Tagging

[wfkgsps]

I have an 18 month old pup who is going to run in some HTs coming up. As a 9 month old, she had some issues tagging her bracemate and not hunting on her own in the back course. I didn't put any pressure on her because she was just a pup. She was hunted on wild birds all season long and matured considerably as expected, but I hunted her by herself. In preparing for the HTs, I put her with my older, broke male knowing she wouldn't bother him, or mess him up. Well, she was still interested in tagging along with him and didn't show much independence. Do I continue putting her with a bracemate and let her grow out of it, or apply stimulation to correct it, or ...?
She is collar conditioned, but I would say she is a softer dog so I don't want to make her sticky.
Thanks

[Maurice]

You might try running her with 2 dogs at a time that way she won't know which one to tag. Keep getting her into birds and let her grow up more before using the collar to stop this. Most of the time when they really get their mind on hunting they will forget about tagging, it takes some longer than others.

Mo

[AHGSP]

100% in agreement with Maurice. At the end of Training sessions, I will quite often cut loose 3,4, 5 dogs together w/ no birds down and they will quickly split and each go their own direction hunting.

[birddogger]

The above posts sound like good advise to me. I don't think an e-collar would be good at all for this problem. If anything, it would do more harm than good. JMO.

Charlie

[zzweims]

I've had pups that tagged. Very annoying trait. Some do grow out of it and running them with multiple dogs really helps. Another thing that's worked for me is to carry along a check chord. The instant your pup shows any interest at all in her bracemate, put a hook on her. Make her watch the other dog run and hunt free for a while, then let her go, dragging the chord. If she so much as looks at the other dog, reel her in. It may take a few sessions, and you'll want to put her down with as many different breeds as you can. I also recommend that you stop hunting and training her alone until she is reliable with other dogs. She needs to learn that her reward comes with a bracemate.

And most importantly, if she tags her bracemate during the HT, pick her up and forgo the entry. Don't wait for the judge to do it.

Aline
http://zzfarms.com

[mudhunter]

Ill tell you what I was taught. If the dog is still doing this after the puppy stage, set him up so he has a good distance between him and the other dog when you break them away, if you see the trouble dog look over at the other dog and start to head that way hit him with the E-collar, don't say anything just shock him. The dog will probably get messed up for a little bit and not want to break away with another dog but a good dog will soon get over it.

I'm not recommending anything, just sharing what I was taught and it has worked for me.