Hi
I have a retriever that i am training to track and he is coming on great but he wont bark when he finds the beast ??? . how do i get him to bark cos the wife would kill me if i loose her boy.
thanks
Landy308
I read the piece about tying up and annoying with a switch in Guy Wallace's book. However I think he recommended it only for dogs of the 'hooligan variety'.If it was me I would rather train the dog to find/kill the deer then come and get me and take me to the deer. In thick cover or a windy day you may find it hard to hear the barking. If you want it to bark on command tie it between two trees and annoy it with a switch.
Al
I read the piece about tying up and annoying with a switch in Guy Wallace's book. However I think he recommended it only for dogs of the 'hooligan variety'.
My young Labrador bitch will bark a lot, when at home in the garden if someone comes to the gate or has the nerve to use the footpath at the side of our home. She is silent when we are out with the rifle. Not a sound does she make even when yesterday she had a young CWD feeding less than 20 feet from her and blissfully unaware of our presence. She kept looking at me as if to say 'its there can't you see it'! but no sound.
When she found her Muntjac yesterday I did my best to excite her with exuberant praise and at one point she gave a couple of feeble 'woofs', but that was all. I don't intend to do anything other than encourage her. If I tried the switch thing then I think she would probably 'never speak to me again', never mind a deer carcass. I'm certainly not going to risk it.
Sweet music to me.....
My labs bark when they see the animal they are chasing.One bays them.This is not with dead deer,they return to me.
My HS barks on the track whether he sees the animal or not.Not quite as much as when he sees them.He will also bark at dead deer......he is a very very very noisy dog around the house etc
Learning to bark as deer man said....younger the better.
Any dog handler should have GPS.....it's a very handy tool and gives complete piece of mind.
Now i am not sure my dog can identify between large tracks of forestry and being close to some ones back garden so i will give that one a bye Brian
Dont get me wrong i can see the benifits in both but its not for my type of ground.