New Pup/Introducing Rabbits
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2014 9:51 am
Hello everyone. First off, forgive me for the wordiness of this post. I've been reading the forum for a long time now but just became a member. Just moved down to Dallas, TX from Oklahoma. I'm a proud new owner of a 10 week old male GSP (name : Watson), and would like to thank Mr. Tommy Wisdom at Rio Concho Kennels, in San Angelo, Texas for providing me an awesome little pup. This is my first gun dog and am looking forward to chasing critters with him for many years to come.
I've been working on clicker training for basic obedience before conditioning with the e collar, and most of my training research has been this site, Training with Mo', Jerome Robinson's Ultimate Guide to Bird Dog Training, and Retriever Training Basics with Danny Farmer. We will be hunting Rabbits, Woodcock, Snipe, and Ducks.
So on to my question. I see alot of versatile hunters on this forum who hunt rabbits will work their pup until steady on birds and then just start to shoot rabbits over them until they get the message that bunnies are acceptable game. Since most dogs will naturally find rabbits this makes sense if rabbits are your secondary priority when in the field. My question is if rabbits are my PRIMARY game while hunting what are some good ways to introduce a pup to bunnies? It seems impractical to me to trap 2-3 rabbits and work the dog on a caged rabbit like a pigeon in a launcher, especially since the whole point of the launcher is to teach him that he can't chase the bird if he gets to close, and with a rabbit he will still be able to chase it once it leaves the trap since its on the ground. Also, the rabbit might just hunker down in the trap and not flush out. I am just looking for a way to naturally steady-to-shot WITHOUT using a whistle, becuase it seems if unless I train on birds first then I must teach a whistle stop after the flush. I know in Britain they will whitle their dogs to stop chase. Will they eventually get the point and stop without the whistle? If I have to whistle train him then I'll probably just be check cording him with caged or live rabbits. If I have to train him on birds first I will.
I look forward to meeting everyone and appreciate all the knowledge I have already recieved from the forum, and thanks in advance for advice on this one!
Jake
I've been working on clicker training for basic obedience before conditioning with the e collar, and most of my training research has been this site, Training with Mo', Jerome Robinson's Ultimate Guide to Bird Dog Training, and Retriever Training Basics with Danny Farmer. We will be hunting Rabbits, Woodcock, Snipe, and Ducks.
So on to my question. I see alot of versatile hunters on this forum who hunt rabbits will work their pup until steady on birds and then just start to shoot rabbits over them until they get the message that bunnies are acceptable game. Since most dogs will naturally find rabbits this makes sense if rabbits are your secondary priority when in the field. My question is if rabbits are my PRIMARY game while hunting what are some good ways to introduce a pup to bunnies? It seems impractical to me to trap 2-3 rabbits and work the dog on a caged rabbit like a pigeon in a launcher, especially since the whole point of the launcher is to teach him that he can't chase the bird if he gets to close, and with a rabbit he will still be able to chase it once it leaves the trap since its on the ground. Also, the rabbit might just hunker down in the trap and not flush out. I am just looking for a way to naturally steady-to-shot WITHOUT using a whistle, becuase it seems if unless I train on birds first then I must teach a whistle stop after the flush. I know in Britain they will whitle their dogs to stop chase. Will they eventually get the point and stop without the whistle? If I have to whistle train him then I'll probably just be check cording him with caged or live rabbits. If I have to train him on birds first I will.
I look forward to meeting everyone and appreciate all the knowledge I have already recieved from the forum, and thanks in advance for advice on this one!
Jake