Starting the dog on rabbits - advice

rockyb23

Lads,

Apologies in advance for the total noob questions, I state from the outset that I know nowt about hunting and have no experience _at all_ - look away now if this bugs you.

So anyway, I have this dog.

Been fishing for years and take the dog with me but he’s a pain in the hole. He’s a terrier X (think some collie, maybe some hound, he's quick but not lurcher-quick) and has a very strong prey drive, thinks that every cast and retrieve is for him and drives me mental with barking/excitement.

I hate to leave him at home though because getting out with the rod kills two birds with the one stone (time out for both of us). My latest notion is to try a bit of bunny hunting with him – ie trying to give him an activity that he actually wants to do in the hope that it will fulfil his natural urges, but I am not sure where to start, and if I am barking (pardon the pun).

He loves to chase prey but has no training at all and is middling at best on recall (he’s a rescue, and a stubborn one, about three years old).

I live in a rural area but don’t know any farmers around, am thinking of just strolling the fields and seeing what happens.

So any advice? What’s the general view of landowners on lads out with dogs (daytime, no lamps, no guns, to start anyway - obviously would never dream of entering fields with livestock and an off-leash dog, close gates behind me and other common sense country basics)?

Any tips for how to successfully catch bunnies – ie at least some chases end in success, and I don’t end up losing him in a ditch?

Where would you start with a dog like this, or am I being fanciful and really would need to have a good lurcher trained from pup, and not terrier with more enthusiasm than talent (like his owner).

Thanks.

rockyb23

El hundo:

session savage

Ideally you should train your dog to stop and come back on command. You should be in control. I
cant really help though as I havent used dogs in years myself. One thing I would do (providing there is no livestock around and the dog will come back to you) is remove the collar incase he chokes in a ditch. It happened to a dog i had years ago and i had some job to get him out.
As far as getting rabbits, I wouldnt worry too much about it for the dogs sake, its the chase he'll enjoy, at least thats how it was with my dog. His tail never stopped even when the rabbit got away.