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Working with an odd dog

Any help or suggestions would be great here. I have a young dog here that is 7 months old. I got it about a month ago and I don't think the thing had ever been out of the pen in its life. Was real backward and dare I say shy. In 3 weeks it has gotten a ton better. I have just let it be loose all the time and it has slowly progressed its range in the yard, started chasing birds, and in a way acting like a puppy.

It is real nervous about new things, like riding in the truck, being on the chain, or going new places. Should I:

A. Give it more time at home to let it get more and more confident before introducing new things

B. Just start doing everything with it and push it to get used to it.

__________________
The fun is over once you pull the trigger

Ron Ashbaugh
CROOKED FOOT KENNELS

Trying too force it , will hurt it more then helping it.

__________________
Jesus saves!

quote:

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Originally posted by rdmedders
Trying too force it , will hurt it more then helping it.

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C. get a Lone Pine dog.

__________________
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

Lone Pine North

Being on a chain or tied up is not really a nervous thing...they just slap don't like it, it is un-natural. Especially if the pup has never been on a chain. It is best to tie the dog up to a short chain {maybe 4 feet} staked in the middle of the yard or otherwise away from anything he can tangle. Leave him there until he quits pulling and choking himself and just in general gets over it and accepts the thing around his neck. I always do this before I ever try to lead a pup around on a leash.
As far as being shy, if it's bad you have to decide how much time you are willing to allow this dog to consume. You cannot get time back and you really want it directed or spent on the best possible candidate.
A lot of pups are skittish about new things and letting them run loose is good but it don't help him around you, Spend as much time with the pup as you can. Take him fishing off the bank of a pond or river, take him camping off to yourself. Kind of make it so you are the only other thing there and if he still don't warm up to you.....well, then you gotta start making up your mind about how much more time you want to spend.
Not all shyness is totally bad. A little bit of reserve around strangers might keep him from getting stolen out of the woods.

Ron, I think you have to do some of both. You need to build the dogs confidence and at the same time force it to continue to learn and use its instincts. My advice would be to do some serious yard training and bench break the dog or teach it to sit on command etc. Teaching it basic commands will allow you to evaluate the dogs ability to learn and should increase the dogs trust in you and gain self confidence it needs. If this is accomplished, then I would move to introduce the dog to hunting just like any other pup. Forget the age of the dog and focus on its mental maturity. If you can get the dog's confidence up enough to learn, then it will have a chance to show what instincts it inherited to be a hunting dog. As you know, some dogs have it and some don't.

Ignore JB--I liked the Lone Pine dogs until they used 'Woodmonster Can't Track'. JB shouldn't give advice anymore. LMAO!

Good luck, Ron.

Home of Lone Pine Tar and Iowa Plott Brownie!

Local hunts

Take that pup to local hunts with you and just tie it out for awhile (a little distance from other dogs and people at first). Later take it in the club house and let it set around with you. Give it time to get use to everything.

__________________
Darrin Gher
Elbridge Redbones
Home of
GRNTCH PR' Steve-O and Chili's Red Flow
NTCH PR' Twisters Musical Red Huey DNA-VIP Perf Sire 06'07 Deceased 11/07
Former Home of
NTCH 'PR' Swann's Lonesome Red Music/ Kitty
NTCH. CH PR' SawBlade Red Reckon
NTCH. CH PR' Gher's Timber Mt. Brandy
Breeder of
GRNTCH PR' Daugherty's Red BUBBA
NTCH CH PR' BA'S Tree Top Rockin Griddle
NTCH PR' Lickcreek Backwoods Lil Red Annie

GES, OUCH! I know what you're saying there. We got a few nice ones though. Good thing we used super accurate females. Now we're breeding the track back into them. COMA!

Ron, don't get in a rush, it's a plot, it won't be ready to start for another 2 -3 years.

__________________
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

Lone Pine North

Got any kids? Kids will help it more than any thing. I used to let the neighbor kids come over to play with the puppies before we started having our own kids.

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Larry Atherton

Aim small miss small

I think you are on the right track...just ease into it and let it be a puppy and explore and get over things on its own terms..expose it to new things but don't shove him in a dog box and take off down the highway...letting it run loose a while will likely help a lot...


Could be a longggg slow start if you try taking him hunting right now..just a lot for it to get used to and process and get over....


Could also be scared of its new environment... Either way I think your on the right track and it'll come along...

__________________
Team Trackman!!

'PR' Trackman's Dizzy Duke

Thanks all. She gets a little better each day. She will be 8 months old at the end of April. I may just let her be this summer and see what happens.

I started feeding her in places outside of her comfort zone where a week ago she wouldn't even go and now she marches right up and digs in....may just take more time and patience than I am used to giving....maybe somebody is trying to teach me a lesson..

__________________
The fun is over once you pull the trigger

Ron Ashbaugh
CROOKED FOOT KENNELS

The first thing is trying to find out if the dog was born quirky or made quirky ... all dogs that are neglected get a free pass as if automatically it is abuse ... but plenty of dogs are neglected until old enough to hunt and it don't bother them ....

If the dog wasn't born quirky then it shouldn't take much to get him back into the swing of things and the dog should relish the attention and chance to do stuff .... if a pup or dog balks at it and really wants to be quirky then lets just call it a quirky dog that also happened to be neglected and then ask ourselves how much fun it is gonna be to train.

quote:

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Originally posted by Dirtdevil
The first thing is trying to find out if the dog was born quirky or made quirky ... all dogs that are neglected get a free pass as if automatically it is abuse ... but plenty of dogs are neglected until old enough to hunt and it don't bother them ....

If the dog wasn't born quirky then it shouldn't take much to get him back into the swing of things and the dog should relish the attention and chance to do stuff .... if a pup or dog balks at it and really wants to be quirky then lets just call it a quirky dog that also happened to be neglected and then ask ourselves how much fun it is gonna be to train.

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__________________
The fun is over once you pull the trigger

Ron Ashbaugh
CROOKED FOOT KENNELS

I've tried all kinds of methods on dogs like this ... the best and easiest is if you have an older dog you can pen them with that they will load up behind and follow out of the box and into the woods and honor enough to not bother you until you see if they have some talent and then maybe their coon drive will blossom ... without another dog to pair up with , the quirky ones are almost impossible to convince to be on your side .... puberty makes a difference too , a quirky dog who's testicles haven't dropped is a fragile thing .... kids gloves til' then for sure .

Thanks Dirtdevil!.

__________________
The fun is over once you pull the trigger

Ron Ashbaugh
CROOKED FOOT KENNELS

Re: Working with an odd dog

quote:

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Originally posted by Ron Ashbaugh
Any help or suggestions would be great here. I have a young dog here that is 7 months old. I got it about a month ago and I don't think the thing had ever been out of the pen in its life. Was real backward and dare I say shy. In 3 weeks it has gotten a ton better. I have just let it be loose all the time and it has slowly progressed its range in the yard, started chasing birds, and in a way acting like a puppy.

It is real nervous about new things, like riding in the truck, being on the chain, or going new places. Should I:

A. Give it more time at home to let it get more and more confident before introducing new things

B. Just start doing everything with it and push it to get used to it.

---

__________________
when policemen ignore the law, then there isn't any law. there's just a fight for survival.

*billy jack

It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it.

Robert E. Lee

Thanks so much. Last night I was loading up my old dog and the little dog was right there so I put her in the box just to give her a ride. I was feeling like she may not even come out when we got to the woods but at this point I figured what the heck.

I drove to the timber, opened her door and got my old female out and cut her.......there went the pup barking the whole way...two drops and 3 miles later that pup went ever step. She was at both trees standing there with no clue what was going on, but she was with her the whole time, never came back, never stood at my feet.

I was flat out floored.

__________________
The fun is over once you pull the trigger

Ron Ashbaugh
CROOKED FOOT KENNELS