Total Novice

[Guest MOLLY]

Does anyone elses lurcher seem to forget everything 1st night out lamping this season (well the 2nd, but he injured himself after 1 run the 1st time)

Night was doomed from the start, no wind or rain and only having a few small fields i really need as much help as possible, but im sick of waiting for the right night!

Pup chewed through the charger wire, so i had to strip back the rubber and wire it back together. Then when it was charged the male spade connector snapped off inside the female No spare connector so had to slice back the rubber on the male and tape the snapped of bit to it and then tape it to the lamp female...luckily it held.

1st field nothing. 2nd feild 2 sat out, he chased one over the brow of a hill, missed it out of beam so hunted up i kept the lamp on the 2nd one who was squatting, he ran straight past it, no concentration at all, then hunted up again I still stood there now screaming at him through clenched teeth knowing not another rabbit would be remaining in this field, he came back to me i stood on his foot and he screamed so the whole farm could hear All this time ive still got the lamp on the sqatter. Thankfully he caught it!

He was pulling on the lead head to the ground sniffing...he is far from perfect but he has never done that before

Next field has recently been sown, a few rabbits sat out who ran as soon as the lamp hit them, he managed 2 from this field one quite impressive one out of the beam. But he kept coming towards me with it, then running off when i approached, then when i got angrier he would drop the very alive rabbit and have to catch it again, and the whole process of running off, dropping it and catching it would start again.

Next field, ran one lost it, ran another caught it, ran a third and missed. The mist was starting to draw in so we called it a night. Just in time before i killed the lanky sod

Please tell me things will get better!!!

 

MOLL.

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

It's all Patently ye own fault, Moll. All this ranting and raving about the Dog?!

 

But just look at the shot ye bring us of the little bugger; Clear to a blind man that hot butter wouldn't melt in his little mouth! Bless!

 

But, really; I expect he's just as glad to have got out as you were? He'll likely get over it and fall back into shape

 

Still a cracking picture!

[lucky 578]

he's probably a little rusty after the summers rest, and he'll of been so wound up on his first outing that he would'nt of had a care in the world lol..

he'll soon realise the seasons back upon him, and get his head together again.

p.s he looks in great shape.

[Guest Frank]

I wonder if all the daytime work you did with him, ferreting ect recently, have anything to do with it Molly?

I had a whippet cross collie once, i used her a lot for ferreting and bushing, then picked a night to lamp her, she would start hunting up ect, piss me off, but she soon settled down after a few setions.

Id say he should get better once you lamp him a few times, hopefully.

[Guest MOLLY]

His stike has vastly improved since he has had more daytime work, so i suppose the negatives may also have?

To be perfectly honest he has always been a horrible dog at times for hunting up especially at the start of a night. And not being the most intelligent dog in the world things dont sink in till nearly the end of the season

Thank you Lucky, he gets to run/chase almost every day here so it keeps him trim all year round. Im very lucky that way.

Ill stop posting the times when he actually gets things right now Ditchy Ill try anything once

And you are right butter would'nt melt, he is a very nice natured dog.....dim but happy

MOLL.

[Guest Nov]

LOL, I thought this was a call out thread for T_N

[Guest MOLLY]

I thought that when i put the title, didn't know if you were still here or not Nov....goog to see you are

How's your black bitch?

MOLL.

[Guest mush]

Last year the smaller one of my two bull cross pups ( well two year old now ) was ten times better than the other on rabbits, now this year its the other way round

[Scallywag 78]

Well you came home with some rabbits and that's a successful outing in my book. And thanks for posting this, I feel a bit better about what goes on with my dogs (although that really is mostly down to my inexperience )

[marko 30]

seems like a normal night night out the dog was obviously excited to death a nice honest read.

[Guest SJM]

But he kept coming towards me with it, then running off when i approached, then when i got angrier he would drop the very alive rabbit and have to catch it again, and the whole process of running off, dropping it and catching it would start again.

MOLL.

 

 

I have sooooooo been there I had this problem with a bitch a fw years back, she was always a bit of a nervy sort from day one, I bought her as a pup off an ad in the paper, parents were supposed to be world beaters, all the usual sort of pish She was carrying a rabbit back to me one day and was panting hard and dropped it and it got away into a pile of rocks, I shouted at her and ever since then the problem started, she would drop rabbits as she was bringing them in to me and she would cringe away from me, the angrier I got the worse it became. I have no patience for a dog like that at all and my annoyance at her doing it exacerbated the problem til it got to the stage she was just catching the bunnies and letting them go again My mate could lamp her and she would bring them to him, he is a very laid back sort of guy and I think she got good vibes off him. In the end I didnt enjoy taking the dog out whatsoever. I would love to be able to say the story has a happy ending and that we worked through the problem and with patience and time she came good, but the truth is it was a bad combination of a nervous dog and an impatient owner that probably just would have gone further and further downhill. She went off on a chase one day I was out with a mate and didnt come back. When we went to look for her she had smashed her leg. I had her PTS and that was the end of that

 

My advice would be to try and concerntrate on lamping the easiest of rabbits you can find for him even if that means walking past ones that are sitting out, try and select ones you think he will definately catch to decrease the chances of him hunting on after a miss. When he catches you could try crouching down or even taking off in the opposite direction to try and encourage him to come straight to you with the rabbit instead of messing around. The trouble is, once a dog gets to a certain age and experience in the field, its all the dog its ever going to be, and allthough problems can sometimes be ironed out, if they are really annoying, ingrained habits, they will be harder to break in an adult dog than a young pup out for its first few lamping trips. If you take a youngster out and it faffs about with the bunny, you can always take a step back and do a bit with the dummy, polish off the recall and retreive a bit and then go back out lamping and see if it improves, but a dog thats worked a bit and developed its own style of doing things is harder to break out of bad habits. The only advice I can give you is to try and nip the problems in the bud as early as you can, as soon as you spot them. Patience is a great virtue and sometimes with a dog that mucks around when retreiving or drops rabbits you have to smile through gritted teeth and take a deep breath and count to ten, or your frustration will transmit to the dog and intensify the problem. You could try running him turn and turn about with another dog, the jealousy sometimes helps. If he does release the rabbit, slip the other dog and let it recapture it, you might find if you do that a couple of times he will hang on to his catch a bit better. Good luck, I hope he improves for you

[Guest MOLLY]

He's anything but nervy , but yes he could definately feel my frustration

He has NEVER done retrieve, never knew how to play and has no interest in toys....remember, he was 12ish mths when i got him.

 

I run away and he follows but keeps the same distance behind, as soon as i turn to him (cos i run out of field) he trots of in the opposite direction again

 

Definately wont come anywhere near me if there is another dog present.

 

He does get better as the night and season progress, i know its something ive done wrong because his first ever couple of nights lamping he would retrieve, then stopped?

 

I only highlighted it because this night out seemed to have anything and everything that could go wrong, go wrong, and it all seemed to be magnified to a much greater degree than normal.

 

I dont get a choice of rabbits SJM, they are few and far between, 7 runs was an amazing night for here, and it gets steadily less and less as the season progresses....he has little trouble catching, to be honest the 3 he missed were human error, nearly impossible slips, but if you dont try you wont catch

 

At least he has taught me alot for any future pups....i hope!

MOLL.

[bill88 6]

Just no pleasing some folk,poor bloody dog.

[Guest MOLLY]

Lmfao @ Bill

MOLL.

[Guest MOLLY]

Out again tonight and he was 98% improved bless him No hunting up or parading, he was much calmer and so was i.....my mood probably rubs off on him more than i realise? Unfortunately though he ran like a pekenise Seems like i cant have it both ways

Conditions were much better than last time, slight wind and drizzle but very little out. Came home with just one little one after 3 runs and spotted our first fox here whilst lamping.

 

 

 

MOLL.