Working Pearl

[Joey~AP]

Followin the Live Hunt at the CLDC this mornin and their need for dogs got me to thinkin that Pearl could use a blood trail.

Roy's dogs are workin dogs and Pearl is a house pet. Big differnce! Pearl has a hard time to distinguish "work" from "play".

Momma~AP was cookin chili this mornin, so I took the deer blood from the vacuum packed meat and put it in a sirenge (sp?). I also got an arrow, a set of horns and a deer hide for visual help for Pearl.



I set the arrow out, dripped blood on it and around it.



I attached a rope to the hide, sprinkled blood on it and started draggin it while continuously drippin blood in front of the hide from the sirenge (sp?).



I set the hide up with the horns at the end of the trail, so that Pearl would know that she found an animal like prize at the end.



I went and got Pearl, attached her lead and bell and led her to the arrow. This is where I ran into a few problems.

I think I need a smaller bell that does not impeed her walking. I couldnt decide whether or not to leave the lead on her. I couldnt decide whether or not to hold her lead or let her go.

In the end....I took the bell off, left the lead on and let her go.



















After finally gettin her to "work" instead of "play", she took to the trail and went straight to the end of the trail. I praised her for it and made it a big deal!

Things I need to do differnt:

I need to get her a smaller bell or do away with the bell completely.
I need to leave the lead on.
I need to set the blood trail up in the woods, so that I have to load her up in the truck and get her away from civilized distractions, like other pets, neighbors kids, blah, blah, blah.

I would really like to work more with her in this off season. Maybe get her on one of Will's pig blood trails.

Advice is appreciated.

[DRow]

I like the bell idea Joey. I think that with most working dogs, they need something "ON" them to distinguish work with play. If you dont want to go with the bell on her, mabe try and get her a camo vest or something like that. I think she needs something that when you put on her, she knows its time to do work. Just like with Will's hog dogs, while in the pins its fun time, but when them vests go on, its go time! You can get her a vest from academy or bass pro for like 30 bones or so.

[systemnt]

..you're missing a couple of key ingredients...
The shopping mall and the horse.

[Tuffbroadhead]

Joey your doing just fine, thats how you start them out...

depending on how oyu want to run your dog will be the descision on on-lead/off-led with a bell...

Me, I really want to make the change to running active gps collar.

[Willhunt4food]

I gotta work on Lucee Joey ...we just need to go out here and work on them. I'm going to start running catfish lines in a week or two we can do something on Fridays!!!

[Joey~AP]

I gotta work on Lucee Joey ...we just need to go out here and work on them. I'm going to start running catfish lines in a week or two we can do something on Fridays!!!

Im in!

[Muddy Bud]

That sounds like a fun and simple way to start a dog out. I have always wanted to try my dog on a deer or hog trail, I am pretty confident he will do o.k. he has no problem finding downed ducks that fall in the thickest cover.