Ferreting Dog

[lifelong cumbrian 1,789]

My old beddy whippet is a decent marker, i just let her hunt about she will find one and mark it. I find her really useful doing big warrens, after a bit of bolting when you think the warren might be clear, i say to her were is it at, she will then go back around the holes and mark if one there, you are then dropping the ferret near hand on top of the rabbit, i just keep repeating until she isnt interested, i think it saves a lot of steam in your ferrets and a lot of time. Just my personal opinion though. I have a young dog i am learning now, i find it best with him to stand well back off the warren and give him plenty time, he is hard to read, going over standing on top of the warren with him is useless, he will just stand with you and you havent a clue if anything at home or not, best stand back and give him time and if occupied he will just stand looking at the warren if not he will move onto the next one. All dogs mark different as we know, it is hard bringing a pup on, trying to read it and its ways, only time and experience will pull you together and get the job weighed up. i don't take him with ferreting with the old one, i prefer to have one dog out ferreting, again a personal preference.

[fred90 3,089]

your right they are all different. my old beddywhippet would go to 1 hole and prick her ears and cock her head to one side. this young bitch (21 months) has been marking solidly since 10 months she will show interest at 1 particular hole then move around a few more and always goes back to original hole and marks strongly. when I started ferreting many years ago we used Russell's for marking found them excellent but beddywhippets seem to be natural markers. 

[micky 3,325]

2 hours ago, W. Katchum said:

Couldn’t have said it better meself, some dogs will false mark for attention some won’t, some want you to interact an work with them an others just wanna do there own thing, no right or wrong way as long as they are doing the job that’s all that matters but like ye say you got to know ye animals an there body language an only way ye can do that is by out in field. I ain’t got a problem with folk talking to there animals but find that a lot of excitement an praise will lead most dogs with more than 1 brain cell to false mark

The trick is to be able to read the dog some are very subtle at marking and some go mad at a hole over the years I have found out that the quitter dog is more reliable I also like a good old Ferret who has a shake at the mouth of a hole and set's off with  the  look of  I'AM  HAVING YOU YA b*****d 

[terryd 8,028]

Yea  just knowing the dog. Some times mine will have his doubts he know its there some were just not 100% sure so he will sort of look at me as if to say what do you think. I will look at him as if to say well your the one with the fooking snout you tell me ya doughnut  We end up having a run through just in case but most times there's no mistaking his mark and its bang on.

 

 

But I have to say this little fella back in the day was unbeatable with his marking it was bang on and he new the ferreting game inside out.
Just the little things like a rabbit slipped the newt he would shoot off put it ground ten come flying back to finish what we were doing then take me off to where the escapie had gone.
If he marked in cover and I couldn't find him I could call his name and he have a little woof but really quiet to tell me where he was.
A one off he was

[Nobby8126 96]

Looks like I'll have to chat up the warden to see if the spanners can get some company

[lifelong cumbrian 1,789]

1 hour ago, micky said:

The trick is to be able to read the dog some are very subtle at marking and some go mad at a hole over the years I have found out that the quitter dog is more reliable I also like a good old Ferret who has a shake at the mouth of a hole and set's off with  the  look of  I'AM  HAVING YOU YA b*****d 

the old bottle brush tail

[troyboy17 631]

On 09/03/2019 at 09:41, grompz said:

like darbo some of the best marking dogs ihad for ferreting were  Bedlington based lurchers, most of them had the old true strain of rillington and eakring blood in them. the last one I had came from les robinson in brigg, had norman, lena, blue,venus etc  took to ferreting like aduck to water and never lied at a mark,seen lots of false markers in my time, just let them do it in there own time, some of the best marking dogs  that were about used by the old boys were just mongrel bred, but usually had abit of terrier some where in the mix

I had one of les he put his belington back to whippet grey its name was will hay she was a good bitch

[troyboy17 631]

Picking up a,3/4 whippet 1/4 irish terrier tomorrow 13 weeks we will see how that goes

[Nobby8126 96]

Fingers crossed I should be meeting up and introducing pooch to my 2, then a home introduction then maybe a quick look at her working.  I trust the guy I'm getting her from completely as he could have moved her on 100 times but wants to know where she is going, he loves his dogs. He has also been a huge help to me over the last few years teaching me the basics of the sport and allowing me to accompany him on trips. I wont embarrass him on here but if you see this mate you've been a diamond.

[OneManAndHisDog 498]

Bedlington whippet greyhound x whippet 

collie greyhound x whippet greyhound 

If you was just going to do rabbits

[troyboy17 631]

,I have beddy whippet x collie grey  20 tts but yaps a bit

[troyboy17 631]

Hard as nails goes through bushes as though they arent there