Registered: Jan 2015
Location: VA
Posts: 5

I have a 14 mo old Walker. The dam and sire are great coon dogs. Not much luck with a drag, so yesterday I showed her a caged coon. She smelled it, acted as if she was gonna bark, nothing. Turned the coon loose today, she watched it run into the woods, and up a tree. She trailed it to the tree, nose on ground, and got to the tree, looked up and then walked off. Showed her a dead coon from last night, smelled it and then nothing. SOOOO, do I wait a little longer and try some buckets or am I wasting my time. I have never fooled with a puppy before so I think im def over my head at this point. Any help, suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated!!!!

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Registered: Jan 2015
Location: VA
Posts: 5

33 People have viewed this, and no one has an idea???

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Registered: Jan 2004
Location: Greenville, Ky
Posts: 4139

I'm not saying it won't go. How many drags have you done, how many coon, has it been out with other dogs. What I'm getting at is how much time have you put in. I mean if you have put a bunch, meaning several months, then it might be time to get another. Or get real consistent with it, day in day out. I have learned over the years you need to give a hound your best and they will give you theirs but theirs just might not be good enough.

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Registered: Jan 2010
Location: indiana
Posts: 398

May not be ready. If you have an older dog take her to the caged coon and bring an older dog to bark at it and she if she joins in it usually works . A pup takes patience and can get frustrating sometimes. If you have anther dog or a friend that does not mind you tagging along just take the pup and let it do whatever ,sooner or later if its in there it will come out. Get you a copy of walk with wick there is plenty of info on starting pups and alot of info on stuff NOT to do .

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Registered: Jan 2011
Location: airville pa
Posts: 586

see if you can get her to play tug a war with a old sock,shirt or whatever. If she will do that exchange the sock with a coon hide. Once she starts playing tug a war with the coon hide put it up out of her reach and see if she will bark at it

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Registered: Feb 2012
Location: Baileyton, TN
Posts: 312

If you've seriously put your time into the pup like you should go get you another one. By time I mean, obedience training 15 20 minutes a day, drags where you control the situation for a positive outcome, and hunting the hair off of it night in and night out with a dog that really knows what it's doing. If you've done all that and it still hasnt shown any serious improvements within 14 months I'd go get me another one. There are too many pups out there with alot more potential than what you've stated. On the other hand if you haven't put your time into giving it every possible chance to succeed then you need to reevaluate if you even needed a pup to start with. Training puppies is very very time consuming and alot of work, but it can also be the most rewarding thing in the world. Give that pup every chance it deserves and all of your effort before you cull it. That's the only way to know for sure. Best of luck to you

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Registered: Jan 2007
Location: monroeville OH
Posts: 2685

quote:

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Originally posted by htnbuks
33 People have viewed this, and no one has an idea???

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2633

Here is a few ideas regarding your situation as I see it...in my experience, many dogs, especially the ones that start later don't respond to starting on drags. There is just something different about a live wild coon in the woods that excites most dogs way more. It at least has a different usually more positive effect on them. Bottom line here is I wouldn't worry too much about how a dog reacts to a drag. It is not a coon and based on my experiences with them it isn't even a close second. Can dogs learn to run one??? Certainly, but that don't make it the best way to start yours.
When it comes to getting a young dog fired up at a coon the two things I have had the best luck with is a live coon in a rolling cage right outside their kennel and turning caged coons lose right in front of a tied dog and letting them watch it go across a small field and disappear in the woods. With the rolling cage at the kennel trick it works even better if the dog is in an above ground kennel and the coon is under them...there is something about a coon under the dog that they cannot stand. If they are going to fire up about one this usually does it. Turning coons lose right in front of the dog but not letting them get to it usually gets them wanting to give chase. A few times of this {if they will go after it} gets them starting to trail. They cant help but smell the track laid by the fresh red hot coon. If you try both of these and the dog still doesn't get excited then you need to wait a while. There is no limit other than you, the owner. I have seen more late starters make decent dogs than I have seen dogs that started at 5 and 6 months old. Not saying they wont be world class...far from it. Only that when a dog starts don't really have much bearing on the end result, but it's up to you how long you want to hang in there.
I would like to ask this, how does this dog act when you do show her a live coon in a cage in regards to interest??? Does she simply go the other way and avoid the whole situation or does she kind of hang back but watch the coon the entire time??? Not really getting close, but not taking her eyes off of it either??? How does she act when you cut her loose in the woods during the day for a happy walk???? Does she hang around you or does she venture out some and smell around a lot??? If she shows interest but no action to the caged coon I would add a dog that will give chase but keep her tied until both are almost out of sight. Then cut her loose. You may have to do this several times to get her started once she does give chase. Best of luck.

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Registered: Mar 2007
Location: Poplar Bluff, Missouri
Posts: 94

Like the other guys said, a lot of it depends on how much you have worked worked with the dog. But regardless 14 months is still young. And I wouldn't worry to much about it not messing with caged coon and hides much. In fact I'd stay away from them. What that dog needs is time in the woods with another dog that is straight and solid. I'd take it out as many nights a week as you can for a couple more months and if the dog don't start showing some interest then I'd find a different dog. What does the dog do when You take it out at night with another dog?

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Registered: Apr 2011
Location: VA Beach VA
Posts: 128

How much has she been out in the woods? Has she ever ran a deer?
If she hasnt been out much I would turn her loose with a old dog or try to get her to run something. I wouldn't worry about a drag or caged coon I would try to get that Chase instinct fired off. If there is no desire at that age I would move on.


Just my thoughts.

Jeff D

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Registered: May 2007
Location: fairmont wv
Posts: 11976

alot depends on how much you have hunted it and not all dog's start at a early age some dog's throw slow starting pup's the younger gen want a pup that start's at 6 months old there's some that do and a whole lot that don't for instant my buddy had a blue gyp he start hunting her at 6 mons old she would be at the tree with old dog but wouldn't tree then start running track but wouldn't tree he hunt her for 2 season runing track no tree this season she took off tree her own con he knocked it out now she is doing great but it took her till she was 2 yrs old before she came outa her shell but she is well on her way of makeing a coondog then some never make anything

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Registered: Jun 2014
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 3468

When you show her the caged coon, don't let her run loose. Tie her and an old dog about 8 feet apart and drag the caged coon back and forth in front of them. The old dog will give the pup more confidence. It's all about teasing. The more you tease the more excited the pup gets.

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Registered: Aug 2008
Location: SE Ohio, Glouster
Posts: 2244

msinc hit the nail on the head for ya on this one. From reading your post I'm guessing your young dog has had little exposure, and what little exposure it has had, is not in the most ideal of conditions.

If you tie your pup to a box, then leave it tied to the box. If your pup is in a kennel, then leave it in the kennel. You see, that is where your pup is the most comfortable, for that is the area it most recognizes as a safe place. Now put a coon in a roll cage or in a live trap, if you do not have a roll cage. Bring the coon up to within 5-10 feet of the kennel/tie out chain, (or what ever distance where you first start seeing you pup become uncomfortable and then step backwards 3 feet. Now bring an old dog to the cage that will fire up and start giving that coon the what for. Start encouraging the pup by voice command to get involved with what the old dog is doing. When the pup barks a couple time, walk up to it and pet it and encourage it to bark some more. When you see it starting to show more interest to bark, put your lead strap on the pup and let it out of the kennel/off the chain, but keep it on the lead strap. Continue to encourage the pup to bark, If the pup won't bark, tie it to the outside of the kennel and start shaking the cage, all the time sicking the pup, and start dragging the cage away from the pup. This will cause the older dog to become more aggressive, which will in turn, signal to the pup that it is ok to become more aggressive. Dogs are chase animals, and will always show more aggression when the animal they are barking at, starts to run away. Do that every other day for three treatments and then see if the pup is showing more aggression or less aggression than it did the first time you showed it this caged coon.

That should at least get it to start barking at a caged coon, but don't get completely discouraged if it don't cause some of the best coondogs in the country will not pay any attention to a caged coon. Matter of fact, I had two different Grand Nights that would let a coon come inside their kennel and eat their dog food out of their bowl, and never bark at it or try to kill it. I never to this day have figured that one out and each dog had treed well over 500 coon in the wild.

Good Luck

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2633

Thanks Rocketman...don't hesitate to leave the coon sit there right in front of the dog either and just walk away. Once I had a well bred redbone female that could best be described as "coon shy." This dog went the other way and wasn't ashamed to do it when a coon made the scene. I just let a pup be a pup for a while and finally did the rolling cage at the kennel trick. At first she went in her house and wouldn't come out. I walked away and noticed when I got to the house she was peeking out looking for me, but also seeing that the coon was still there. At first she would only look out about once every 10-15 minutes at about 30 minutes or so she decided to come outside of her house. That first time she ran right back in but I did notice her smelling the coon scent in the air more and more. About two hours later she was barking wild at the coon.
After all that it was easy to get her chasing a turned loose coon. A couple good chases and she went to the woods. She eventually turned out to be a pretty decent little dog and one of the most savage kill dogs I have ever seen.

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Registered: Feb 2004
Location:
Posts: 27

Getting on here is something I very seldom do. Often, sincere and sensible questions and sincere, sensible, and accurate helpful comments get hijacked by a bunch of smart-aleck nonsense. But it did not happen this time; at least not yet. That’s why I just had to get on here and give a big ATTABOY! to each person that responded to the question originally asked.

Htnbuks, you may have gotten off to a slow start at getting responses, but you got some real gems. Each person that responded did so with a spirit of warm-hearted helpfulness, and each one of them gave you some excellent feedback. Not only excellent and helpful, but presented in such a nice way. I’m truly impressed! Wish I knew who each of you were because we could have some interesting conversations, and maybe chase a few ringtails. Thanks to each of you for your thoughtful comments and very nice way of presenting them. Our sport and thousands of newcomers to it desperately need more folks to follow your example.

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2633

Mr. Wick, You and I have been chasing ringtails since 1985 when I bought your book...one of these days I'll see you at a big hunt and trouble you for an inscription. It's a bit ragged from use but even after all these years I still refer to it now and then.

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Registered: Jul 2003
Location: East central Illinois.
Posts: 1701

John,
I read your Muckets article. Many years ago a very experienced coondog man named Edgar "Leroy" Brown explained what he called Muggets to me. Seems like the same animal just spelled different.
Muggets as Leroy called them, are a very small nervous animal with a very large mouth. As the houndsman approaches the tree they get very nervous, they then open their mouth very wide and swallow themselves.
Hope this helps. Feel free to share this information with your readers. :-) Ed has since past, I'm sure he would not mind if you shared this info either.

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Registered: Dec 2013
Location: PA.
Posts: 1738

quote:

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Originally posted by CHEWBACH
am sure you would get 33 different opinions also. you never said if you have hunted it! just a drag. but if you kept it pend up or tied up until its 14 months old and think its going to take rite off! good luck! hunt the heck out it! with or with out dogs, but sounds like you better put with dogs until it starts if it does. jmo

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Registered: Mar 2013
Location:
Posts: 618

is it pretty gamie in the yrd squirrels,cats etc 1st get it barking.

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Registered: Jan 2004
Location: Greenville, Ky
Posts: 4139

We met along time ago. We had bought a hound from you back in I would say 1981-82. He was off of Preacher and we named him Baptist Bob. Nice hound.

quote:

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Originally posted by John Wick
Getting on here is something I very seldom do. Often, sincere and sensible questions and sincere, sensible, and accurate helpful comments get hijacked by a bunch of smart-aleck nonsense. But it did not happen this time; at least not yet. That’s why I just had to get on here and give a big ATTABOY! to each person that responded to the question originally asked.

Htnbuks, you may have gotten off to a slow start at getting responses, but you got some real gems. Each person that responded did so with a spirit of warm-hearted helpfulness, and each one of them gave you some excellent feedback. Not only excellent and helpful, but presented in such a nice way. I’m truly impressed! Wish I knew who each of you were because we could have some interesting conversations, and maybe chase a few ringtails. Thanks to each of you for your thoughtful comments and very nice way of presenting them. Our sport and thousands of newcomers to it desperately need more folks to follow your example.

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Phone number 270-820-5560

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