Stalking Dog Question

[3175darren 1,101]

Mine was 6 when she started so no reason yours shouldn't be able to. Teaching steadiness was hard and I'm still very aware of her behaviour as there's nothing she'd like more than to go back to the old days! Habituation was how I did it, getting out amongst deer alot. On lead to start, then at heel and finally loose. I had an advantage there as I pretty much live in a deer park, hence the change of tack. Getting bout with the rifle on rabbits is a good start though

try stitching together two leather greyhound leads, or get long line for schooling horses, fasten it to its collar and lay it out behind the dog as it walks, at heel if the dog slips past or goes too far in front just step onto the line, to stop it as long as it’s not flying it will pull up / stop, she should look back at you, reward that eye contact, but only if the dogs calm, hand up when you are sure she will remain halted, close the gap and praise her, walk ahead again at a slow pace, she should hold maintain the gap between you, do this a few times faster then slowing down, and the dog will learn to maintain it quietly with an odd bit of eye contact, practice slowing down at corners, in the wood, if you slow right down markably, and change sides of the track, as it get a better view around the corner you will be amazed how quick the dog picks it up, and starts doing it automatically, she will start to think around you, cut any verbal commands down to a a bare minimum, for the next wk write down all the commands you give the dog, then after a week look how many are not relevant, we all have bad habits and stray commands,these are counter productive, and do away with them, practice condensing the list down, to as few as possible, then practice giving them as hand commands or as quiet as possible, I only use a sss to get eye from the dog until the dog gets used to me then, command with the hand, but we are all different, as Tyla said his dog is 6 now and steady enough, after posting last time I tried my lurcher again, as he also has matured a lot, as he’s as aged and he was very good in the wood, until I got back to the car and boom, grey Squirel all hell broke loose, it’s practice quiet steady practice that’s all

[3175darren 1,101]

 

Mine was 6 when she started so no reason yours shouldn't be able to. Teaching steadiness was hard and I'm still very aware of her behaviour as there's nothing she'd like more than to go back to the old days! Habituation was how I did it, getting out amongst deer alot. On lead to start, then at heel and finally loose. I had an advantage there as I pretty much live in a deer park, hence the change of tack. Getting bout with the rifle on rabbits is a good start though

try stitching together two leather greyhound leads, or get long line for schooling horses, fasten it to its collar and lay it out behind the dog as it walks, at heel if the dog slips past or goes too far in front just step onto the line, to stop it as long as it’s not flying it will pull up / stop, she should look back at you, reward that eye contact, but only if the dogs calm, hand up when you are sure she will remain halted, close the gap and praise her, walk ahead again at a slow pace, she should hold maintain the gap between you, do this a few times faster then slowing down, and the dog will learn to maintain it quietly with an odd bit of eye contact, practice slowing down at corners, in the wood, if you slow right down markably, and change sides of the track, as to get a better view around the corner you will be amazed how quick the dog picks it up, and starts doing it automatically, she will start to think around you, cut any verbal commands down to a a bare minimum, for the next wk write down all the commands you give the dog, then after a week look how many are not relevant, we all have bad habits and stray commands,these are counter productive, and do away with them, practice condensing the list down, to as few as possible, then practice giving them as hand commands or as quiet as possible, I only use a sss to get eye from the dog until the dog gets used to me then, command with the hand, but we are all different, as Tyla said his dog is 6 now and steady enough, after posting last time I tried my lurcher again, as he also has matured a lot, as he’s as aged and he was very good in the wood, until I got back to the car and boom, grey Squirel all hell broke loose, it’s practice quiet steady practice that’s all

[3175darren 1,101]

Tyla I am sorry I meant to quote fursty, no idea what happened, Or why it duplicated

[Tyla 3,179]

No worries. All good advice there

[fursty 9]

Tyla and 3175Darren, thank you both very much for your thoughts and good advice. I will start slow and steady, accepting that it will most likely be a long term aim rather than something she'll pick up fast. I may be pleasantly surprised, we'll see. 'Grey squirrel/all hell broke loose' yup - that's the kind of thing that will happen again and again to begin with, no doubt at all!

[Tyla 3,179]

Where are you based fursty?

[Tyla 3,179]

Your post has made me think Darren, do you have the dog at heel or in front? I've always kept her at heel but have to keep looking back at her to check her body language. It would be alot easier with her in front but don't want to confuse indicating with tracking in her mind. She's good enough now but there's always another way to learn.

[fursty 9]

Where are you based fursty?

Deepest, darkest Devon.

[Tyla 3,179]

If you ever make it up to sussex give me a shout

[fursty 9]

If you ever make it up to sussex give me a shout

Thanks Tyla, I'll do that. I rarely leave Devon, but appreciate the thought. Likewise; let me know if you are ever down this way...

[Tyla 3,179]

Cheers, I might take you up on that. Keep us updated on your dogs progress, I reckon he'll pick it up pretty easily

[3175darren 1,101]

On 06/10/2017 at 19:18, Tyla said:

Your post has made me think Darren, do you have the dog at heel or in front? I've always kept her at heel but have to keep looking back at her to check her body language. It would be alot easier with her in front but don't want to confuse indicating with tracking in her mind. She's good enough now but there's always another way to learn.

This again is topical, I like them half a body length, so I can glance down without moving my head too obviously, it’s just a case of tipping my eyes down and left, that’s great for a pointer, / dog that will indicate, some will just plod behind, there still good dogs, but there’s two types, some pro-active, some re-active, I would think yours is more pro-active, there the most exciting dogs, sorry I was slow to reply, just getting used to the site changes even now, I am a technophobe, 

[Tyla 3,179]

With the lack of daylight I've been doing more from high seats over the last month. Re reading this makes me want to find time to do more on foot with the dog

[3175darren 1,101]

5 minutes ago, Tyla said:

With the lack of daylight I've been doing more from high seats over the last month. Re reading this makes me want to find time to do more on foot with the dog

What’s she like when you are in a high seat have you tried her? If so how did she do??

[Tyla 3,179]

I've not tried her, she waits in the truck usually if I'm going to use a seat. To be honest I'm not sure about having dogs under seats, more scent and an extra presence to warn the deer I'd have thought? But I've never done it so might be wrong. It would be handy if you are going to stalk into a seat, sit for a while then stalk on. I've never tried though