Hands free lead

[countrryboy]

If it's a young dog n training is not far better not taking it stalking until it is ready and trained to walk where u want it too without a lead.
Use the next few months as I doubt much stalking will be going on till late summer.

U will hopefully be stalking with that dog for the next 10yrs, it really would annoy me I rushed it ( and I have been they're and rushed promising dogs and spoiled them to varying degrees) and have to use a lead for rest of its life.
Bugger that trying to go throu cover queitly

 

[Brittany boy]

All the best with the pup, out of curiosity what breed and age is it.

 

[Overlay]

i made a belt hook out of a s hook in stainless
if i do have one of mine on a lead when a shot comes up i just drop it on the ground and they don’t move works well, my teckels are pretty cool when out stalking ( well - until a deer is grassed then ones a ballistic tracker and the other is steady and a cool head and gets the job done. they get to know what’s occurring PDQ

 

[Mungo]

All the best with the pup, out of curiosity what breed and age is it.

German Wirehaired Pointer.

As I say, she has a long way to go (as do I), but the one thing she has proven to be extremely good at is sitting patiently when I get ready to shoot. After the shot is another thing entirely...

 

[countrryboy]

If that's the case I would watch, it might be fine the now but possibly might be a good chance the dog will start to pre empt the shot and start jumping about earlier. Or if u need to take a 2nd follow up shot or want to take the followers too.
If u do too much stalking when dog is too young or not fully trained.

Generally talking dogs out working too young small niggles tend to develop into bigger problems more often than they solve themselves.
Esp with a wire, they can be hard work sat times

Really the 1st few times u take it out would be better if someone else shooting rifle and ur just there for dog training purposes.

 

[Brittany boy]

Great choice of dog, wish I had one years ago but take it slowly as Countryboy says, mines will sit tight at the shot or shots but I have found that he will jump a fence in front of me before being told to do so he then lies down and waits for me. Not really a major problem but something I know have to work on to stop. I had been using the Paul Michael school of thought letting the dog work a few meters in front while stalking. When you watch the Blue Print videos you don't ever really see a fence so not a problem for him. It's just my place is covered in barbed wire and I hate the stuff, had the Brittany tear her under carriage which took weeks and cost a fortune to sort.

Enjoy your journey , they are great dogs for stalking and rough shooting in general.

 

[Mungo]

So while I appreciate the (unsolicited) advice, I am very comfortable with the training regime I have decided on. It is working for us - in fact very well.

 

[countrryboy]

Fair play. Good luck
But been there a wore out the t shirt.
Dogs are clever esp wires

 

[Mungo]

Fair play. Good luck
But been there a wore out the t shirt.
Dogs are clever esp wires

Indeed.

Do you think it might be possible that I have done an enormous amount of research and talking to people before starting with this?

I am slightly fed up with people telling me what I can and can’t do with my dog.

 

[.25-06]

8-10m length of rope. Step on the rope to halt progress.

 

[Keith Edmunds]

i made a belt hook out of a s hook in stainless
if i do have one of mine on a lead when a shot comes up i just drop it on the ground and they don’t move works well, my teckels are pretty cool when out stalking ( well - until a deer is grassed then ones a ballistic tracker and the other is steady and a cool head and gets the job done. they get to know what’s occurring PDQ

Good to hear Phil - well done.

 

[Mungo]

8-10m length of rope. Step on the rope to halt progress.

Is the rope attached to you in some way?

I’m not sure I could face the endless tangles this seems likely to set up. How do you work it?

 

[countrryboy]

Could u not buy some 2" webbing and some off those quick release catch things u get on rucksacks and play about making wot suits u?

If u do the dragging rope idea above ur better with plastic coated washing line as it doesn't tangle the same, mibbee tie a few knots in it thou for grip

 

[mereside]

I have been using a waist lead for my dog when stalking. It’s one of the ones designed for running with a dog: a waist belt, with a slightly elasticated bungee lead d clipped to it.

It works extremely well: keeps both hands free, keeps the lead below the level of the rifle and sling so no tangling, allows the dog to move around me without tangling, and allows me to crawl very easily without making additional adjustments.

However - it does have flaws. Most importantly, it’s quite noisy, with quite a few ‘jingly’ bits.

Does anyone know of a similar design aimed specifically at stalking?

Just use a leather belt over the top of your stalking jacket, you could have someone fit a ring to the outside that you can clip to, or thread the leash through and clip back to the collar, I have similar for working mine as my knife and gps are on the belt dog to one side, when training our dogs to the shot we always have them lay down away from us and a shot is fired the dogs must lay there and not move it is part of our test to lay a dog up walk away and leave the dogs in the forest alone, somebody then takes a shot with full bore rifle and the dogs must remain at the spot for 25mins and the shot is taken towards the end of that time, they must remain for another 5 mins if they come back it’s a fail, laying a dog up is the better option less chance of it running in. Country boy is right though, the more experience the dog has the more they will try to run once they know what it’s about, especially once they know that chases are going to happen, so get the dog rock solid you can’t turn back the switch, regards Wayne

 

[Sika98k]

“And you can put the postman down now “

 

[Mungo]

Of course by the time the restrictions are lifted, she may have entirely forgotten what a deer looks like anyway

She’s developed a very profound obsession with her ball now. To the extent that when we were out for the mandated 1 hour evening walk, a roe buck flushed in front of her, and she completely ignored it while carrying on chasing her ball...

 

[Edinburgh Rifles]

Aha! Even better.

I wonder how easy that will be to get hold of during the current unpleasantness.

depends if you know of a friendly RFD who may have some...

 

[huntsman]

I don't like the idea of shooting while tied to a dog. However, perhaps your dogs are steadier than mine are...

I would agree 110% with this , this lads 7 months old and not far off 35 kg . If tied to him and he decided to go he would flatten you and as for shooting at the same time doesn’t bear thinking about. As someone else suggested get a friend to shoot , and you be the dog trainer.
When the dog is 100% steady to the shot you could consider consider it . But it’s not for me.

 

[Mungo]

Gosh. You’d think I hadn’t considered all of this.

 

[countrryboy]

Butter wouldnae melt.

I know all dogs have the look but I think wires have perfected the innocent angel "wasn't me, honest guv" look even when absolutely no doubt wot the bugger has been up to. Althou cockers come a close 2nd

Esp the ammount of mischief they cause, dunno if the look is perfected with practice as wires and cockers tend to get plenty chance to show it.