Registered: Oct 2003
Location:
Posts: 3

I have a 2 year old male bluetick that is out of top bloodlines. Got him back in may and he was a dog that was light ly started. Well it didnt take long for him to tree coons. This summer he proved to me that he was a heck of a layup tree dog and was probaly seeing 8 out of tenn coons he treed. But in the last 3-4 weeks I havent seen a single coon that he has treed. Probably out of the last 20 trees he has made. There has not been a coon. Now some of these were dens and some trees were really bushy but no coons on the others. What the heck is going on with this dog. Someone please help me out here. Thanks alot.

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Registered: Oct 2003
Location: Texas, USA
Posts: 1479

Dogs are alot like people, they go thru slumps too. My advice is, if you really like this dog, and I think you do, then just wait it out. He'll come back around. Some of the biggest regrets from my early years was selling nice young dogs while they were in a slump. I thought they were "over night dudds" so I got rid of them, only to learn later that they made real nice hounds. If your blue dog misses a few coons here and there it's not the end of the world. Just don't give up on him if you really like him....
Learn from my mistakes. Good luck.

- Michael

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Registered: Sep 2003
Location:
Posts: 2785

Check out his health and give him a run of antibiotics ..even a 5-way booster. Get him out of the woods for awhile ...you know the saying about insanity being described as doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Have you been shaking alot of coon out to him ?

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Oakdale, Pennsylvania
Posts: 3753

I had a dog that was very acurate at treeing coons until you shot one down to her.. Then she got" tree happy" as long as I left the .22 at home we were good... As soon as kill season came in we were not happy....

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 821

My advice is to lay the dog up for several weeks. If you have been hunting him hard it could be burn out, a lot of young dogs go through it. I have one here now I am gonna lay up til december. They will come out of it most of the time it seems.

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Registered: Oct 2003
Location:
Posts: 3

Fellas I appreciatae your advice you have been helpful. Anyone else wanna add a little more advice?

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Eddyville, Iowa
Posts: 482

dogs are all different and they all handle differently. Just see how he best responds and work him that way. Sounds like he is not bashful about treeing, so, it will not hurt a thing to correct him on a slick. I have one that does the same thing right now, I hope our kill season here will get him on the right track. If not, my boot surly will.

A lot of hard stay put tree dogs do not require a lot of coon to keep them on top of their game. It is the adrenalin rush they have at the tree that keeps them going. Do your best to keep that on an even plane and he will be fine.

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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Eastern Virginia
Posts: 1112

I USUALLY LAY THEM UP FOR A WEEK AND THEN POUR THE COALS BACK ON THEM. THAT HAS WORKED FOR ME IN THE PAST

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Registered: Jul 2003
Location:
Posts: 352

I agree with some of what has been written, especialy what Doug wrote. Never, never, never pet this dog or show him any attention (the good kind) at the tree unless you see the coon. If you are sure the tree is slick make him leave the tree and find the coon. If you have to give him a whipping to make him leave then don't be afraid to do it. Many people are afraid to get after their dog at the tree but a slick treeing dog is worthless and this is one of the easiest problems to cure. It won't get better by itself. Laying the dog up won't help. Your dog knows if the coon is there or not. After you have hunted him awhile you will be able to tell if the coon is there just by the way he trees.

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Registered: Oct 2003
Location:
Posts: 3

I have been able to tell in the past that he didnt have the coon by the way he was treeing. I just knew he wasnt sure of himself but lately he has been treeing his tail off. You would thinkt here were 10 coons in the tree but nothing.

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Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Texas
Posts: 4324

A passive correction at the tree when you absolutely KNOW without a doubt there's no coon would be to take him by the collar & lead him forcefully away (some weight off the front legs). You don't want him to think he's being punished for TREEING. Passive correction takes several repetitions - he shouldn't do it more than 3 or 4 times before he realizes - no coon - no praise. What contributes to success is having him tree where there IS a coon so you can lavish lots of praise. If you start PAINFUL corrections at the tree you'll soon teach him to LEAVE the tree when you approach. Sometimes worthwhile lessons take a little patience. Dogs are a lot smarter than some people think they are. He also might need a little time off - sometimes a 2 week vacation will cure "burnout."

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Central Arkansas
Posts: 1652

Sounds like my past weekend. I've never been to so many trees and not find any coon. Kinda spooky...

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Greenleaf, WI
Posts: 839

I've seen this problem before and had luck with whipping them off the slicks. Hide season will also correct this in some dogs. Start shooting out coons to him and see if it works.

The above methods I've used to correct what I think is caused by the dog just getting lazy. He's come to think the name of the game is to get treed and he's done a good job. Now he must learn that an accurate tree is the name of the game.

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