Training to Track

Brattina88

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#1
I was wondering if anyone on this forum had any experiance with training there dog to track, hunt or anything along these lines. I've gotten about half a dozen books from the library, but most are at least 15 years old and I can tell the training techniques are older. If anyone knows any good books, websites or anything it would be appriciated. The only sites I can find are ones that want you to ship your dog to them and let them train it. :confused:
 
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#2
I'm guessing you want to train Maddie? That's a great idea!

Check to see if there are any hunting associations or clubs near you. Even something like a gun club might lead you to someone who actually uses hunting dogs. You might even check to see if your local law enforcement has a tracking dog and ask them questions. If there are any dog organizations near you they might also give you some leads.

I guess you're going to have to do some tracking of your own first, hmmm?

I've seen games on Animal Planet where dogs tracked a bait; they looked like they were having a fantastic time.

It's amazing what our dogs can learn to do sometimes. When my grandmother stayed with us she had a chihuahua someone had given her because it had become so snarky they couldn't deal with it anymore. You can imagine how much we appreciated that! The dog turned around completely, though, after our big yellow tom, Gulliver, took over her (we called her Scarlet No'Hara) care and training. He taught her to go outside to do her business - and try to cover it up! What made the most difference in her life was giving her a purpose . . . Gulliver taught her to be a mouser! She was good, too! She was small enough to get into places he wouldn't fit (HUGE cat), and she was so proud when she'd come out with a mouse. Scarlet was actually the second dog he'd trained. We had a little mutt, Morgan, who became a deadly mouser under his tutelage. We were out in the country, so there were always plenty of mice to keep them busy!

Good luck, and if I think of anything else I'll let you know. Keep me posted on what you find and how Maddie does. Cockers are just too bright and energetic not to have something substantial to do.
 

Brattina88

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#3
I contacted our local Gun Dog Club and they're supposed to send me a packet through the mail, so I'm looking forward to that. It is amazing, I'm excited about getting Maddie started, but I don't want to start training a dog without knowing how exactly. I know she could do it, if I knew how to make her understand. She's very observant and likes to use her eyes more than her nose, but she has a good nose.
That's so funny! My mom had a little mouse problem two winters back and her Chihuahua, Minnie, would bark her heart out and follow along the wall, or the drawer where it was. [How repulsing is that?] We put up traps (not poison because of the pups ;) ) , but the mice got out of them somehow. One day we came home and the drawer door was open, Minnie was laying on her bed with a little white mouse between her paws. It was still alive! It was like frozen in fear and Minnie wouldn't stop licking it. Though I'm against catching wild animals and keeping them as pets my mom took it to her day care where its in this huge tank, and doesn't have to worry about Chihuahuas or going hungry :D
 
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#4
That's cute! People don't realize how much happier their dogs are when they have a purpose, and chihuahuas and the other tiny ones have the same needs.

I know what you mean about not wanting to start until you know what you're doing. I wish I had a better handle on how to teach our dogs how to cut cattle out of the herd. Their instincts are great at droving the cattle to a certain area, but as far as the more advanced help (which we really could use), I'm completely ignorant of how to train them. It took Charlie and me 4 1/2 hours the other morning when we had to take some to the stock market. And then we didn't end up with the ones we really needed to take! I missed Buffy so much that morning. She was terrific help with our little "rodeos!" Shiva's just not the drover Buffy was. Hopefully, Kharma, being from the same bloodlines, will have the strong drover instinct Buffy had. Shiva's lines evidently had more tracking and heading instincts.

By the way, you can get mousetraps that are essentially just like the humane wild animal traps. I think I got mine at WalMart (UGH! I hate giving them a plug!) You put the bait (I like peanut butter because the smell carries a long way) in the back compartment and they go in after it, then you can release the mouse outside - far away from the house. I'm so bad about that type of thing that I even take spiders out and release them. My family and friends finally gave up on me and don't try to swat one in my presence anymore; they just ask me to take care of it! I thought my Mom was going to have me committed, though, when I yelled at her for trying to kill a poor black snake with a shovel!
 

Brattina88

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#5
I know what you mean -- a can't even kill those annoying "lady bugs" that bite! My Dad will kill a bunch of them with one swat of the fly swatter and I'll say something like they are just trying to survive, like us. Then we'll argue. There was a big argument on what to do with that mouse. They wanted to kill it, of course, and I wouldn't let him, so my Mom offered to take it to work. I was against it, but it was either that or death (how could someone like me make that decision?)
When I was visiting my grandparents in Florida there house was over run with those little green lizards (I think there called Anoles ?) I saw my grandmother try and kill one with a fly swat and I almost died...
For a store I really don't respect I have to go there more often than not for everything. Figures :rolleyes:
 

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