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Training
- Thread starter labman626
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SCDOGHUNTER
Member
i would do both..rabbit pen first till they click then with the older dogs and keep them away from pens after that.
grouper throat
Senior Member
x2!
simpleman30
Senior Member
how's the rabbit pen worked for you guys? my papa always trained rabbit dogs on rabbits, and deer dogs on deer/fox/coyote. he never trained a dog on any game that he didn't intend for that dog to run. if it ran something he didn't want it to, it didn't come home...
in the past i've either waited til deer season and let the pups learn from their older kennel mates or found a fox/coyote pen to get them started. years ago i'd just turn them loose with an older dog at my kennels and let them find their way home, which they always did... even now when they get loose, they'll run for a few days and eventually show back up. guess i'm too worried about ticking off a neighbor or having them get run over anymore. that, or i'm too sorry to stay up late trying to catch em up!
in the past i've either waited til deer season and let the pups learn from their older kennel mates or found a fox/coyote pen to get them started. years ago i'd just turn them loose with an older dog at my kennels and let them find their way home, which they always did... even now when they get loose, they'll run for a few days and eventually show back up. guess i'm too worried about ticking off a neighbor or having them get run over anymore. that, or i'm too sorry to stay up late trying to catch em up!
SCDOGHUNTER
Member
i still do that myself...turn out one of my comeback dogs (with a collar just in case) behind my house with a couple pups once they are about nine months depending on size and listen to them run for the night and they are usally home in the morning or next evening.i have pretty good neighbors..none close.i have lost a couple pups to snakes or gators but thats part of it in the swamps.
flhunter82
Senior Member
The old timers think that we are crazy starting pups on rabbits. But the old timers can say what they want, I hunted with some of those old greats that they used to have and they don't even compare to the dogs we have now. You here those stories and I remember back before we had trackers how the dogs would be back at the camp, you could hang that up with the dogs we are breeding these days. The rabbit pens work!
grouper throat
Senior Member
The rabbit pens are great and all but maybe 3-4 pups I owned over the past 6 years have been in one. The only reason I never put my last two pups in there is because they ran with their momma the first time I turned them out with her.
One of the old timers was the one who brought the whole idea of starting puppies in the rabbit pens (along with using shock collars too) here.
I'd imagine alot of the dogs today have too much drive bred into them to show back up days later. The few times I have had some breakouts they seem to make their way straight down the creek bank and into the club. I have owned a few potlickers over the years that would probably come back when hungary.
One of the old timers was the one who brought the whole idea of starting puppies in the rabbit pens (along with using shock collars too) here.
I'd imagine alot of the dogs today have too much drive bred into them to show back up days later. The few times I have had some breakouts they seem to make their way straight down the creek bank and into the club. I have owned a few potlickers over the years that would probably come back when hungary.
SCDOGHUNTER
Member
i believe tracking collars have alot to do with dogs not coming back to where you turn them out from...we teach them not to by cutting them off on the other side of the block or wherever.The amount of drive a dog has is not relevant if he will come back or not.i have fox walkers that run to catch deer and have caught grown deer..and they will come back eventually,may be three days if i didnt go get them but they will return.Funny thing is my beagles are less likely to return than my big dogs..cant explain it.
as far as rabbitt pens go..i dont teach my dogs to run rabbitts...just want to see the light go off in their head ..i smell something,i want to chase it..then out of the pen and in the woods ..alot,two or more times a week until season starts then more.
as far as rabbitt pens go..i dont teach my dogs to run rabbitts...just want to see the light go off in their head ..i smell something,i want to chase it..then out of the pen and in the woods ..alot,two or more times a week until season starts then more.
