msinc
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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2633 |
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.
Last edited by msinc on 10-28-2014 at 06:12 AM
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10-28-2014 04:24 AM
