Great show! You can talk to your dog if you need them to move around, but as someone said on the Georgia Barn Hunt page, direction can get in the way. If they’re working - let them work. If they’re spending too much time in a certain area and you’re sure nothing’s there, you can redirect them. I’m pretty quiet unless I have to redirect my dog or get him to tunnel or climb. As for alerts, our trainer suggested I teach Justice to paw at the rat tube, which is what we did and that’s his alert. If Dansby knows the paw command, that will probably work for you all. When Justice finds the rat, I wait him out until he paws at it and then treat him. That might work for Dansby. It was great meeting you over the weekend and I look forward to seeing you at another trial.
Thanks so much for tuning in, we're glad you enjoyed it! Those are great tips, thank you! I can totally see where talking too much can distract the dog as we need to trust their instincts. I think we just need more training and we will teach Dansby to paw at the tube, I think that's a wonderful idea and he's a very smart fella, so I think it will work. We so enjoyed meeting you and Justice and look forward to seeing you at another trial as well!
Dapper Dansby♥️ My Terrier mix was also a rescue....her "legal" name is Sophia, but we called her Tucky. She always perked up when she heard the word Kentucky, so she now goes by Tucky♥️
So, we go to a trainer's house who has rats, so we get to train with actual live rats. Since the trial includes a tube that does have scent, but no rat, I would think training with just scent would be detrimental since the dog needs to indicate which tube has the live rat. I think with some dogs it just takes time and maturity to get that hunting instinct working. In fact, when Finlay was young and went to his first Earthdog trial, he didn't really get it. We didn't do any training with him, but the next year, he was a different dog. I recall being told that his instinct would come with age, and boy did it ever! Granted, he also got a couple of bird kills in our back yard (much to my chagrin, but he was just doing what terriers do) and that may have reinforced his hunting instinct. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Dansby!
Great show! You can talk to your dog if you need them to move around, but as someone said on the Georgia Barn Hunt page, direction can get in the way. If they’re working - let them work. If they’re spending too much time in a certain area and you’re sure nothing’s there, you can redirect them. I’m pretty quiet unless I have to redirect my dog or get him to tunnel or climb.
As for alerts, our trainer suggested I teach Justice to paw at the rat tube, which is what we did and that’s his alert. If Dansby knows the paw command, that will probably work for you all. When Justice finds the rat, I wait him out until he paws at it and then treat him. That might work for Dansby.
It was great meeting you over the weekend and I look forward to seeing you at another trial.
Thanks so much for tuning in, we're glad you enjoyed it! Those are great tips, thank you! I can totally see where talking too much can distract the dog as we need to trust their instincts. I think we just need more training and we will teach Dansby to paw at the tube, I think that's a wonderful idea and he's a very smart fella, so I think it will work. We so enjoyed meeting you and Justice and look forward to seeing you at another trial as well!
Dapper Dansby♥️
My Terrier mix was also a rescue....her "legal" name is Sophia, but we called her Tucky. She always perked up when she heard the word Kentucky, so she now goes by Tucky♥️
Aww, I love this! Tucky is such a cute name, and I bet there aren't a lot of other dogs with that name. Thanks for watching and sharing!
Can you train with rat smell to encourage the hunt?
So, we go to a trainer's house who has rats, so we get to train with actual live rats. Since the trial includes a tube that does have scent, but no rat, I would think training with just scent would be detrimental since the dog needs to indicate which tube has the live rat. I think with some dogs it just takes time and maturity to get that hunting instinct working. In fact, when Finlay was young and went to his first Earthdog trial, he didn't really get it. We didn't do any training with him, but the next year, he was a different dog. I recall being told that his instinct would come with age, and boy did it ever! Granted, he also got a couple of bird kills in our back yard (much to my chagrin, but he was just doing what terriers do) and that may have reinforced his hunting instinct. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Dansby!