"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." -Thomas Paine
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? -Marianne Williamson
jayb8008 Licensed Falconer Apprentice I member is offline
Joined: Apr 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 320 Location: Rochester, NY
Re: Got me a new hunting partner! « Reply #16 on Aug 14, 2008, 9:45pm »
Well, I need a little rabbit advice. I have been taking him out the past few nights right after dusk to local parks looking for rabbits. I bring my flashlight and try and spot them and get as close as I can. I saw a couple that he didn't, and I tried to bring over to where I thought they were. I told him to get the bunny hoping he would sniff around, but he would just sit there and look at me, rather than put his nose down. He puts his nose down in or around the house every time I hide a rabbit leg for him.
We saw another one last night and were able to get about 15-20 yards away from him when he went back into the woods. This time I saw exactly where he went in and put Howie down. Again he didn't sniff around at all. I know he's young, (only 12 weeks) but I figured he would start smelling around for the rabbit. Maybe he was tired.....who knows? Thoughts?
Joby Licensed Falconer General II member is offline
Joined: Feb 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,460 Location: Central Ohio
Re: Got me a new hunting partner! « Reply #17 on Aug 14, 2008, 9:59pm »
Hey Jay, Give me a call tomorrow and we can discuss it in a bit more. There's a couple of things that you're skipping and we can talk about it in much more depth via phone. Do you still have my cell number? -Joby
Joined: Jan 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 235 Location: Québec, Canada
Re: Got me a new hunting partner! « Reply #18 on Aug 15, 2008, 7:16am »
Beautiful puppy! One of these days I will be the one going to Ohio to see Joby and get one of his dogs! But now you are the lucky one!
4 months old is the golden age in puppies, the age where socialization ends up (meaning that everything they haven't had positive experience with before 4 months old will be more difficult to introduce to them after that, and every bad experience before 4 months old have high risk of becoming a problem).
When I train a puppy, I like to use praise but most of all, food. An adult dog now understand what praise means, but for most puppies it has no meaning, so I pair it with food. My puppies have no food bowl at all at least until they are 4 months old, often later than that. They get their meals one bite at a time as rewards, and they are rewarded for a lot of things: coming when called is the most important, then the basic obedience stuff, etc. When something has been repeatedly ingrained in their little brains before 4 months old, repeatedly associated with a fun outcome, it becomes an automatism at a later age.
Hey Jay, Give me a call tomorrow and we can discuss it in a bit more. There's a couple of things that you're skipping and we can talk about it in much more depth via phone. Do you still have my cell number? -Joby
damn you Joby keeping all the special info to yourself.
jayb8008 Licensed Falconer Apprentice I member is offline
Joined: Apr 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 320 Location: Rochester, NY
Re: Got me a new hunting partner! « Reply #21 on Mar 18, 2009, 11:41pm »
Sorry it took so long to post, I just saw this thread today. I haven't been on the board too much I guess due to my birds injury. My Rt broke his wing earlier in the season and I haven't had a great year since then. I have kinda been down in the dumps about it, and haven't been on the boards nearly as much as I usually am.
As far as Howie goes, I also haven't gotten him out as much due to the birds injury. The times that I have taken him out though, he does well. He has flushed rabbits a few times and stayed on the tail and re-flushed a bunch of times after that. He definitely has the drive, whether its chasing squirrels in the backyard (both loose and in the havahart) or scent drags with the rabbits in the freezer. He absolutely loves those bunnies and love to chew on the bunnycicles when I let him.
He is a great family dog too. Very lovable and very nice to have around the house. He's just as happy chasing bunnies as he is laying with you on the couch. He is also a tough little guy. He thinks nothing of the fact that he is only 8 lbs and tthinks he is a lot bigger and stronger than he actually is. I am releasin my bird at the end of the month and plan on working with Howie all throughout the spring and summer just getting out there and chasing bunnies. I know it will be harder the greener things get, but if he does well on the thick stuff, he will do better when it thins back out.
I am just really looking forward to next trapping/hunting season so I can put him to good use.
Joined: Mar 2008 Gender: Female Posts: 21 Location: Lansing MI
Re: Got me a new hunting partner! « Reply #22 on Mar 31, 2009, 5:53pm »
Thanks for the update. Sorry to hear about the broken wing. That is tough. I'm thinking about trying a dachshund field trial. But of course the first closest one conflicts with a local pointing dog field trial. Still thinking on that one.
She looses the fresh track if the rabbit goes through and area that has had a lot of bunny traffic (could tell by the sign in the snow). Its like she is overwhelmed. Tracks fine with fewer cross tracks.
I too think I'll take my dachshund out on her own some to keep enjoy watching her learn her job.
Diane
My new girl (almost a year old now) is almost 8 lbs too. She has been a help flushing bunnies also. She too is pretty confident. She has been hit once by my female HH. She backed off just enough to stay out of footing range. Very glad we have her.
I want to know if a lab beagle mix is a good dog for this i am new to the sport and still need a sponsor
Really i think a dog is what you make of it. If you train the dog with the bird around and vice versa I don't see why not. Some dogs of course are going to be more suited for certain types of falconry but if you're just looking for a bunny buster it would work out just fine.
Joined: Mar 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 100 Location: Central Florida
Re: Got me a new hunting partner! « Reply #25 on Oct 27, 2009, 10:28am »
Hey Jay,
About the dog rolling in a scent, it's a way of "smell camoflauge" It's something associated to the dog's ancestry with wolves. They roll in the scent to mask their own odor, it helps them get closer to their quarry without spooking it.
jayb8008 Licensed Falconer Apprentice I member is offline
Joined: Apr 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 320 Location: Rochester, NY
Re: Got me a new hunting partner! « Reply #26 on Oct 28, 2009, 7:34pm »
Well, now that this is back up near the top, I will post a little. Howie really has a strong prey drive. If he can see it or smell it or even hear it, he wants to chase it....doesn't matter what it is. He has been really good with the rabbits, although not with the bird yet. Hopefully I can get them going together in the next few weeks. A couple weeks ago, as my son and I were pulling in the driveway, there were txo rabbits in the yard. When I got out of the truck, one ran into one of my bushes, the other ran into the neighbors yard. I went in and got Howie, and put him down where they first were. He followed the trail right to the bush and flushed the rabbit out and under my fence, through a couple yards and I called him back.
Then I put him on the other one and he was chasing him hard down the street. He did really well and I was very happy. My son wanted to go back to the woods where I lost my bird, so we went with Howie. I came up to a piece of plywood in a field and figured there would be a mouse or vole under there so I called him over. Sure enough, out pops a mose. After a few minutes of chasing him from wood pile to wood pile, he got the mouse.
Hopefully, we will be pushing lots of bunnies for Chance now that I got her back very soon, and hopefully the bird catches on quick, and catches lots of rabbits.
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