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bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anymore
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Author:  cpolo [ Tue Jul 30, 2013 10:41 am ]
Post subject:  bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anymore

I've got an 18 month old bluetick gyp that was a very hard hunting dog. she would kick dirt in your face as soon as she was cut loose. she would hunt as deep as she needed to. she was running and treeing hot tracks at 10 months old by herself and was doing very well working cold tracks. she was a very hard tree dog and has got a booming mouth and hard chop on tree. I was hunting her about 2 months ago and she struck a track and ended up going through an 8 strand electric fence, but her tracking color got hung up on one of the wires and held on the fence for about 45 seconds. she was hit pretty hard. she was taken to the vet and received a clean bill of health. I laid her up for about 3 weeks and gave her a caged coon and she fought it very well so I figured she was good to go. but I've been running her 5-7 nights a week since she was given the caged coon and now she will not leave my side. she doesn't even attempt to hunt at all. when we go to cross any fences or gates she freezes and cowers down and shakes real bad. i have to carry her over or through a gate or fence now. ive tried releasing caged coons to give her a fresh hot track to run no where near a fence to try and get her to get back to hunting but she wont trail it at all. is my dog completely ruined as far as hunting goes? what can i do to help her get back to her old self? is there any hope for her ever hunt again? shes very well bred (smokey river, utchman, double Rambo). shes an all grand pup so there is a possibility for me to use her as a brood female but she was such a good coon dog I'd hate to do that to her. any advice is greatly appreciated

Author:  Maximus13 [ Tue Jul 30, 2013 11:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

You need to reintroduce her to fences gradually, and help her conquer her fear head on. You will have to build her trust, and show her that there is nothing to be afraid. I would take her for short walks daily next to an electric fence. Over time she should lose the fear. I would avoid any further caged coon. Just get her comfortable again in the woods and around fences, by constant exposure.

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Author:  1molatenite [ Tue Jul 30, 2013 10:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

Maximus13 wrote:
You need to reintroduce her to fences gradually, and help her conquer her fear head on. You will have to build her trust, and show her that there is nothing to be afraid. I would take her for short walks daily next to an electric fence. Over time she should lose the fear. I would avoid any further caged coon. Just get her comfortable again in the woods and around fences, by constant exposure.

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I agree with you about dealing the isssue of fences and gates where he said she shivers. However, sounds kind of like she is taking advantage of the "Oh, Poor Baby" thing. Dogs can wrap themselves around your fingers same as a woman. Why she is staying by your side and not hunting when there is no fence around is something she is getting by with. The night she encountered the fence, it was dark, she was moving, she was breathing. Is she also afraid of the dark and moving her legs and breathing?? There won't be much diiference in dealing with this fence shy dog as a gunshy dog. There more you try to famaliarize a dog with a gunshot the more likely you are to make one gunshy. As far as using her for a broodbitch only, I would have have to guestion that if it was my dog. Would I want to breed to a dog that had 45 seconds of bad encounter and it ruined her for life, you know the pups are just as likely to being oversensitive to one little bad encounter. I've seen bitches get run over, legs and ribs broke and in 6 moths to be crossing highways chasing coons.

Author:  Maximus13 [ Tue Jul 30, 2013 11:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

She is not taking advantage of any situation imo. She had a very dramatic, very negative experience, while hunting. This has probably associated anxiety and fear with hunting, and fences.
I would recommend running her in a pack for a little, she should feed off the positive energy of the other dogs. In the mean time continue to expose her to electric fences. Keep it short, and don't force her. Don't let her run away but don't force her to the fence. Just let her become used to being around them again.

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Author:  cpolo [ Wed Jul 31, 2013 11:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

I took her out last night by herself and we walked 4 circles around the 450 acre farm I normally hunt at and she stayed right under my feet for the most part. she would range out about 100 yards every once in a while but she would never get out of my light. its almost like shes reverted back to when she was a puppy. on occasion she would put her nose to the ground but she had no drive at all. I walked her along every possible fence line I could find on that farm and she would panic and wanna lay down on me. so I put the lead on her and got her up but she was very nervous the entire time. I walked through a few cattle gates as well and still the same reaction. i guess its something that's gonna take time for her to get over. but as for her being a breeding female, she was a no nonsense coon hound before all this so i don't see how she would pass on this current behavior to her pups if she wasn't born that way. she was never shy or timid before all this. i guess i'll continue to take her out as often as i can and hope for the best

Author:  toe cutter [ Wed Jul 31, 2013 2:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

the mistake you made was laying her up and leaving her to dwell on what happened and it has sunk in.
action makes a dog forget and sitting idle will make them remember.
if your dog has something bad like this happen you need to get them right back out there so they'll forget it and get over it. same with a dog that gets ate up by another dog. get them right back in there with a dog that wont eat it up so it can get over it.
hung in a trap or anything happens that you don't want stuck in their head.
hunting her with another dog she knows may help her along to her old self faster,,, they are more brave in pairs or a pack.
all you can do is keep hunting her and have patience , its gonna take awhile for her to relize it aint gonna happen again.
I would not carry her over fences and stuff. I would act as though it never happened and put her butt through them or over them like I would any other dog. or like a puppy, walk off and leave her butt. she will find a way to get through it or over it. you baby a shy dog and it will make them act shy for the special attention. treat them like you would any other dog.

Author:  cpolo [ Thu Aug 01, 2013 10:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

the only reason I laid her up for a few weeks was because that's what my vet recommended I do. I took her to the vet the morning after she was hit by the fence just to make sure she was ok and he said she was fine. but he asked that I not hunt her for a few weeks just to make sure she wasn't gonna have any further issues. I took her back for her follow up and he checked her eyes and her hearing and sense of feeling and then I got the ok from the vet that she was good enough to hunt again. I guess he was worried that with the amount of electricity she took there could have been possible nerve damage or that she might have lost some of her senses. but shes good to go. like you said Im just gonna have to hunt the hair off her feet to get her going again.

Author:  1molatenite [ Thu Aug 01, 2013 6:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

cpolo wrote:
nerve damage or that she might have lost some of her senses. but shes good to go..

Please forgive me but I got a belly laugh out of that. LOL

Author:  Chet McCreary [ Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

Ive had many dogs caught up in hot wires. Never had one quit hunting all together because of it..I think its because of the way I hunt my dogs.I try to always end a hunt on a good tree. Not if something bad happens....When hunting real young dogs if they tree and look really good on the first dump.Ill take them home and get another dog and go back out hunting...I let the young dog think about what they did...if you do that when something bad happens like running a deer or getting shocked in a fence that's what they will remember.....She might come out of this.It depends on what kind of dog she is.If shes hard headed she should be OK but shy types might never get over it.....If she was a good dog before this happened.She would be a good dog to get pups from..Id say the best way to get her over this is to hunt her with other dogs..Chain her back at all tree until she shows interest again..That can fire up a dog chaining them back and knocking coon out to other dogs...((Don't mess with anymore cage coon)) that will just get the dog so they have to see a coon to show interest thats not good....

Author:  Jef Futscher [ Tue Aug 13, 2013 7:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

1molatenite wrote:
cpolo wrote:
nerve damage or that she might have lost some of her senses. but shes good to go..

Please forgive me but I got a belly laugh out of that. LOL

You stop ! LMAO I also laughed so hard , I started snorting!

Author:  cpolo [ Wed Aug 14, 2013 8:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

Well I've been hunting the hair off her feet the past few weeks and she's been coming around nicely. I went out and bought a finshed English female and I've been hunting them together every night and my bluetick is back to hunting hard. Not anything like she used to be yet but she's getting better and better every night. I've tried cutting her loose on her own but she's still not completely comfortable with that. She doesnt stay on the heels of my english dog but I guess she wants another dog out there with her. She has treed her own coon a few times so I think she'll eventually turn around. She's still very nervous about fences but I just leave her and eventually she'll come on through. And for those that are laughing about possible injuries she could have received from the electric fence you can f*** off. Let me put you on an electric cattle fence for a minute and see if you come out completely unscathed. I'm asking for advice and if you have none to give then dont post anything.

Author:  Maximus13 [ Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

Well done sir... Just keep building her confidence gradually. This will really give the guys something to poke at but I would go out of my way to cross over fences, wait on the otherside when she gets over them, I would give her a treat. My guess is since the fence caused the fear, if you get her over that fear that should transfer back into.her confidence when she is hunted alone. The treat will help reinforce positive experiences with the fence instead of negative. Should give her extra incentive as well to get through them faster. Best of luck

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Author:  englishparadise [ Thu Aug 15, 2013 5:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

[quote="Maximus13"]Well done sir... Just keep building her confidence gradually. This will really give the guys something to poke at but I would go out of my way to cross over fences, wait on the otherside when she gets over them, I would give her a treat. My guess is since the fence caused the fear, if you get her over that fear that should transfer back into.her confidence when she is hunted alone. The treat will help reinforce positive experiences with the fence instead of negative. Should give her extra incentive as well to get through them faster. Best of luck

Good advice Maximus13.
I don't see anything funny about a man asking for advice because his hound was shocked... Just keep putting her in woods bud. Just like humans dogs have a memory (of course) and I know sure enough if I went up to my truck one day and outta nowhere it shocked the ##*%* outta me I'd be weary of touching my truck. Like I said just keep putting her in the woods.

Author:  cpolo [ Thu Aug 15, 2013 11:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

I just got out the woods with her and she treed a coon by herself and split treed with my English dog. She actually crossed a fence on her own about 150 yards a head of me to get to the tree and she opened up very hard and let out her awesome hard chop about 106 bpm. The track had to be extremely hot because it was only 2 minutes or so from first bawl to the tree. Either way shes made huge progress thanks to this new dog I've been hunting with her. After she split treed I got both dogs back in the box and waited about 30 minutes or so and took her by herself one last time. She ranged out about 200 yards or so but she didn't have no where near the energy she has with my other dog but I was happy she ranged out as far she did. But I'm satisfied with her progress so far. When would be a good time to try and single her out again and try to finish her out?? What should I look for in her??

Author:  toe cutter [ Fri Aug 16, 2013 2:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: bluetick female hit by electric fence and wont hunt anym

if it was me I would single her out right now... you'll find most all of them hunt harder with another dog. but the longer you hunt a young dog with another dog before you single them out,, the harder it will be. it takes alot of patience to single one out. if she was singled out before it shouldn't be hard to do now. the longer you hunt her with the other dog the more dependent she may get in having to have another dog to go with. when she wont go and you break and turn the other dog with her thinking a few more times with it should do it,, you are restarting at step one again on getting her to go alone. when you turn the other dog with her you are going backwards. but, there are alot of dogs out there that will not hunt alone. and they are liked and hunted just as much as the next guys dog. a guy that always hunts with someone else don't care if they will go alone or not. or hunts 2 dogs or a dog and a pup. seen grand nites that would not hunt alone even if you walked them. after a certain point if a dog has not been singled out it aint gonna be.