NEED ADVICE - Lurcher too soft mouthed!!!

[Joe Phillips 0]

Have 2 year old collie x whippet. Right working bitch, very fast

and clever but often when she gets a rabbit she doesnt finish them

off quick enough and sometimes they get away.

 

Can anyone offer me some advice on how to get her to kill or hold

on to them???

Edited June 28, 2010 by Joe Phillips

[x38 179]

Have 2 year old collie x whippet. Right working bitch, very fast

and clever but often when she gets a rabbit she doesnt finish them

off quick enough and sometimes they get away.

 

Can anyone offer me some advice on how to get her to kill or hold

on to them???

let her learn the job..... i like a dog to retrive live to hand it will come... how old is she.. and dont worry

[DottyDoo 500]

she will come good im sure, practise makes perfect

[Mr Hunter 31]

I have problem but other way round.But come autumn when he starts properly with plenty of catches on good ground it will change,fingers crossed!atb MH

[wexford Pa 84]

Theres a method for training on Dave Sleights dvd for lurchers droppin short, if u can get that dvd theres a few handy tips for most lurcher training problems..

Pa

[the pikey poacher 1,157]

get it on a few rats mate when they bite her she'll soon toughen up

[Joe Phillips 0]

Great advice, thanks a million. I'll keep yez posted to

her progress. cheers!!

[mally 832]

My whippet Vixen was very soft mouthed when i started her,and after almost 500 rabbits on the lamp ( i don't count daytime or ferreted rabbits) she still retrieves live to hand and you can eat all the rabbits she catches. She just holds them a little bit firmer. With your dog only being 2 it's only got one season under it's belt. Just get out there next season and show it as many as you can, it will soon get the hang of it.

 

I'd sooner a dog be soft mouthed than a real cruncher anyday of the week. I've seen some dogs crunch so hard you could post the rabbits they caught through a letter box!!!.

 

[skycat 6,173]

It could be a lack of confidence thing as well. Does she try and retrieve the rabbits to you then drop them, or does she drop them at a distance just after catching them? I had a bitch that was similar and with her it was a "am I doing the right thing" issue, and as she was very submissive to me she'd drop the live rabbit a few yards away so I couldn't grab it before it ran off: she'd go after it again and catch it, but then drop it short again.

I cured her by playing tug of war with a rabbit skin: NOT the thing to do with a confident or stroppy dog at all, but it worked with this bitch who was unsure of herself. I made the whole tug of war thing into a mad game at home in the back garden, but never let go of the skin myself. Once back in the fiel she remembered how much fun she'd had bringing the skin to me to play with so she then started bringing the rabbits right to hand. She didn't try and pull them away from me as I didn't get into that game with a real rabbit, I just held it, necked it while she was still holding it and told her very calmly to sit. If she wanted to hold on to the rabbit for a few moments that was fine, and when I could feel her about to loosen her grip on it I said 'give' at that precise moment. She soon got the hang of it and we never looked back.

[poacherman 353]

your dog should be soft mouthed anyway mate. in time after getting a few it will learn not to drop them. ma dog was the same. she dropped them a few times so i started walking away in the different direction of her soon as she got the rabbit and never gave her time mess about with it, she started coming straight right in with rabbit, sometimes she stops in front of me and holds the rabbit on the ground till i pick it up but the last few retrieves its been back to hand so im getting a bit of progress with her

Edited June 29, 2010 by poacherman

[Joe Phillips 0]

Answer to Mally: Alright mate, Cheers mate hopefully she'll come right with practice. Nice Pics, lovely looking dog!!

 

Answer to Skycat: Ya mate she is the very same as ur bitch, very quiet and calm and is submissive to me and does drop em short sometimes straight after catching them and sometimes she comes back wit the rabbit within a foot or two of me and drops it live but too far away for me to grab it 2. I have tried tug of war with the rabbit skin with her but she shows very little interest and barely grabs it.

We got a terrier pup last year and in the last 3 months she has being torturing her (playing) and that has resulted in her getting a bit sorer and grabbing the pup and shaking her. :-) Since this happened she has grabbed a few pulters and killed them (stilling dropping short) but dont know if she'll hold or kill an adult yet. Roll on this season, time will tell.

 

Answer to Poacherman: Good idea mate will try that next time i get her out. Cheers.