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Fleets first day out


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Recently I was contacted on one of my social media pages, by a younger guy now known as Jonesy, who asked if he could tag along and pick up a few tips about ferreting so he could start to take his kids out to enjoy the sport.

He explained he knew very little about ferreting and had recently bought a few young ferrets, amongst them was a very nice silver Buck, he said was very aggressive I said no problem, bring the buck over and I will work with it for awhile and see if I can tame him down a bit.

Well he wasn’t wrong he was as savage as I have seen, bit right through my leather gloves and still drew blood, better leave him here a few days I said lol,

He is a beautiful type, and seems very intelligent, so should be able to fix him up with a bit of handling, after putting his biting buck into one of the cages, we packed some gear, a few ferrets, the dogs including young Fleet, and headed off to a local spot just up the road, we only did the one burrow because it was already pretty hot, we bolted two, one ran out of an unseen hole on the other side of the fence, the second slipped the net and the dogs made a good catch, I also showed him a few other places he could get a few. We packed up, came home I gave him a working Jill, an old ferret carry box and some old nets, he was a happy man as he went on his way. I will work with his buck over the coming days, he is very nice.

It was also pleasing to see young fleet showing some interest and biting his first rabbit when the other dogs caught it, He will be all the better for the experience.

PS dont take them pups out too young - Doug grins

 

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3 hours ago, Dinosaurs said:

Nice one bud good to see people helping others out ? hope you get hob sorted. Atb

+2 , top man for taking him out, and giving him ferret /box/nets  :thumbs:   your pup doing great, get em out young it really helps with there field craft  = stock, gates , wire fences , etc . ive always had my dogs out at young age ,old Bryn  was 12 weeks old, he was catching rabbits in the lamp 6 months old, and easy as well, he never really seemed to struggle . Buck was out  10 weeks old day/night ,  and it really helps them to deal with the above. its when pups are held back for 8-10 months , then run around  mad , they get hurt far more , than pup who been out earlier  :yes: . you pit looking bit heavy  to many rabbit dinners  lol 

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8 hours ago, bird said:

+2 , top man for taking him out, and giving him ferret /box/nets  :thumbs:   your pup doing great, get em out young it really helps with there field craft  = stock, gates , wire fences , etc . ive always had my dogs out at young age ,old Bryn  was 12 weeks old, he was catching rabbits in the lamp 6 months old, and easy as well, he never really seemed to struggle . Buck was out  10 weeks old day/night ,  and it really helps them to deal with the above. its when pups are held back for 8-10 months , then run around  mad , they get hurt far more , than pup who been out earlier  :yes: . you pit looking bit heavy  to many rabbit dinners  lol 

Cheers Ray. I have been managing an injury she has had for a while now, hard to keep the weight off her since I got her fixed up, she eats like pig, and they have access to as much dry food as they want. Her weight will drop again pretty quickly now she is working again.

There is plenty of pro's and cons to when to start a pup, each to their own I say, but the proof is always in the pudding, most of mine go the distance, work all year round, day/night, and  do ok, so I must be doing something right. A.T.B mate take care.

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12 hours ago, Dinosaurs said:

Nice one bud good to see people helping others out ? hope you get hob sorted. Atb

I think helping people is in your nature, people are usually givers or takers. :drinks:

Day two, and the Hob is a lot better than he was yesterday, by weeks end he should be right

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3 hours ago, Aussie Whip said:

I can't see what holding a ferreting dog back is going to do.I've always taken pups along as soon as they can follow you.Also walked them as pups through thick scrub,slows them down to avoid obstacles later in their carreer.

It’s my opinion that people who hold dogs back until physically mature, are doing the breed a disservice, you hear all sorts of rubbish about it, but the fact is if your dog breaks down in the first 12 months why the F would you want to breed from it?

If what I say isn’t true, Why then are their dogs of a particular line that are specifically bred that are renowned for their soundness, in the wild nature takes care of this on it’s on, but we keep genetically inferior dogs that would normally die in the first 12 months in the wild, and breed from them.  Der Fred Nuff said.  :D

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Yeah I think they miss a lot of education in their early months if kept at home in cotton wool,sure they miss catching a lot of game at a young age but I've never seen this dampen their spirit for later,but then I've always had hunting line dogs,maybe pet or show stuff might be different.

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Good to hear the pups doing well mate and it's also good to help others get into ferreting, Im always happy to take some one new to the game out with me, I like to get a pup out early with the older dogs, soon as jabs are done I take the dogs across a local farm and let the pup follow the older ones and once pup is tired it goes into a game bag and carried. I have done this with all my dogs and it does no harm at all. If the older dogs snaffle a rabbit all the better as pup can get a good sniff and mouth it. Starting a young dog on long runs etc will harm it but a nice walk with the older dogs flushing the odd coney does no harm. Atb 

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On 13/04/2018 at 01:29, Sirblessed said:

I think helping people is in your nature, people are usually givers or takers. :drinks:

Day two, and the Hob is a lot better than he was yesterday, by weeks end he should be right

Ferrets normally settle with the right care, handling. Me and my uncle found a large hob last year, we was driving along a country lane when we spotted him on side of road. He came to us but God he went crazy when we tryd to pick him up. My uncle got quite a nasty bite from him, we got him home and caged him alone until he had settled a bit before placing him with a Jill. Over a few weeks he learned we were no threat and when ever we were around good things happened "food, treats," and he's still with me now and he's such a gentle fella when handeld and a good worker. I don't know how long he was wild for but he was in good shape so he'd been hunting coney etc. With right care the wildest ferrets calm down. Atb

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16 minutes ago, Jerry71 said:

Good to hear the pups doing well mate and it's also good to help others get into ferreting, Im always happy to take some one new to the game out with me, I like to get a pup out early with the older dogs, soon as jabs are done I take the dogs across a local farm and let the pup follow the older ones and once pup is tired it goes into a game bag and carried. I have done this with all my dogs and it does no harm at all. If the older dogs snaffle a rabbit all the better as pup can get a good sniff and mouth it. Starting a young dog on long runs etc will harm it but a nice walk with the older dogs flushing the odd coney does no harm. Atb 

I agree mate, offcourse you still need manage them, and don’t let them over do it.

I’m of the opinion if your pup has bad genetics a bit of ferreting will expose it, by time its 12 mths old you will see if it’s injury prone.

Keep that same pup back and run it later it will still break down, seen it many times, pro’s and cons to both methods,  but I will always start mine young and at the end of their career s you can see whats what.  I will run my pups, but I won’t ruin them.

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6 hours ago, Sirblessed said:

I agree mate, offcourse you still need manage them, and don’t let them over do it.

I’m of the opinion if your pup has bad genetics a bit of ferreting will expose it, by time its 12 mths old you will see if it’s injury prone.

Keep that same pup back and run it later it will still break down, seen it many times, pro’s and cons to both methods,  but I will always start mine young and at the end of their career s you can see whats what.  I will run my pups, but I won’t ruin them.

Completely agree with what you’ve said. I have a eleven month old whippet that came out for the first time at 5 months and with me most of the winter and suffered not a single knock or injury. I wasn’t really planning on taking him much but older dog got injured on barbed wire and thought why not? He surprised me no end and has learned so much already. Can’t wait for next season to get him out again and really pleased I got some early experience in him. 

Good luck with Fleet.

 

 

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