Ok, I've just gotten this big male red bone last week and took him hunting last night with 3 other walkers. Two friends were with me to see what he might do. One had two well-trained walkers and the other had one 10 month old female. Trouble was pretty noticable pretty early. The 3 walkers were already in the cage in the back of a friends pick up truck. My dog obviously was not about to jump in the cage with the 3 dogs already in there as growling became barking, which would have definitely been a fight if both dogs were out on their leash. Now, I'm not sure exactly how old the red bone is. Apparently, a man down the road got the dog, didn't want him so the dog found his way to one of my friends house without a collar or name tag and looked to be starved. At this point all I know of him is he's full breed red bone, and I mean massive size. I'd say he would have to be atleast a year old. Anyways, we tied him up in the back of the pickup to where he can't move since he could not settle down with the one other dog which was also the only other male. We got to our spot let em all out and my dog and the other male still kind of had some issues while still on their leashes, but later on throughout the trip, they seemed to not really have any problems. Alright, we got all the dogs where we wanted em' and turned em' loose. Now I could tell how excited my red bone was because all he wanted to do was choke himself to death trying to run and pull my arm out. (Wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't so damn big.) As soon as I let him go, he was the farthest out... barking all the way. He seemed to do good. About half hour goes by he finds the three of us and I put him on the leash for the time being. We wallked up the mountain, got to the other side and heard the two walkers just going off. I let my red bone loose and next thing I knew, it was his loud deep bark that mostly helped us find em treed. He was at the tree barking, very aggressive and didnt have any problems with the other dog. The coon hit the ground and my red bone kinda acted like it was all over with and didn't have much interest. The other walkers tore it to shreds. I tried numerous times to try to get him to smell and get used to the coon as he kinda acted like he didn't really know what to do or think. My guess is he hasn't really been hunting. He would try and lead several times while on the leash. But I'm thinking it was his first hunt. I was considerably happy with the way he performed for the most part. There wasn't any of the sad, pitiful, aggravating, moments such as not being able to get him to run or having to drag him around. He did well especially with the hard terrain and being such a big dog. The only things that concern me is how fast he came back (kinda like he may have given up) and that he had no animosity against the coon. I believe taking him out more with those well-trained walkers will help a lot. My question is.... If this was your trip and your dog with the same situation.... What would you work on in the later weeks to help remedy the faults? What advice do you have for me to work on with him?
|