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Face Barking

Me and a buddy of mine raised a litter of pups ths spring and summer that just turned 6mos old. There were seven pups. one that afriend took got killed by coyotes. I kept two females,my buddy kept a male and a female and the other two are here locally owned by good solid coonhunters. All of the pups have been treeing cats and squirrels since they were four to five mos old. My buddy called me the other day and told me he had got two cage coons and had turne one loose in front of his pups and that they tracked, located the tree and treed with authority on it. He asked me if I wanted to try the other on my pups. I showed the pups the coon in the cage and they went wild, treeing hard on the cage biting at it, knocking the live trap over and so forth. I had the wife hold the pups back and turned the coon loose. It ran into the timber about 75yards and climbed a big white oak, the pups absolutely did not see it climb. After about five or ten minutes I turned the pups loose and they trailed right to the tree, located and started treeing hard! I mean standing on the tree, bellied up hitting it every breath, I knocked it out and they were immediately on it and it was finished. I praised them, put em up and let them think about it for a day. I then took em out with my broke dog, he got treed and when they got there they went wild, face barking him! I never saw nothing like it. He just sit there treeing and they were literally treeing at him. They showed no sign of being ill nor did he(I dont know how) but all they wanted to do was face bark him. They were not doing it in an ouchy way it was just like they were so excited they couldn't figure out what else to do. Anyone ever see anything like this and what are your recommendations?

Do you keep them in the same kennel ??.. You need to split them up.Only hunt one at a time.Face barking can become a real bad problem .You cant put up with it at all..It can be learned from other dogs.They can just do it to protect themselves.Or be possesive over things like dog food and trees,dead coon.Most dogs that face bark will be possesive over dog food...That can come from having other dogs in the same kennel..(One pup) can ruin a whole litter if they fight over feed..I like to see Coonhound pups separated as soon as possible 6-8 weeks old.I think it really helps keep them from being aggressive toward other dogs.But sometimes nomatter what you do they turn out aggressive.It could just be that cross that brought it out..Id put a shocker on each pup. Hunt one at a time and correct them if they get aggressive.(Another thing) they are way to young for cage coon...How or if a dog re-acts to a cage coon has nothing to do with if they make a coon hound or not...Most guys still work every dog on a cage coon. If they need it or not..(The truth) very few pups. If they are bred right need to see a cage coon...Also be carefull hunting a young pup. Just because they start young and look good .Does not mean they will turn out to be good dogs at 2 years old..Most pups are just not mature enough for hard hunting until 11-12 months old or older....It sounds like your going to have fun hunting these pups.l...What are your pups out of????

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my hound spends part time

in Brooklyn NY, where he plays with other dogs in a dog park. Whenever he is excited there, he face barks the other dogs to engage them in play. That is normal puppyish behavior. Other hounds--beagles, even greyhounds--understand this, but other breeds of dogs find it very off-putting and walk away from him.
Mine is old enough now so he shouldn't try to play with other coonhounds when hunting, but I have found that he will do that at a field trial or when turned out with another hound in the woods if there is no hot scent. Its his way of engaging the other dogs in play when he doesn't see it as a real work situation.
I suspect that your broke dog wasn't offended by the facebarking because he saw it as puppyish behavior in puppies. Chances are good that they will outgrow it, but I'm thinking the best remedy would be to hunt them by themselves until they get more focused. They seem to understand their purpose in life well enough so they don't need a pup trainer. Just keep the distractions limited and they will do fine.

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Face Barking

When the other dog was treeing, did they know he was barking treed. If they don't understand why he is barking, they take it personal, and thats were the face barking comes in. They my consider his bark to be a threat to them, and as young dogs they will try to establish their dominance. There are two things you can do; One, put them up and let them mature a little bit, then try again. Secondly, try hunting one at a time. Sometimes a pup, because of not understanding, will bark at another dog whie he trees the coon. I personally think letting them grow a little more mentally, and emotiionally will fix the problem. Once they understand why the old dog is barking you are well on your way.

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Craig and Emily, thanks for the responses. I do keep them in seperate kennels. When they did this they were not doing it in an aggressive manner. It was more like they were barking at him because he was barking and they were excited, almost like it was a game to them. I've only showed them the one cage coon and dont plan on showing them anymore, I agree and dont usually mess with a cage coon, but since it was offered to me I thought I would just see one time how they reacted. When they were treeing on that coon without an old dog they did not face bark each other at all, when they are running loose they never face bark each other. I never let the broke dog run loose and it was like they were so excited to be with another dog that they were trying to get his attention. They are out of my own male NtCH Jelly's Slick Slider who is out of Merchants Bounty which is out of Lippers Stylish Rank, and on the bottom they are out of a real nice female who is out of Abbotts Bawling Rebel. I have hunted for about 25 years and I like this Slider dog as well as any I've ever hunted with, he's four years old and i've only had him in about 4 hunts do to my work. He finished into Nt.Ch real easy. Good track dog, good tree dog, Super Accurate. This is his first litter of pups so we will soon know if he reproduces or not. Him or the dam never face bark and there aint an ill hair on either one of them.

I say they were just barking at the old dog because they did not know what was going on.I've seen it before .Last night as a matter of fact.They didnt do it on the caged coon did they? Keep em in the woods.When they figure out what the old dog is doing they more than likely will not be face barking.