There is nothing like the feeling you get when you see a young hound stretched out, head laid back, blowing up an ole coon hide or tail hanging above his head. Working with young hounds can be frustrating at times, but with a little dedication and a whole lot of patience, can be a very rewarding experience. Coonhounds, no mater what the breed, are born with a natural instinct to track and trail and we, as owners and trainers, is our job to get that instinct to come out and fine tune it. There are a lot of methods of training and I would suggest exploring as many methods and or techniques as possible, what works wonders for some folks might not work for you or your situation, always be open minded, especially if your just starting out with that first hound pup. Talk to as many trainers, breeders, coonhunters and folks associated with hounds as possible, there is a multitude of knowledge and experience available all around us and for the most part, all you have to do is ask.
The first thing in training a young hound is picking a young hound, there are a lot of methods for selecting that young hound from a litter of pups, the biggest pup, pup with the biggest head, biggest butt, the runt of the litter, the one that singles himself from the rest of the litter, all sorts of pup picking techniques used by folks from all walks of life. Whatever your technique, the pup that catches your eye, your heart and stands out to you... Is probably the one that's going to be going home with you and this is where the fun begins! Get your pup acclimated to wearing a collar and being tethered to a leash at an early age, we like to use a light weight collar and lead on them, don't drag your pup around with the lead! you could injure him or worse! just follow him around with you in tow getting him used to being at the end of a lead. This is also a good time to start working on recall with your pup, let your pup get to the end of the lead and work on calling him to you. When calling your pup, you may have to twitch the lead a couple times, use his favorite treat or toy to get his attention, but once your pup comes to you give him or her lots of praise. If this technique works for you, you can start increasing your lead length or make a check line 15,20 or 30 feet long to get more distance between you and your pup. We have found that by using a lead on young hounds at an early age makes it a much easier process of breaking them to be tied out as they get older as well. Young pups, when they are not sleeping or eating want to play and play time, is a good time to break out an ole coon hide, coon tail or old dish towel squirted down with coon scent and play with your pup, create trailing and treeing scenarios with the drag for your pup to track and tree, be sure to keep these play sessions short, we don't wont the pup to play so long that he looses interest, we want the pup to be excited about the play session every time we bring out the drag.
Now its all about opportunity, giving that young hound a chance to show case their abilities, take them out on walks in the woods, turn them loose and let them be hounds! smelling, climbing, chasing and exploring the world around them! Just like kids, young hounds are sponges, absorbing every thing in their path. This is where they strengthen there bodies and their senses, they learn so much just nosing around in the woods and along creek banks, all the while building a strong connection between hound and hounds man or hounds woman. Every chance you get to show your young hound a caged coon, show it to him! When he starts getting excited over a caged coon, turn a few of those caged coons loose and let them site tree it during the day, then turn a few loose at night making that young hound use his nose. Transition to taking him for walks at night and before long their will be a treed coon at the end of your walk. We try and have a lot of one on one time with our young hounds in the woods, building confidence and independence in the hound, I like for a hound to start treeing their own coons by themselves before they start hunting with other hounds. As I said earlier, young hounds are like sponges and they can pick up bad habits just as easy as good ones.
I am a firm believer that if your hound is not healthy then he or she can't perform to the best of their abilities, have a veterinarian give your young hound a good looking over, make sure your young hound has had their first round of vaccinations and set them up on and adhere to a veterinary vaccination schedule, choose a well balanced puppy feed, we like to feed a dedicated puppy feed rather than an all stages type feed, we seem to have better luck feeding young hounds a puppy feed until their at least 12 months old. Dedicated puppy feeds are geared with the right amounts of proteins, fats and nutrients needed for an active growing young hound. Always be sure they have plenty of fresh water, water is very important in digestion, absorption of nutrients, joints and all important bodily functions. Make sure you get them started on a good internal and external parasite control schedule, reducing risks of heartworms and or other blood diseases and disorders caused by ticks and fleas. Always consult your veterinarian first before starting a vaccine, feeding and parasite control program.
In closing, make sure your young hound is healthy and spend a lot of one on one time with them in and out of the woods, hounds are very loyal animals and they will try their best to please their handler if their is a strong bond between the two. Be patient, take your time and remember that a little common sense goes a long way, but most of all, have fun! Until next time, we'll See Ya At The Tree!
Comments