RE: Question on my lion hounds
Charlie,
Barking is part of being a hound dog. I tell mine to shut up when they are at home but as soon as I go inside they bark. I've been around alot of hounds and it seems that most people's hounds are people shy if not absolutely afraid of people. Mine I raised like house dogs. I played with them and let them be hound dogs without alot of corrective punishment.
Most hound dogs are stupid in the ways of manners. They don't really have the attention span to play sit, stay, or rollover. Some may but most don't. Where they are the kings of dogs is in tracking and treeing. Trying to get a hound to do something that is not a common thing to them will not go very good. They will forget it the very next morning. Beating only hurts the cause.
I would suggest you spend alot of one on one time with your male before it's too late. And also start working the house cat with you and the male alone. So that he knows that its alright that he does his job with you right there.The main thing is not to be too hard handed on the dog even in the field. You want the dog to come back to you and not say well i'm gonna be introuble anyway so I'll go hunt whatever and get punished later.
I'm not an expert but I think tracking with hounds is the most exciting thing to do with dogs I've done. I wish you good luck with your dogs.
Here's what a good lion hunters told me about tracking lions. When on a set a lion tracks walk them out until they seem fresh and then walk another mile then you can think about releasing the hounds.
I'm training three 1 yrold pups this winter so I'm excited. Alot