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-- NEED HELP....again (http://forums.ukcdogs.com/showthread.php?threadid=928395155)

NEED HELP....again

I have a 11 month old pup that when i take him to the woods by himself he seems to be hunting but wont last long then he just wants to run and play. Ive showed him 2 coons and he has not treed either of them. I take him with my old dog and all he wants to do is play. Has no intrest in hunting. Have had him at several trees where my old dog had the coon but he pays no intrest to hunting...should i show him another coon? Or keep hunting him? Or say he just aint got it? Any suggestions?

Well, he's only 11 months old...I think the best advice you are going to get in regards to a young dog that likes to play is let a puppy be a puppy, for as long as he wants. I understand there are a lot of ads and trainers and handlers that brag about their pups "running and treeing by themselves" at 6 months old, some even sooner. That is very early to start. Some lines do and I have had a few early starters. Some guys have good luck with dogs that start early but I haven't.
Personally, I would rather have a dog that starts later, like at least over a year old and even that is young to me. From what I have seen most pups are a lot better off if they do a little more growing up and maturing before they get subjected to the rigors of hunting. It's too easy to influence a young dog in a bad way and the younger the worse the effect.
Also, most really early starters get going because the owner has an older dog or two to hunt them with. This is fine but the pup can only learn so much when another dog is doing most or all of the work. Then when the owner tries to separate them and hunt the pup by himself he is actually behind in some ways because he did too much depending on the older dogs.
If all of the above aint enough I think you will find with dogs that start a little later they can be much easier to break from running unwanted game. Getting into bad habits is way worse than not starting early.
Forget about setting a date or age when your pup has to be doing certain things and just keep trying to spend time in the woods letting him have all the fun he can. Also, just like early starters, I wouldn't worry too much if the first track he opens on is a deer. If he does that just keep taking him for walks but have a collar on him so you can let him know that deer aren't for him. There are people out there that would have you believe that certain lines {namely theirs!!} wont run off game...they are born broke and only run coons. Yeah, O.K. I bet that if you got the honest to gods truth from many of the top handler/trainers today they would tell you that their pups first barks on a track was not a coon. I have three young dogs in my kennel right now and the only reason one of them hasn't run a deer as his first track is because he hasn't opened on anything yet. Once your dog gets running then it's time to start showing him coons and don't be too upset if he doesn't run them to the tree...most of the time a few barks might be all you get the first few coons. Good luck.

Thanks for the input. Do you think il be better off to single him out and just carry him by his self? Just walking him to feeders and what not?

"I think" that you will be better off just leaving him alone and waiting on him to mature. Take him once a month until he starts showing interest.

"If after a cpl times that doesnt fire him up I dont know what will"

I agree, partially...when this pup matures more and has interest then the above statement is true. When they are too young and just not showing interest yet then you can reduce that sentence to "I don't know what will" because it's true. The only answer to that statement is time and enough of it.

I wish i did have a place to let him run loose, most everyone i ask says that would help him a lot more than likely. Il just take it slow with him until he starts to show more interest. Thanks for the advice guys. Maybe he will come around.

quote:

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Originally posted by Archey
...... Maybe he will come around......

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I think you should take the dog by itself or just wait until it matures more. In the book, Walk With Wick, He says to just shut them up and from time to time show it a caged animal and see how it responds. It the light comes on then it's time to take it to the woods again. Play is a sign of intelligence.

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they either have it or not

catch a cage coon see what he does with it

Carried him last night with my old dog he did the same as usual just kinda in and out. My old dog had the coon i tied my pup back and shot the coon to my old dog and it did make him go crazy. Maybe that flipped that switch