TBH BLOOD DOG TRACKING, TRAINING, & RECOVERY Thread

[AggieArcher]

Those of you who have extensive tracking experience(Paging Sika), what are some reasonable expectations for my 2nd year dog coming off of the slow part of the year tracking-wise? I don't plan on throwing Bullet out there on a live deer track with no practice, but as I start working him alot again is a big drop off from the end of last year expected? Ran a mock with him last week and he wasn't near as sharp as he was last season

[bloodtrailer28]

My pup seems to have figured out my mock trails arent the real deal anymore...just doesnt seem as interested or get as fired up as she usually does. Now when I put her on the real blood trail of the pig the other night she went crazy and went right down it. Once she found it she was very protective over it and didnt want me messing with it at all!! Let her have her fun then pulled her off and she wasn't happy at all. My question is should I be worried about her lack of interest in the mock trails if she got that fired up over the real deal? Should I cut back on the food a bit and see if I can get her food drive a little stronger? Have always heard a hungry dog will work a little harder!

[AggieArcher]

My pup seems to have figured out my mock trails arent the real deal anymore...just doesnt seem as interested or get as fired up as she usually does. Now when I put her on the real blood trail of the pig the other night she went crazy and went right down it. Once she found it she was very protective over it and didnt want me messing with it at all!! Let her have her fun then pulled her off and she wasn't happy at all. My question is should I be worried about her lack of interest in the mock trails if she got that fired up over the real deal?

Same here

[bloodtrailer28]

Anybody?

[Sika]

TBH BLOOD DOG TRACKING, TRAINING, & RECOVERY Thread

I always hear people say this...'my dog knows when it's just practice and shows lack of interest.'

Probably the extra drive these people are noticing is caused by the elevated excitement of being in the woods vs. in the backyard or some other place that isn't as game and odor rich.
A dog with good drive will want to work...whether it's for a hide and piece of liver or a live animal. Live animals are exciting and appeal more to a dog's prey drive but the dog should still be driven enough to show interest in practice.

Some dogs are even fairly composed in practice, and frenzied in the woods. That's not a bad problem to have, though can be frustrating to the handler.
Some dogs show extreme enthusiasm in the woods and lack of motivation during a trial or practice run.
Whatever the case may be, you need to train like you work.
You recognize when your dog is in drive...you need practice with the dog at that level of excitement. You can build drive in a variety of ways. My super high drive dogs get pretty wound up over just the sound of the gps collar turning on. They start shaking and whining. They do this whether it's practice or the real deal.
Try teasing them up with verbal stimulation and body language cues to get them in drive and bring them to the level of excitement they show in the woods.

[bloodtrailer28]

Thank you for the response and great info Sika. Shes nuts when she gets out in the woods around the feed pens ect. First couple on months of training and she would blaze down the trail where I almost had to run to keep up with her. Now she just kinda meanders down it slowly but surely just doesn't seem overly worked up about it. Out in the yard with her now ad shes been wandering around nose down for the last 10 minutes looking for the deer leg she had out here last night still aint figured out mama chunked it on the other side of the fence.

[Sika]

A working dog's only real limitations are drive and motivation.

Your dog is more stimulated in the woods...elevating the drive.

[AggieArcher]

A working dog's only real limitations are drive and motivation.

Your dog is more stimulated in the woods...elevating the drive.

Thank you for your advice! The problem I seem to have with my dog is he gets TOO excited. I have to rein him in even before we start a practice track or real one because he'll just take off running and try to smell the actual animal. Its something we're working on and like I said earlier he was much better about it last season. I suspect I just need to get him more practice before the season starts.

[texsdr]

What age should you begin training?

[TUCO]

I always hear people say this...'my dog knows when it's just practice and shows lack of interest.'

Probably the extra drive these people are noticing is caused by the elevated excitement of being in the woods vs. in the backyard or some other place that isn't as game and odor rich.

A dog with good drive will want to work...whether it's for a hide and piece of liver or a live animal. Live animals are exciting and appeal more to a dog's prey drive but the dog should still be driven enough to show interest in practice.

Some dogs are even fairly composed in practice, and frenzied in the woods. That's not a bad problem to have, though can be frustrating to the handler.
Some dogs show extreme enthusiasm in the woods and lack of motivation during a trial or practice run.

Whatever the case may be, you need to train like you work.

You recognize when your dog is in drive...you need practice with the dog at that level of excitement. You can build drive in a variety of ways. My super high drive dogs get pretty wound up over just the sound of the gps collar turning on. They start shaking and whining. They do this whether it's practice or the real deal.

Try teasing them up with verbal stimulation and body language cues to get them in drive and bring them to the level of excitement they show in the woods.

Great advice as always.

[Sika]

Thank you for your advice! The problem I seem to have with my dog is he gets TOO excited. I have to rein him in even before we start a practice track or real one because he'll just take off running and try to smell the actual animal. Its something we're working on and like I said earlier he was much better about it last season. I suspect I just need to get him more practice before the season starts.

A dog that's overstimulated can be frustrating. We tend to do the opposite with these dogs. Instead of teasing them up and getting them exited, we try to keep them as calm as possible. Before going to work we put them a dog box where they can't see out. Can't interact or feed off another excited dog. Keep them quiet and, most of all, try to contain our own excitement!

[Sika]

What age should you begin training?

I start conditioning at 4-5 weeks. Putting blood on their food, giving them hides, legs, and raw bones to chew on. Once their prey drive starts kicking in at 8-9 weeks, we play tug, chase...things like that.
I'll start having them hunt for food around 10-12 weeks. Lay short blood trails at that time. The other day, I laid a blood trail with a rabbit at the end. Tried a rope to a rabbit. After the pup found it, I drug it around while he tried to catch it. Really got him fired up. Small game is less intimidating to a tiny puppy. We'll advance to bigger game really soon.

[bloodtrailer28]

Well she did ALOT better on her trail this morning! Showed the same interest and enthusiasm as usual. Most mornings when I run her trail I take her out and let her run off some energy so shes not acting like a crack head and running around crazy. This morning took her out for a bit then brought her in loaded her in the truck and went and ran her trail. Got her worked up into a frenzy and put her on it. Right down it as usual in no time. 300 yards and aged 2 hours. Hopefully I can get her drive back to where it was and maybe I need to adjust a few things as a handler. Thanks for the help Sika and hopefully she is back to normal. Gona try and get her on plenty of trails this year as we have some mld tags to burn!

[Speedgoat]

I need this dog gone. Somebody need a crazy catahoula female? She is a sweet dog and is spayed.

[txpanhandle32]

Got a question how late is to late to start training One on blood???? My pup is 6 months old and wondering if ive waited to long to start him. thanks