Deer Chasing Dog

[Luisia02]

I have a 4 year old Brittany who is only 2 points away from finishing his FC title. He is a wonderful All Age dog and rock solid broke. We have even had him go missing at field trials only to find him standing when we pulled out the tracker. Recently, He has become a deer dog and will go missing looking for deer. When we are training we use the collar and are able to shock him if we see him go off on deer. I guess the most difficult part is that he is an all age dog and so he is not visible most of the time. In training we are able to use the Garmin to assure that he is up front and coming with us. We have tied a deer hide to his collar and shocked him when he was chasing. What else is there to do?

So my Question is how do you train your dog to stop chasing deer?

[Sharon]

How hard did you "shock" ( correct) him. If he's still chasing , it wasn't high enough - trash breaking level. ( Good looking dog . )

[Luisia02]

As high as the collar will go :O He has a mind of his own

[cjhills]

Take him where you see the deer before he does. When he hits the scent shock him hard. Most dogs only take a time or two Cj

[topher40]

Might be time to invest in a hotter collar or borrow one that can stop this dog in its tracks.

[jimbo&rooster]

If it was me.... I would load the dog up in a box, and about half hour to an hour before sunset, I would go for a drive. I would find a field that had some deer standing out in it, then I would unload rover and put him on the ground and head in their direction. Once rover spotted/scented the deer and began to give chase I would crank up said collar and let it eat untill the dog stopped chasing and came back, or until he stopped screaming, then I would let up off the button if he was still chasing and cook him again. Essentially your dog needs to think that deer are the meanest critter ever and he ought to not fool with them......

On a side note you used to be able to get decent money for dogs that would run a deer track in some of the southern states.

Jim

[doco]

Go over to a Hound Dog site. Here in NY there was a pen with a buck in it and it would kick the living daylights out of dogs. It was for that purpose only, breaking dogs. They have many ways to break hounds I would assume your best bet would be over there.

[Cajun Casey]

Go over to a Hound Dog site. Here in NY there was a pen with a buck in it and it would kick the living daylights out of dogs. It was for that purpose only, breaking dogs. They have many ways to break hounds I would assume your best bet would be over there.

This. Although, in my experience, does are far more aggressive.

[jcbuttry8]

I have always put my dogs in a position to get right on a deer. Be it a doe or a fawn. Let them just about get a tail and then light them up with the high setting on the collar. It always seemed to work better if they thought it was due to being to close to a deer.

The GSP i broke like this in OK, would run and jump in my arms when he saw a deer. If he caught scent he would run the other direction. Some handle it better than others, but none that I have broke this way have chased deer after.

JM2C,

Joe

[mudhunter]

I had a trial reject I gave to my sister a few years ago, a big male Setter. Just last night the dog, who I fried with the ecollar everytime he even looked at deer, chased a deer and got kicked in his head. Had to get stiched up, 3" skull fracture and might never hear out of one ear again. You need to find a way to up the pressure when he chases (the old timers would probally reach for some rat shot).

Moral of the story, if they are stubborn and want to chase, they will chase.

[Neil]

You did not say which e- collar you are using. I would use TriTronic. But whichever, go to the highest setting on a quality collar. Then watch the garmin closely, when he noticeably picks up speed, hit him. Also when after deer they tend to go straight line. Not the way they hunt. Say nothing, if he comes all the comes back, ignore him. He must think it is the deer.

Garmin has made it much easier to break All-Age dogs. Most don't understand that it is not the same as trainng a hunting dog that stays in sight. You can break those off as long as they know you can see them, but not when they get over the hill.

The Garmin gives you eyes when they think they are out of sight. No longer do you have to worry about shocking them off birds, you can tell when they are chasing.

Sounds like you have a nice dog that 5 years ago I would have told you was done, but with today's electronics there is hope.

Good luck.

[Neil]

After more thought, I don't know who you are working with, but take him to Tommy Tracy or another All-Age trainer in the North East.

There is no reason you won't soon have a Field Champion.

[Luisia02]

You Garmin has made it much easier to break All-Age dogs. Most don't understand that it is not the same as trainng a hunting dog that stays in sight. You can break those off as long as they know you can see them, but not when they get over the hill.

The Garmin gives you eyes when they think they are out of sight. No longer do you have to worry about shocking them off birds, you can tell when they are chasing.

Sounds like you have a nice dog that 5 years ago I would have told you was done, but with today's electronics there is hope.

I have a tri- tronics collar and he has been fried. Neil you are so right the garmin gives you so much confidence. However, I do think that sometimes you become so consumed with looking at the Garmin that you begin following the dog and forget that he needs to be playing with me not doing his own thing. I am hoping that this weekend he will want to play with me since he is entered at a trial in North Carolina. I will keep you posted. To bad we can't use the electronics at events.

[RayGubernat]

Two of the very best places I know of to break a dog off deer are right down the road from you. The bestm, IMO is Greenwiood forest WMa and the second best is Colliers Mills. Both are lousy with deer, but Greenwood is less used and has more deer.

I would go down there in the early morning, go around the back side and walk in alone. I would find a herd of deer and then move them. I would make careful note of exactly where the deer tracks wee and then go get the dog. Ideally i would find a spot where they crossed a sand road. I would walk the dog in and let it go in the general direction of where the marked spot was. I made sure I was in a postition to see the dog when it encoutered the deer track or the deer. When the dog cut the track and went to follow it, I would light him up for the full eight seconds at the maximum voltage. If the dog did not come running right back to me, or in the opposite direction of those deer tracks, ...I'd light him up again for another eight seconds. That usually got the message through. Never hollered, never said anything.

This works the best, obviously, with a young dog that has not chased, or chased only once or twice. If a dog had never chased and had never been shocked by a collar, It would invariably come running right back to me, in absolute terror. I would make a fuss over the dog, feigning concern for its welfare. You know stuff like"What's the matter?? Are you all right?? in my most sincere most sympathetic voice of course.... Did it that way on several dogs. None chased deer after that.

If your dogs is a confirmed chaser, you might have to get a second collar and strap it on the waist. Be careful with the waist collar. It does not have to be too high to really get a response from the dog. I would try a TT on 3, maybe 4 on an old campaigner. The waist collar really stings apparently.

I did it this way before tracking collars, or garmins or even beeper collars. Once the dog understood that he was not to chase, I would take the dog, on a checkcord, right into a herd and then let him loose as the deer spooked. If he showed any interest at all he got the high hard one for eight full seconds.

They got so that when they saw a deer they would either head in the opposite direction or they would stand there until the deer disappeared from sight and then they would go on as if nothing at all happened.

I haven't done this in quite a few years because my neighbor has goats, and I make the dogs stand when the goats are in the field next to us when i am roading. they learn to just stand there until the goats run off and then I whistle them on as if nothing happened.

RayG

[whoadog]

I haven't done this in quite a few years because my neighbor has goats, and I make the dogs stand when the goats are in the field next to us when i am roading. they learn to just stand there until the goats run off and then I whistle them on as if nothing happened.

Dad was a hound man. We always had goats and his dogs rarely ran deer.

[Francois P vd Walt]

Might be time to invest in a hotter collar or borrow one that can stop this dog in its tracks.

+1 Getting a hotter coller, REMEMBER it is timing that is important here, you have about 1.3 seconds to react when he picks up the deer scent, or wait untill he chases hard and THEN GIVE HIM THE WHOLE POWER PLANT! If he doesn't stop get backup or more power.

Dogs learn by repetition when he ever comes accros a deer he MUST know these guys hurt like heck! Stay away from them.

I would go out and look for deer make him run into tem all the time with a correction if he chases, he will learn they not to be chased. Just my 2c

[Luisia02]

Thank you everyone for the advice. He ran this weekend in North Carolina and HE LISTENED I am over joyed. At time he was way up front and going strong. Too bad there was only 3 bird contacts the entire trial. So much for wild birds.

I couldn't be more pleased