Waiting Until 1 Year Old

[RussBoy 77]

Having a chat with an old timer earlier,

All round working dog man since he was knee high.

He was saying he never entered any of his dogs to the lamp until they hit 12 months of age. He only ever focused on the obedience/stockbraking etc for the first 12 months. More to the point he says that by leaving them until they hit year old lessens chances of ruining the youngster.

Now I've always usually had my dogs running from 9 months but I can see where he is coming from.

Any of you lads do anything similar?

[peng 136]

well you certainly wouldnt ruin a dog holding it back... but you can certainly ruin one givin it work 2 early

[MR RABBIT 715]

Nothing wrong with bonding with ur pup till a year,,,and more importantly having fun in process,never take it too seriously as they'll be no fun ,I've always said dog and man is a Team ,if you don't bond then there's no hunting team

[straight2hand 303]

Good advice in general I would say but as a lot of people would say depends on the dog and time of year it's ready etc etc some dogs are ready for a run earlier...but it's always a risk running a younger dog as bad habits can surface because it's too early, as well as to much strain can hamper a young dog in the long run. A couple of runs at 10 months wont kill any dog but its all about getting the right sort of behaviors set at the first stage.