A hint of sucess

[Chris]

Hi guys I thought I’d let you know of my ‘hint of success’ with Ty so far.

Now for many years with old Bear and Zeke we used to hunt rabbits with a compound bow. We couldn’t have done it without the dogs as it only took me 20 mins to teach Zeke that his life’s job was to find lost arrows (he’s saved us hundreds of dollars over the years). Now for 3 years Arthur (hubby) has been asking what about taking Ty hunting but with all his reactive behavior and not being able to trust him to not charge off after the rabbit instead of waiting until the arrow had gone I haven’t been keen. I didn’t feel as if I could control him like the others.

Then thinking about it and seeing how ‘alive’ Zeke becomes when the bow is brought out I thought why not try. We have a very overrun scrubby paddock with deep gullies 2 mins from work that’s ideal for hunting but also at the moment it’s 99% safe from any other dogs so Ty can go off lead here. So instead of letting Ty run free doing his own hunt I made up some rules, Zeke always walks beside or behind when we’re hunting so I worked on this with Ty. After a few moments of him doing this I’d then give a ‘ready’ and throw a stick then have a big tug session and back in to ‘hunting’ mode’, within a few days I could stretch out the time Ty was working at staying behind and even to the point where I could put my hand out to stop him, hand signal a sit or down then I’d stalk ahead pretending to look for rabbits then turn and release him and throw the stick. Oh he came alive with this, even better when one day as I said ‘ready go’ and threw the stick as rabbit shot out from by my foot, Ty thought I was the best hunter alive that day.

Anyway last week we had three dog encounters that turned into very low key for Ty and even two pushes with three dogs only 10 m away, that was a big WOW. Then two days ago we went bush and spend 4 hours hiking through the bush with loads of deer signal around and from the way the boys were scenting they weren’t to far away and Ty did great and stayed with us the whole way. A few times he went to rush ahead and we just stopped, he soon learnt he only gets to hunt when he’s in the right spot with the group.

Do half an hour true hunting with Ty and it’s like 3 hours of physical exercise, talk about the best mental workout he could have but it’s so wonderful to feel him with us in group mode and he also gets that prey drive satisfied. It’s been a big step forward and we’re loving it.

[Lee Charles Kelley]

Originally Posted by Chris

Do half an hour true hunting with Ty and it’s like 3 hours of physical exercise, talk about the best mental workout he could have but it’s so wonderful to feel him with us in group mode and he also gets that prey drive satisfied. It’s been a big step forward and we’re loving it.

That's great! And you're absolutely right. A dog's psyche is designed to release the maximum amount of tension or stress through hunting behaviors. Long walks are a vague analogue of the "search" aspect of hunting, so they do work to wear a dog out, but not as completely as what you're doing. (By making him work to focus on you and stay with you, you've become part pack member, part large prey animal...)

LCK

[Angelique]

Chris, Thanks for sharing Ty's hunting experiences. Inspiring!

[Jannik]

hey chris

nice reading :-)

what i have benn doing with my dog is not quit the same as the fundamental of natural dog trainning but not far away. For example i make free search with my dog which is one of the things that in my opinion is one of the biggest hunt i could give my dog at the current. but at this stage where i am know she has learned by herself to setle down and wait for the hunt command. what i have seen lately is many dogs is having a full speed preydrive they quick take the next step in the preydrives phases, which very quick can be the bite (not a mistake for a untrained dog )

a test one can do with a dog is to do a sit with the dog, what will happen the dog just sits pefect its the best.
the next best is if the dog cant hold the sit and lays down( preydrive almost out)
or the worst the dog stands up it cant wait the hunt is too strong ( here the dog might take the steps in prey by himself.
but again it all depends on the current trainning for the dog

so i have modified the predatory chain to:make stand ( where the dog sits,downs or stands) walking(hunt) jumping to bite the tug( the off butten)
I have done my trainning with quick bites and the last thing is the down sit etc for not spoiling the drive
it really sounds cool chris thanks :-)

[Chris]

That sounds great Jannik.

The great thing we had yesterday was Arthur fired the bow off to try and teach Ty to find the arrow as Zeke does, he ran off towards were it went and then turned back to me for the stick and tug. I was fine with that for now and rapped he turned back to me even with Zeke racing off after the so called 'prey'.

We also do a few sits/downs and make him wait, often when we're climbing down an embankment or something like that but thankfully so far Ty is rock solid and then I'll release him for a tug. Makes for great control work.