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Confidence issues. Advice needed

I've been hunting my new dog for the last couple weeks with mixed results. He's 3yo but was laid up his entire 2 yo year. I knew he needed some work when I got him I just need a little advice about what to do next.

First the good. I hunted him twice with a friend's dogs and both times he looked like a super star. Went deep, struck right with the finished dogs, out ran both finished dogs, flat runs a hot track, treed first and drowned out the dogs on the tree. Never budged and trees belly up gives a lot of mouth. I hunt him by himself most of the time and he's come across a few tracks that he ran down the same way, struck, flat ran the track, threw out a few beautiful locates and hammered the tree and had the coon sitting there plain as day.

Now the bad. Most of the time when I hunt him by himself he doesn't get very far and doesn't get out in the woods. He's really hunting the whole time he just won't get gone or go out through the woods much. Hes missing a lot of coons because he wont get down to the creek. Most of the time he just tries to stay close to the roads or in the clearing, if he smells an old track he just works back and forth forever. He's treed a layup by himself but you could tell he wasn't sure about it. He located and located then worked around and went back and located and then treed a little and then worked around again and treed. After he finally works out a track He takes longer to tree. Will go back and forth and around and then back to the tree a few times before he'll start treeing. A little loose on the tree by himself when it's not a hot track.

I feel like he wants to be right but just doesn't have the confidence by himself to work an older track straight one way and then tree.I've listened to him literally talk himself out of a tree. He doesnt seem to have the confidence to get gone either. Seems strange because hes hunting his ass off but he just doesnt get far away alone. He gets gone with other dogs.

It's almost like 2 separate dogs... He looks like a million bucks with other dogs, and then looks like a piece of junk by himself. I know he needs more hunting and needs some coons rolled out on him but id like some additional input. Thanks in advance

__________________
-Amanda

- In Loving Memory of -
DEEP SPRINGS BLACK MAX
&
LEVIS SOUTHERN BLUE DOC

If you have hunted the dog 15-20 times and haven't seen any change you prolly never will.Theres a lot of dogs out there that arnt much by themselves.They look great when with another dog because they like to compete or just like to me-too.Then there's some dogs that have never been made to hunt solo so there scared of the dark and lack experience.If you like him hunt him harder solo.If he doesn't suite you put him up for sale and describe him honestly.Goodluck.

well you said it yourself, you knew he had issues when you bought him, the problems you mention all take time, you cant fix them overnight. Hunt him with a good hound for three or four months, until he falls into a groove, one side or the other. If he goes the right direction, continue hunting him with the other dog and single him one night a week, then two then three, don't get in a hurry. All this takes time and repetition.

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A few years ago a friend gave me an English dog. Long story short , she just was a brood female and hung around his house and treed possums. When I first got her she would get about 100 or 150 yards from me going hunting and that's it. If she came across a coon track she would run and tree. All on her own she decided she was gonna start hunting deep. No whooping and no shocking. She decided it all on her own. Took maybe a year. I'm guessing. Now , Either by herself or with other dogs , she's a deep deep hunting dog.

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I'm thinking of hunting him on some feeders some to get him going... do you think this will help? Or hurt? I don't want him to become dependant on feeders. But I was thinking it may get him to go down closer to the creek where the coon are

__________________
-Amanda

- In Loving Memory of -
DEEP SPRINGS BLACK MAX
&
LEVIS SOUTHERN BLUE DOC

I don't think there's a quick fix for this dog. All you can do is hunt him every chance you get and see how he turns out.