ButchA

Hey there. Here's a personal, off-topic, question regarding pets, family dogs, etc...

See, my dogs don't hunt and never really have. They're just lovable family pets. See the photos below:

Sonny
(black lab w/touch of chow-chow, age 11. He's just a lovable, gentle, "old man", type of dog.)
Never hunted waterfowl, but I tried taking him once to Amelia WMA for rabbits.
Caption: $*@&#, Butch!!! You woke me up. I was comfortable, sleeping in front of the fireplace! [>:]


Amber
(beagle w/touch of shepherd, age 8 months. Amber is cute, but totally ignorant, and seriously needs training).
She's never hunted, but chases squirrels in the backyard. If you ever let her off the leash - she'll be gone! [&:]
Thank God, she came already housebroken. But she chews stuff and gets into things all the time. [:@]
Caption: Thanks for the brand new dog bed! I won't chew it up, trust me...


Question: Sonny is way to old now to take hunting. I am wondering about Amber and trying to teach her to maybe hunt rabbits someday. But if I ever let her off the leash, she'll take off and never be seen again....you know what I mean... What would you do? How can you train an 8 month old ignorant dog to listen and stay with you?

Thanks...

Edit: FYI... Amber replaced our beloved Holly (13 yr old female black lab) who passed away this past July.

EODLT

You would certainly have your hands full.

If you really wanted to spritz up her OB, an E-collar would work wonders for an older dog. Little more hard-headed dogs need the ecollar in my opinion, positive reinforcement just wont get the job done on a set in dog. You have to show them what happens when they refuse, not just when they comply.

ButchA

Thanks... I've heard about the E-collars, but never used one.

Sonny is 11 years old and too old for hunting or anything. He's a big lovable lug anyway and never gets out of hand.

Amber on the other hand, is 8 months old and just totally ignorant. The Beagle breed is very stubborn to train, so she'll need a good majority of work. She knows her name and "sit" and "lie down" but that's about it. If you tell her to "come" she'll ignore you. If she catches a scent somewhere, forget it. It's over... all training goes right out the window.

Mite

Beeper or anything that tracks the dog so you'll know where's she's at. I haven't tried them but there is a GPS system.

cahansen2004

e-collar with a 50 ft rope to start let the dog know when he is about 50 ft out that he needs to look back and see were you are. When he gets the hang of that take away the rope.

idunno

My dad bought the new Garmin GPS tracking system and had it on his feist for the first time last weekend while we were hunting squirrels. Dog jumped a rabbit and took off. the unit kept up with him incredibly well. You know exactly where the dog is as long as he is within the 5 mile range of the radio signal between the collar and the handheld unit. My personal opinion is that would be the only downfall of the unit. It's alot easier to use and more accurate than any radio collar. The handheld unit is also used as a personal GPS so if you are inclined to carry a gps with you, you don't need 2. It will keep track of you and up to 10 dogs all at the same time. I don't have much experience with tracking collars, but of the 3 types I have used this is by far the most user friendly.

Jimmy S

I think maybe your priority should be training and nottechnology that tracks your dog's location.
It sounds like you have accepted that Amber is untrainable.

You may want to consider formal obedience training.
That's by best suggestion now considering she is only 8 months.

Good Luck!

JW

Agree with Jimmy - Obedience training - sit, come, stay.....for both on and off lead. If you let her off lead and she bolts and will nto come back your obedience training is not complete.....don't need no e-collar or tracking collar.....

Mow for field traing jsut use a 30 ft check cord which is nothing moe than a nice stout rope atached tot he dogs collar. This gives you a 30 ft chance to catch her out int he field and make your obedience corrections.

JW