seadog

yup

Tree climber

it is hard to castch a wild rabbit.

I have trained beagles for about 30 years.I will take my pup and drag a rabbit around the yard on a string and let it smell where it went.in the evenings I will ride around till I see a bunnie,it works better after an afternoon rain,(the bunnies come out more)and the pup can smell them better.then I will get the pup and walk it across the trail and help it by snapping my fingers and talking to the pup.here it is , here it is,here it is.
It only takes a few times to get the pup to get the idea.they will not run very long to start with,maybe 4 or 5 min,till the bunnie changes directions.each time will be a little longer.

I start my pups when they are 8weeks old.they can't do much that young,but it will give them the idea.they love to please.make sure you praise the pup a lot.give a few treats.

I will use a rabbit skin on a string also.you can drag it around and then put back in the freezer and out again for several weeks.play with the pup with the skinand let it enjoy the playing.

above all do not holler or scold the pup.you can distroy all you have done.

be patince and give all the love you can,it will repay the love 100 fold.

good luck.

seadog

If I told you how the old man used to get his wild rabbits (actually European hares) no would believe me.

Turkey Blaster

Seadog, I am wondering how the man got the rabbits and I will believe it. i am very anxious to get any info that I can on training doe.(that is the name of my beagle). If it works, I want to know it! If you don't care, I would not mind if you told me a lot more tricks that would work! I am so anxious to learn that I can't hardly slep. It is sorta like where the red fern grows. I have wanted a beagle for a long time and I finally got the ok to get one. thanks for the tips guys and please feel free to tell me anything that I need to do.

Turkey Blaster

I have been taking a sock and putting some rabbit skin in it from a rabbit that i killed not too long ago and I am fighting with her for it. Well, it is not really fighting to me, but i guess it is to her. I pull and tug on thesock and i make her fight for it. Then I praise her for getting it when I let go. Is this a good aproach?[&:]I heard it was.

Turkey Blaster

Is "come" the only command that I should teach her?[&:]

seadog

If you look at all the responses they all follow the same basic methods/themes,some this way some that way but pretty much alike, except for the pen thing. What works with one dog may not work as well on another, they are as different as people are different. As for "come", what else would you want the dog to do, is sit important ,is stay, is whoa, etc . What is important is that it comes to you when you call . You could train it to sit, etc. but do you need it ? As for pops, he belonged to a hunt club in the old country and he had one of if not the best string of hounds in that club. When it was his turn to put his dogs on the ground everybody put theirs up or his dogs didnt hit the ground. Ok, with that said here goes, he would take his best dog and a sack (no gun), get the dog started and try and follow the race with his ears (common for it to go beyond hearing range,we are talking about a bunnie that will avg. out at 9/10 lbs. ), by the time the hare did his circle a few times he would have the route some what figured out, each time the race would go past him he would look at the hare and dog (is it getting tired yet and how far behind is the dog), the dog would run the hare untill the hare dropped from exhaustion and pin it , if it got back up it was a short race b4 the dog could pin it again, pops would now put the hare into the sack take it home and recoup it, after it recouped for a couple days it was pen time. And to this I swear on my fathers grave to be the truth.

Turkey Blaster

That is an amazing way to do it. Do you think it will work for me? I will try it when I get the dog running good! do you think the rabbit skin in the sock will work? Thanks. What is the best method of catching a rabbit in a trap?

seadog

Amazing, yes. Even I questioned him, he said to me "you asked how I did it , now I told you, what reason would I have to lie ". A true "rabbit" would go to ground long b4 it fell over from exhaustion, hares don't go to ground. As for the sock, all its meant for is to get the dog excited and hot for it ( also shows you instinct it has),the same as the bird wing is used on pointing dogs. Dont over do the sock thing, when its going for it all the time move on to your drags (straight lines and maybe 20 yds to start, then through in some turns and longer drags, the dog will track you as much as the drag scent). Then move on to the real thing, nothing better than the real deal. Shoot if you must but let it run the bunnies, are you hunting for meat only or do you care about quality dog work, me I'am for the dog work. For the trapping, as was said its not easy, place your trap out in a spot where the bunnies feed (you got a garden), leave unarmed and place feed in it around it , in time they will go inside it to feed , then arm it.AND as was said PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE. NEVER end a training session on a bad note, if need be go back to something the dog does well and end it for the day.

seadog

Ahh I would like to retake that comment about "shoot if you must", in the begining try to shoot the bunnie so that the dog can feel good about itself and the job done.