# training my blue heeler to tree *****



## thehunterfisherman448 (Sep 30, 2006)

i need some advice about training my 10month old blue heeler how to trail and tree *****. is she to small to be a **** dog? is my dog trainable? i've seen her rip a 15lb possum to shreds. and she's extremely vicious. so if she is the right dog to trail ***** then how do i start to train her? all sugestions are gratefully welcomed


----------



## houndsman (Jan 30, 2006)

Interesting question. I'm just going to share my thoughts - you have to decide how to proceed. Basically, what I want in a hound (just my taste):

a) go yonder - will she range out and find a track, or does she hunt shallow (stay near you). I want a dog that has a lot of 'go-yonder' in him. If your dog doesn't have this, you will have to walk her over a track to get her to take it out. This can be a disadvantage, but it's also nice if you decide it's late and you want to go home and your dog isn't in the next county trying to scratch-up a bandit!

b) treeing instinct - I think tree-hounds 'tree' because of two things. First - instinct. It is just bred into them and you just need to bring it out. There are a lot of ways to get a dog to tree. Live ***** in a cage raised into a tree is best. Don't let the dog see you place the **** in the tree, don't let the dog growl/bark at the caged ****. Just get the **** in a tree, and let the dog find it. Hang it low enough that they can see it - this will get them looking up, and reaffirm that the game they are chasing will climb.
Second - frustration. The dog wants to get to the end of the track, and they want you to shoot the game out to them. They 'tree' because they have experienced the complimentary relationship you have with them. They get the game stopped - you get it out of the tree. Don't shoot everything out to your dog - kill VERY FEW out to the dog - you need to leave some around, and you need to make the dog WANT IT MORE AND MORE! Bang a stick on the tree and praise him up if he trees. When you leave one in the tree, just tell her 'dead ****', snap a lead on her, and walk away. Just keep saying 'dead ****' as she tries to go back to the tree. I do this because I want the hound to know that I decide when the chase is over - not them. When I shoot one out to them, I let them wool it for just a few moments, then tell them 'dead ****' and take it away. It just makes them want it more and more...

c) kill dogs - I don't like 'em, and I avoid them. Basically, kill dogs get killed - its as simple as that. Also, if you have a dog ripping things apart, it's just rude and sends a bad message when you take people with you. Ripping game animals apart is not what hound hunting is about. Understand also that ***** are very tough - and are altogether as clever and cunning as fox/coyotes. Running ***** with a lone dog is a suicide mission if you are near water. Trust me - a **** will tree over water every time if he can. When your lone dog tree's, and the **** sees you coming, he will bail into the water. I have seen ***** crawl onto the other bank, turn around, and bail back into the water with a single hound behind them and crawl right up on his back to drown him as soon as the dog get's out into deeper water. I've waded into water to shoot a **** off my dog's back on three or four occasions. When hunting lone dogs, it's not 'if', its 'when', and you darn sure better be there when it happens.

d) trailing - most cooners like a 'hot' or 'warm' nose. Basically, the advantage is that the dog won't take a track out from yesterday and run it into the next county to get it moving. They hit 'hot' tracks and tree quickly. Hot nosed hounds aren't bad - it's just a matter of preference. I prefer cold nosed hounds - because I don't free-cast for ***** any more and have found that I prefer hunting predators with hounds, and I like to unravel old tracks. I don't have 'better' hounds than the next guy, they just have different traits that suit me. To get a young hound to use his nose and not his eyes/ears/other-dogs, I will release a **** into a corn field, wait about 20 minutes, and then turn in the lone hound. Make sure you are near some trees, and not near any water. The dog will have to use his nose to locate and tree, and will learn quickly.

Wow - this could go on and on. Basically, I'd suggest you use the dog however you want I guess. But be aware that a big boar **** will raise absolute hell on a lone hound if the hound wants to pull hair. Also, **** paralysis is a big scare if your dog is fighting *****. The best 'pack' of hounds I've ever had could catch a **** on the ground, and I could release that **** unharmed after 30minutes when I finally caught up to them. They bay the **** solid, but don't kill him. I'm not taking hounds to the vet all the time, and I can run the same game over and over. They were impressive to watch, and easy to handle.

I wish you well. If I can help you on specific questions, let me know and I'll try. I'm not an expert, but I've made a lot of mistakes since I started doing this a long time ago....and I enjoy discussing hounds.

I wish you well - and Good Hunting.


----------

