so which rabbits are easiest?

[stuey2007 0]

lamped rabbit easier, couple of squatters on the lamp good way to start a pup

[Ray Mears 272]

maybe i should have asked which is best to start a pup on daytime or lamped not the easist

 

 

 

 

 

learn by your mistakes..

[J Darcy 5,871]

Hunter1983 what a load of pish do you think a dog cant tell the difference between when its going lamping, and when its out during the day? If you spend a bit of time training your pup to have a good unquestionable recall, then if it misses its rabbit at night, it should come back to you, a low whistle should be all you need if youve put the ground work in. Once the dog has been out a few times on the lamp and the penny has dropped, it soon learns to run the rabbits and if it misses them, it will come back to you. A sensible owner will try their best to make sure a young, inexperienced dog catches more than it misses, by picking and choosing the rabbits. Put it this way, if you spot a rabbit you dont think your pup can catch and you put the light off and walk on past it to look for another, chances are that rabbit will stay put til your past, then carry on feeding and you can lamp it again another night. Run the rabbit and miss it and it will be lamp shy the next time you meet. Its not rocket science really is it?

 

Snoops is right, pups need to get confidence jumping obstacles in the daylight and they arent going to learn to hunt if the only thing they are ever used for is lamping, so its best to take them out and educate them during the daytime. Some dogs arent hunters, and no matter what you do they will never be interested in putting their noses to the ground, especially the very sighthoundy lurchers, but the way I see it is a dog that can hunt up, can always be put on a slip for lamping or daytime coursing, whereas a "point and slip" dog thats never been given the chance to learn to hunt, well you cant tell it to go off and hunt and expect it to know what to do if its never learned can you?

 

My collie crosses know exactly what were doing from years of experience. My old dog whines if I cock the air rifle in the house, he knows Im going to shoot a bunny from the window and he will get to retreive it (im lucky enough to have rabbits within 20/30 feet of my house, I can shoot them from my bedroom if I cant sleep at night ) and if I go for a walk in the afternoons with my rucksack on, Ollie knows to jump a certain part of the fence which we always use for a short cut when were going up the hill, and yet I take this same walk every day with her in the mornings and she never goes to jump the fence - because she knows the bag is not on my back!!! Therefore we are just going for a walk and not out hunting. She also walks beside me off the lead when were on the path and if a rabbit gets up she will look at me and she wont chase it unless I say its OK (which I dont because its right beside a busy road) but if were out on the hill, she is never at my side, she goes off and she hunts constantly from the minute she gets on there to the minute she comes off. Dogs that are used REGULARLY for HARD WORK learn the difference between different activities and they change their behaviour accordingly. I dont ferret very often I havent done any for months and I dont keep ferrets so as a result my dogs rarely mark inhabited warrens for more than a few seconds before moving on. Take a ferret box and a bag or spade and they will mark the warren and lie down beside it. Now I am no Johnny Morris and I dont sit the dogs down and have a wee talk with them and tell them "were ferreting today so I would like you to give marking your whole attention please and show me where the rabbits are" they just KNOW

 

Same with lamping, my dogs which hunt up like demons during daylight, never put their noses down once as they know lamping is a different ball game. They have learned this through constant work, being out day in day out and learning to adapt to the different tasks they are required to do. Admittedly they are border collie crosses, which are reknowned for never having to be shown something twice but other lurcher crosses can pick things up too, perhaps just takes a wee bit longer.

 

Some of the stuff people come out with on these forums makes me wonder if they actually do much hunting at all or if they just sit and talk shit all day and do their dog work in their sleep

 

[poacher9991 10]

was wondering which are meant to be easist as im training my dog i have took her out day and night but not let her run any yet she is keen but i am holding her back untill she matures abit more,was just wondering which to start her on

get a few ferreted rabbit mate if the dog catches those go straight out on lamp mate

[Garn 0]

The easiest rabbit to catch for a young dog apart from a myxied rabbit is lamped one in a dry stone walled area. When the course is on, the rabbit can't find its runs as easy and the young dog has greater chance of catching and learning of how the rabbit runs. That said, let the dog run day time rabbits and plenty of them so he/ she knows what obsticles present what hazard,therefore at night that little bit of extra learning can save your dog so to speak from injury. Make sure their recall is good, and they will soon twig that lamp off means heel. If you're a good trainer and have spent time with your dog, your dog will automatically walk to heel on the side you hold your lamp on, hence no need for the curside non dog trainer slip imho. Practice makes perfect

[Guest hunter1983]

Hunter1983 what a load of pish do you think a dog cant tell the difference between when its going lamping, and when its out during the day? If you spend a bit of time training your pup to have a good unquestionable recall, then if it misses its rabbit at night, it should come back to you, a low whistle should be all you need if youve put the ground work in. Once the dog has been out a few times on the lamp and the penny has dropped, it soon learns to run the rabbits and if it misses them, it will come back to you. A sensible owner will try their best to make sure a young, inexperienced dog catches more than it misses, by picking and choosing the rabbits. Put it this way, if you spot a rabbit you dont think your pup can catch and you put the light off and walk on past it to look for another, chances are that rabbit will stay put til your past, then carry on feeding and you can lamp it again another night. Run the rabbit and miss it and it will be lamp shy the next time you meet. Its not rocket science really is it?

 

Snoops is right, pups need to get confidence jumping obstacles in the daylight and they arent going to learn to hunt if the only thing they are ever used for is lamping, so its best to take them out and educate them during the daytime. Some dogs arent hunters, and no matter what you do they will never be interested in putting their noses to the ground, especially the very sighthoundy lurchers, but the way I see it is a dog that can hunt up, can always be put on a slip for lamping or daytime coursing, whereas a "point and slip" dog thats never been given the chance to learn to hunt, well you cant tell it to go off and hunt and expect it to know what to do if its never learned can you?

 

My collie crosses know exactly what were doing from years of experience. My old dog whines if I cock the air rifle in the house, he knows Im going to shoot a bunny from the window and he will get to retreive it (im lucky enough to have rabbits within 20/30 feet of my house, I can shoot them from my bedroom if I cant sleep at night ) and if I go for a walk in the afternoons with my rucksack on, Ollie knows to jump a certain part of the fence which we always use for a short cut when were going up the hill, and yet I take this same walk every day with her in the mornings and she never goes to jump the fence - because she knows the bag is not on my back!!! Therefore we are just going for a walk and not out hunting. She also walks beside me off the lead when were on the path and if a rabbit gets up she will look at me and she wont chase it unless I say its OK (which I dont because its right beside a busy road) but if were out on the hill, she is never at my side, she goes off and she hunts constantly from the minute she gets on there to the minute she comes off. Dogs that are used REGULARLY for HARD WORK learn the difference between different activities and they change their behaviour accordingly. I dont ferret very often I havent done any for months and I dont keep ferrets so as a result my dogs rarely mark inhabited warrens for more than a few seconds before moving on. Take a ferret box and a bag or spade and they will mark the warren and lie down beside it. Now I am no Johnny Morris and I dont sit the dogs down and have a wee talk with them and tell them "were ferreting today so I would like you to give marking your whole attention please and show me where the rabbits are" they just KNOW

 

Same with lamping, my dogs which hunt up like demons during daylight, never put their noses down once as they know lamping is a different ball game. They have learned this through constant work, being out day in day out and learning to adapt to the different tasks they are required to do. Admittedly they are border collie crosses, which are reknowned for never having to be shown something twice but other lurcher crosses can pick things up too, perhaps just takes a wee bit longer.

 

Some of the stuff people come out with on these forums makes me wonder if they actually do much hunting at all or if they just sit and talk shit all day and do their dog work in their sleep

yes i agree entirely with the vaild points that you have made, but the question was what is easiest daytime or lamped rabbits, and i think that lamped rabbits are easier for a young dog to come to terms with than daytime bunnies and i preffer to start my dogs off on the lamp, get them some easier runs, get there gobb going and give them a bit of convidence. then introduce them to the work that have intended for them. Eveybody has different ways of doing things as you have said, i think it depends mainly on what you have intended for your dog work wise, as i do mainly lamping anyway. but have a younger bitch for anydaywork after the bigger bunnies.