Right Age To Run Pup

[Kiellovesannie 24]

Hi everyone just a quick one what age would you start to lamp a young lurcher on rabbits want an all round dog out to f it but as I know rabbits boost confidence in a young dog so advise needed cheers

[walshie 2,804]

As your topic appears to be in the wrong section, (a non hunting post), we have moved it to the appropriate forum.

Read the forum rules, top of the section.

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[green dragon 701]

You will get a 100 difrent ansers from here mate iv just got my first lurcher and my advice is . Wait there is no rush you will here dogs catching at 5 6 months fair play to them but i waited till 10 11 months befor we had a run . We worked on stock breacking recall retrive jumping ect before we even thort about hunting and so far so good at 17 months now with our first proper season here we are ready for war.at the end of the day its your dog your choice

Edited September 21, 2016 by green dragon

[Wales1234 5,490]

I lamped my blue bitch at 6 months could see she was mental mature and she's fine ! Have a 9 mong old pup here now she's physical all there but mentally a big daft pup won't be lamping her for a while different dogs mature differently there's so straight forward answer I'd rather start a dog late than early

[roybo 2,873]

2 trains of thought are easy work early on won't hurt ,or save them til fully mature .

I'm somewhere between and would rather know the dog is ready for what you let him see,but it's easy to get carried away with a keen dog and misread signs.

[Plucky1 1,119]

The easy answer is it depends on the cross, there are many types of lurcher and they are all very different in both their physical attributes as well as their mental maturity, the odd run on a bunny at 6- 8 months will not hurt it but full days running or hard nights should be saved until they are a lot older, I normally start them ferreting getting them steady seeing plenty of rabbits around the nets,jumping etc, the likes of deerhound crosses can be notoriously slow to mature and have held them back till 18months but have seen whippets murdering stuff at 8 months, I think physical size can be a good marker but get as much info on your particular cross as you can from the breeder of your pup and read as much on them as you can, so the window can be 8 - 18 months and that is a big window , if you're not sure then starting it late is better than "blowing" a young dog, WM

[leethedog 3,071]

The easy answer is it depends on the cross, there are many types of lurcher and they are all very different in both their physical attributes as well as their mental maturity, the odd run on a bunny at 6- 8 months will not hurt it but full days running or hard nights should be saved until they are a lot older, I normally start them ferreting getting them steady seeing plenty of rabbits around the nets,jumping etc, the likes of deerhound crosses can be notoriously slow to mature and have held them back till 18months but have seen whippets murdering stuff at 8 months, I think physical size can be a good marker but get as much info on your particular cross as you can from the breeder of your pup and read as much on them as you can, so the window can be 8 - 18 months and that is a big window , if you're not sure then starting it late is better than "blowing" a young dog, WM

Me and you don't always see eye to eye but your bang on I had a lurcher x lurcher years of worker to worker had his first winter hare preban of corse kicked up no lore given at 10 months but when I was a teen ager I had deerhound x that couldn't pick up a rabbit till she was nearly 2 years

Edited September 21, 2016 by leethedog

[Somewhereyournot 1,117]

I left my older bitch till 18 months but by this time she was extremely quick and she never changed her running style over shooting far too much.

My second dog I started off 11/12 months and first ever rabbit he saw and ever ran he caught. My third dog here now will be started sooner rather than later from jut my personal experience but il read the dog before entering him. He will catch now at 6.5months old, but having just had his teeth through I'd rather not risk him hurting his mouth as dogs HAVE been put of grabbing stuff after hurting there mouths young.

[straight2hand 303]

If the dogs mature early enough then I would say 7 months on wards but I would say keep it to only a couple of runs at a time and pick your rabbits very carefully and stack everything in the dogs favor at the end of the day it's about getting the right behavior in the early days and building confidence.

[Teckers 659]

As others have said it all depends on the dog it differs massively with the fukers some dogs seem to be ready to go at any thing at 10 months and some don't seem to be ready to tackle a mouse at 2 ,I'd rather hold a pup back than start it to early though if your not sure, them few months could make or break them if you want a certain type of lurcher atb ?

[Blueboybilly 164]

I had to wait 18 months with my whippet dog. Immature as f**k though and very mentally sensitive. I did try him at 9 months but he barely understood what was going on but by the time he got to 14 months his prey drive went through the roof.

As mentioned above - depends on the dog and I think that good advise would be enter late rather than early.

[The one 8,467]

Reading in the countrymans today penny taylor says start them off ferreting at 6 months then progress later too lamping

[Fieldsporthunter 1,864]

Reading in the countrymans today penny taylor says start them off ferreting at 6 months then progress later too lamping

 

IMO ferreting learns a dog a lot of what it needs to know.

[MR RABBIT 715]

Ferreting is fine,,me personally if ur mainly going to lamp ,,train pup to light first,,with dummies or ball etc a decent lamper still has to be as biddable as any ferreting dog,,,and walking very young pup in dark after work by eck they no half stick to your heel like clue I.e not keen to run of in dark and mooch up ,,good training lol,,, always best one on one,,if uve got an older dog with bad habits don't train ur pup with said dog,,big mistake most folk make

Edited September 21, 2016 by MR RABBIT

[lifelong cumbrian 1,826]

Got a 10 month old collie grey here to start off, i don't think its ready yet for anything more than a bit of ferreting. when she runs in the field on a walk , has a nice turn of pace but legs still all over the place, starting to get a little muscle on through a bit of road walking but don't want to much on her yet. Emotionaly she is still very puppyfied although on a couple of times she has hunted the drag of a rabbit keenly that i have saw sitting off the hedge when out walking. Will be a ferreting dog hopefully so might give her a couple of short trip out soon with the nets, is sound with the ferrets. Different kettle of fish than others i have trained, mainly whippet x types that on the whole would be much more advanced both physicaly and mentaly at this point. I won't rush her, ferreting to start, maybe a bit of lamping toward february/march depending how she is going, maybe not lamp her till next season. Also i like to work one dog at a time ferreting and like to train them solo, i have a 6 year old beddy whippet that is a good little marker so don't need to hurry the pup at all.