraid.

waidmann

Edited March 15, 2010 by waidmann

[Catcher 1 639]

Never owned a whippet.One of those thing i all ways meant to get round to but never did.Maybe next year.They are stunning looking dogs

[FightTheBan 1,147]

We will just have to agree to disagree then 'huntingalltheway'.

I personally have seen far more dogs fecked by impatient owners starting them too early than those who held off.

 

How can you possibly assess a dogs ability when as a rule of thumb you have them working from 5 months old?

Part of the art of bringing on a dog (imo) is being able to assess and read your dog - meaning you should know when its ready.

If you treat every dog as an individual with individual natures and abilities, there is no general rule that can be applied to entering a young dog.

To say that they should be doing the business by 5 month, i initially thought it was a typo

All the best

FTB

[iceman001979 1,316]

People will always disagree when till start a pup 5 months a year it all depends on the person and dog.

Have two pups 5 months old and wont see anything till about 9 months but thats just me.

They have so much till learn before even starting to hunt.

Fences,ditches,gates,livestock, etc etc and all this will take afew months till get it spot on.

A pup needs to be a pup as people have said whats the rush your going have them along time.There is so many pups up for sale because people start them to early and when they cant do the job they get rid off them.

but as l said its up to that person what way he or she brings on there pup

[FightTheBan 1,147]

they are not mentally mature ,thats the reason you can take them out from such a young age, they are playing they do not run hard they just injoy them selves.

 

 

Pups should be introduced to different scenarios etc from a young age, as i said in my first or second post they have to use their senses and be socialised.

There is a big difference between that and running game.

I get what your saying

FTB

[huntingalltheway 2]

We will just have to agree to disagree then 'huntingalltheway'.

I personally have seen far more dogs fecked by impatient owners starting them too early than those who held off.

 

How can you possibly assess a dogs ability when as a rule of thumb you have them working from 5 months old?

Part of the art of bringing on a dog (imo) is being able to assess and read your dog - meaning you should know when its ready.

If you treat every dog as an individual with individual natures and abilities, there is no general rule that can be applied to entering a young dog.

To say that they should be doing the business by 5 month, i initially thought it was a typo

All the best

FTB

yeah each to there own. but agree you asses each dog according and change it to suit them above was rough process i go through. must admit bit cranky tonight had a hard night last night and still not been to sleep so sorry lads dont mean to offend atb jamie

[sounder79 80]

i think its all down to the mentality of the dog and the owners ability to read this and bring it on in the right way.ive seen whippets catching rabbits on the lamp at 6 months old and still going strong today,and ive seen them enterd later and open up and pull up purely down to the owners ability as a dog man to read the signs imo

take an 8 week old pup out he mostly sits back and watches for the first couple of months,they love going out ( better feet more stamina better brain ) you have got to know what you are doing what ever age you start them

jesus christ ,8 weeks? are you havin a laugh?

[Guest Arsenal F.C]

Cracking wee dogs.

Leave untill at least a year old before it even sees a rabbit.

Let him be a pup and use his nose/senses in an area where he wont encounter game untill 12 months.

Give him a few easy ones and the rest should fall into place if your training is up to scratch.

 

No point in letting a dog see game when it has no realistic chance of ever catching it.

 

FTB

YOU FXXKIN MAD a whippet can easily catch a rabbit at 5 months. i trained one up the season before this one for a bloke im a true beleiver in starting them young none of this blowing there lungs or hearts crap as long as it ran doubled up with an experienced dog its fine they arnt doing as much then and as they get more able they join in more and they see that most rabbits are caught this gives them confidence and drive. then when there 12 months you can let them run single. the blokes whippet caught her first at 4 months and at 5 months she had 4 or 5 then at 12 months have about 8-10 now shes about 2.5 years and running brilliant never pulled off and has big bags shes got bags of stamina. look at a wolf or a fox they are the best hunters and they are taught to hunt at an early age and they dont pull off its all about the mentality of the dog. you make it become a natural thing not something YOU want but make it what THEY want. ive got an 8 month old lurcher hes been ran from 4 months on lamp and hes excelling, from 8 weeks old ive took him during the day left him at every fence and let him watch older dogs work see him now. you seen my dog old real tree you've seen how it doesnt hurt them mines thriving

 

 

Well i ran mine at about 6 - 8 month , wish i never now had few problems with him but evry dog is different i suppose

[fieldsman 51]

I've bred and worked whippets for more than 20 years some do mature mentally at a younger age even if you run it with another dog if it isn't mentally mature it will yap. Personally I start mine around 10 months on their own usually ferreting or bushing gives them an ideal start letting the dog find the rabbit itself. If started to young can lead to toe and joint problems not to mention the fact it can dishearten a dog because it can't get to them, they may look quick but put with an older experienced dog of 14 plus months you will notice the difference. I've found through past experience that an immature dog will no doubt yap if run with an older/faster dog through sheer frustration at not keeping up with the older dog. My advice would be to enter them alone at an older age and be patient give the dog time to learn.

if started to young can lead to toe and joint problems. WRONG

I've done it seen it and it does I've got a 15 month old dog here now that I got back from a knob who started it at 6 months its feet are always swollen after a hard night simply because he coudnt wait it's the only whippet I own that yapps. He probably like you thought it was ok to start young it's not