Encouraging A Dog To Look Up?

[Jax13 251]

Bit of a daft one - the lurcher has been working well over the ferrets through the winter and knows perfectly well what a bunny smells and tastes like and the motivation & prey drive is well and truly there but I have a slight... Problem but problem seems too strong a word for it.

 

I took her for a bit of a mooch the other night and she missed 4 or 5 close rabbits bolting because she had her snout on the floor and was following scent.

 

I stuck her on the lead and waited till we walked up on another couple, thought she had seen them so slipped her and again she went snout to ground and actually worked past the first one - it was only when they bolted she realised where she had put herself.

 

I then left her on the lead the next couple of times which she wasn't impressed with and made her stand and watch the rabbits run off (she started crying and yapping in frustration / excitement)

 

Next one, physically pointed her head straight at it thought she ha clocked it because the ears went up, tail started and she was ready to go so slipped her and again, 5 yards away from bugs she goes nose to ground and follows scent.

 

 

So, what can I do to encourage her to look up and ahead rather than follow scent?

 

It's a daft problem to have but at the same time as wanting her to use her eyes a bit more I don't want to discourage her nose as she had a 100% success rate marking up this year and she is primarily a ferreting dog rather than a lamping / mooching dog.

 

Any suggestions?

[Aussie Whip 4,127]

Could she be deaf or maybe in one ear?When you pointed her at them were they in her line of sight as dogs horizen is much less due to thetr height or maybe has not got great eyesight.

[Sirblessed 2,511]

Don’t slip her early, try to be patient and put her on a few sitters, this problem usually arises in young inexperienced dogs, with anxious owners, better to catch none and let her have a good look at them running in the distance than having them nose to the ground scaring everything in the paddock. A.T.B with her - SB

[Shaddy93 840]

Every rabbit she does see gee her on make some sort of noise I tend to use 'psssst' after 3 or 4 times everytime you make that noice her ears will prick up and she will become as sharp as a razor, iv had to deal with this problem if you like with a few digs and it's always been when iv started them in the day before iv worked them on the lamp,

Atb

[leethedog 3,071]

Use a short leads her head can't get down and flush bunny with noise from a few yards it may help .This is the reason I only ever took a lurcher ferreting a couple of times to get the taste so to speak then it was strait on the lamp as hunting up witch your dog is doing is a very hard habit to break. Or now steady yourself as a lot will disagree with this run your dog just behind a dog that is a good spotter slip the first dog give it a decent leads then slip your young one that should keep it's head up and after doing that for a bit the young one would imo use it's eyes a bit more. But in that scenario the young one will still hunt up if it misses. Another method is to take the young one out on the lamp and only slip on sitters you have walked up to a very close range ie end of your foot do this for a couple of months then slowly increase your slipping range and at any time the young one misses turn the lamp strait off and call dog back

Edited May 5, 2017 by leethedog

[terryd 8,525]

She will soon learn nose over eyes for me every day will put far more in the bag obviously during the day so you are on a winner . On the lamp quite simply make sure the dog has seen the rabbit before you slip and has a good chance of catching. If she misses get after her and on lead asap or get with in a yard or two and call her back so she won't ignore you because your close and build from there.

As said as well make a little hiss the dog soon learns there is some thing to be looking for when you hiss. I sent mine across two fields the other evening during the day with a hiss and hand signals. He just new I had seen some thing and never used his nose at all. He had no chance of a catch I just wanted to save my steps that evening oh and don't let the dog watch rabbits running off for the sake of it or as you are finding you end up frustrating them.

These are my findings with my dog

Edited May 5, 2017 by terryd

[king 11,980]

The next time you see a rabbit give her 1 or 2 little yanks on the lead with a lead under pressure I mean small 1" quick Pulls.and a small noise like a click with your tounge the small yank and click the same time.

Then walk up to the rabbit wait for it to run before slipping her.

Keep repeating so she will know when you give that little yank and click.

There's 100% rabbit ahead.

After doing it about 10 times.when you see another rabbit stand off a bit wait till she drops her nose to the ground.then on that second give her the small yank and click.

She should lift her head and start looking scanning for the rabbit.

So you know shes learning to trust you.

I find it works great on the lamp starting a dog off.

Hold the beam on a rabbit and give that quick yank on the lead.no click in the dark though.

Now the dog knows there's definitely a rabbit ahead walk up to it untill it bolts then slip the dog.

And just increase the distance to the rabbit.

Once the dog trusts that command 100% you will be able to slip them down a beam to a rabbit that they can't see.

They will run an empty beam.as in a squatter 100yds away.

But they will know there's definitely a rabbit there as you have told them

My bullx works to hand signals I can send him in any direction left right ahead.

If I see a rabbit daytime of to my right and he's off to my left up ahead I make the click noise to get his attention and point to the right he will run straight in that direction.

I was walking the woods the other day letting him Hunt up.

A rabbit broke from cover he was chasing the rabbit through the woods towards me the rabbit ran across the path 20yds in front from the right.

There was thick cover each side of the path he jumped the first bit of cover landed on the path then lost sight of the rabbit and stared straight at me to tell him which way it had gone I pointed In the direction the rabbit headed off and he ran in that direction.

[THE STIFFMEISTER 16,104]

Bit of a fine line

 

Pssttt ing dogs onto game tends to lead to over excitement , heads rotating , frantic rushing on etc

 

Personally I'd let the dog figure it out, they aren't daft but a guidance from a slip lead may help for the early stages

[Casso 1,261]

All the dog lacks is a bit of experience bud,

 

Never been able to teach a dog to hunt better than it's own innate hard wired ability

[Phil Lloyd 10,738]

Mother Nature is one hell of a trainer....

[Penda 3,341]

I had a bitch off a mate years back I aquired her because he was moving out quickly and needed rid any way he said the dog was doing the lot so a week after I had her I decided to give her a wirl on the beam I took her to a field flicked the beam on she just sniffed my brasher boot I said to my mate who was with me this dogs never saw a beam showed her a bunny on the beam still no response then I decided to look for a squatter 1st one kill and a retrieve I managed to get her behind 4 that night and she had 2 kills after that night understood to look up ?

[eastcoast 4,163]

This may seem an even dafter question but are you sure she's actually seeing the rabbits? Your eyes may be 6 foot or whatever above ground level but her's will be a lot closer to the ground. Just a thought.

[Retsdon 64]

Unless your dog is especially dim, like most of us it will learn from its mistakes. My advice would be to just give it a bit of space and time to learn and I don't mind betting that sooner rather than later it'll figure out that mooching head up rather than head down is the better option.

 

Not meant the wrong way at all, but you sound a bit like one of those anxious parents worrying that their first born isn't walking/drawing/cycling/whatever at the appointed time. Don't sweat it. Unless there's something the matter with them, they all get there in the end.

[Jax13 251]

Thanks for the advice folks.

 

It's only really the first time she has been walked / mooched and slipped so wasn't expecting miracles but didn't want to let her get into bad habits early with not looking ahead.

 

If it was a spaniel or lab running in, not quartering or screwing up retrieves I know how to cure it but with this thing being my first running dog there are certain mannerisms that are a lot different to the hunting instincts of gundog breeds.

 

I'll stick to shorter grass for now so she can hopefully pick them up earlier by seeing them ahead and I'll give her the benefit of a few more outings before I opt for any correctional training to see if she cottons onto it herself.

 

The difference between her first and second ferreting outings were like night and day - she clearly has a hunting brain so I'll give her the time she needs and let her figure it out for herself.

[moocher bb7 51]

Stop letting her hunt up in day time if your wanting to get her on lamp walk it on to stuff and don't slip it until bunny has jumped make sure she sees em might miss a few but will learn soon enough that something gonna be there without having to find it personally I'd say uouve6done a lot of moving we it off lead to find her own which is good take it she's a young dog is she??