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Ferret breaking an ex racer?


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Iv finally managed to get myself a cracking greyhound bitch, racing name is clonadrum jess. Shes 2 and half years old and i got her because her previous owner is emigrating to australia. Iv not had her long so she is still lead bound till weve built a decent bond, dont want her buggering off or taking out some old ladies yorki! Lol! Iv already managed to get a better condition on her with decent food, a good combing through and worming and she gets plenty of fuss. Im looking for advice re ferret training her and less importantly muzzles. Do i need to get her a muzzle? She is steady as a rock around other dogs, even my little sod of a terrier! Lol! And if she takes out rabbits i wont mind anyway.

 

I dont have any papers for her because the previous owner cant find them what with the move etc but if he does come across them he will send them onto me. Can i get new papers? If so, how and where from? Im not desperate to race her but i would like to be able to and yes probably will give her a race every now and then.

 

My main problem at the moment is the ferrets. She is to be a working dog alongside my terriers and lurchers for general bushing/ mooching, ferreting as well as lamping. The problem is (as i expected) she sees a ferret as a handy snack. Iv shown her the ferrets with my other dogs about so she can see them ignoring the ferrets and iv told her no and stared her out untill she looks away etc. I know its going to be a long process but is there anything i can do that will help? Has anyone else managed to make an ex racer completely trustworthy around ferrets?

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Yes i will do mate. I can still use her when im ferreting, just have to keep her on slip same as if we were lamping. Also i can still mooch with her and lamp with her. I got her for keeps anyway as i do any dog i get and even without ferreting i have plenty of work for her. :)

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She IS making progress, in fact iv only had her a week so really shes doing well. On her first day she nearly took a ferrets head off the moment she saw it! Lol! Now iv at least got her to the point where i can leave her in the garden with the ferrets cages and she will just sniff about the garden. She does sometimes sniff about the cage too and does sometimes try to snap at the ferrets through the mesh and i guarantee she would kill them if i treated her like a lurcher round a rabbit warren! I have a beagle x jack russel that i got as a rescue and he was a twat at first with them. His turning point came when he saw for himself that ferrets are an important part of the team bolting rabbits for him to chase! Lol! Maybe the same will happen with jessie, i will know in a month or 2 when the season starts again. In the mean time i will persavere in the garden with her.

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Nice greyhound bitch :)

 

Over the next few weeks you will soon learn what is suitable for her, and how much you can trust her.

It could take six months before she is fully habilitated to your ways.

 

As regards ferrets, having her muzzled on lead, with the ferrets running around her, and give her a firm No! and tug on the lead, should work. Do this everyday, till the ferret can walk over her toes and she won't even glance.

 

If she is too mad for them, and this method doesn't work, then just keep her away from ferrets, or if totally necessary try something a little harsher, last resort a electric collar.

 

Have her muzzled off-lead, and the e-collar on her. Let the ferret out into the yard, and give her the normal warning like "leave it" or "No!", when she bolts to grab the ferret, perhaps just as she is about to grab it, zap her. Dont shout at her, make a fuss or chase her around to catch her, just calmly call her back to you and give a pet then walk her away out of the yard or into a kennel. Put the ferret away and let your bitch rest and think about what happened. Always remember when using an e-collar one important policy to employ. Make her think it is the ferret/sheep/chicken etc which is causing the pain, not you! By warning her, you are enforcing the trust between you and her. If you zap her and shout at her incorrectly you will only destroy the bond and trust she has with you.

 

Edited by cúagusgiorraí
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Hello mate,

I'm going through a similar thing at the moment, my dog is only 9 months though and ive just got myself two jill kits. The advice ive been given is just keep handling the ferrets and allow the dog to sniff them, as soon as his ears go up or his eyes widen tell him NO and push him back, ive been allowing them to sniff each other through the hutch. I was cleaning out the ferrets this morning and they were playing in the hutch while i was cleaning it, the dog was there next to me, then somehow they were face to face, i got the dogs attention and started praising her and playing with her and thankfully it was ok. Ive also been advised to allow them to eat from the same bowl together but i havent the guts to do this yet, It has taken me about a week to get this far, I did read somewhere that if the dog does get hold of one, it wil be twice as hard to stop him, so im doing it really slowly. I would keep allowing him to watch the other dogs with them if i were you, but i dont have this luxury. I was thinking same as you, once the dog sees them work, and realises what they do, that would help a lot.

 

Good luck with him, looks like a nice one. ATB. Neil.

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forget about the ferrets and try not to concentrate on her breed ,just that its a dog .right back to basics and teach a NO! command,a general no to anything you decide aint suitable.once that command is 100% try with ferrets again,works for ex track whippets. :thumbs:

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  • 2 weeks later...

your lucky mate,all the greys i have owned would have snatched that fert broke ts back and tossed it in the air lol

just goes to show they can be broken,well having said that it might still do it.hope not though.

 

as for the papers,you can get all the info you can and write to the ngrc if its british bred or the bord na gougn (spelling) if its from ireland.just give them the earmarks.

good luck mate

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  • 2 weeks later...

She IS making progress, in fact iv only had her a week so really shes doing well. On her first day she nearly took a ferrets head off the moment she saw it! Lol! Now iv at least got her to the point where i can leave her in the garden with the ferrets cages and she will just sniff about the garden. She does sometimes sniff about the cage too and does sometimes try to snap at the ferrets through the mesh and i guarantee she would kill them if i treated her like a lurcher round a rabbit warren! I have a beagle x jack russel that i got as a rescue and he was a twat at first with them. His turning point came when he saw for himself that ferrets are an important part of the team bolting rabbits for him to chase! Lol! Maybe the same will happen with jessie, i will know in a month or 2 when the season starts again. In the mean time i will persavere in the garden with her.

Nice dog!

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