Rabbit drag
Aight so here is a rabbit drag demonstrating a proper release! A couple details the wind was at our backs which is how the HZP will be set up, as the track goes left behind the house the track then has a steady left to right cross wind into a head wind through short grass and across small wet drainage you can expect the dog to be a few feet to yards to the right of the track, then across a sandy gravel driveway back into a cross wind. She wound up overrunning the track I didn’t say anything and let her sort it out she got back on the track and nailed it she did a lil loop around on the retrieve but she did sit square and straight which was nice! I am pleased with her tracking I wish she was a lil slower but ya gotta love the full throttle tracking and desire. I can get the manner of retrieve tightened up. We are testing in about two weeks I have a few more live rabbits to do and prob several more drags my goal is to have her super primed up for some tracking and myself primed up for a smooth release. I hope this helps.
How to release your dog on a rabbit track or a drag
This is how I release a dog on a track, make sure there are no knots and ya rope isn’t tangled up any unwanted tugs could accidentally mean a correction when the dog is on it gracefully let them go ya have 30 meters to go down the track with the dog according to the rule book in thick cover this will never happen in open country on jacks possibly can go a bit further but never 30 meters I have never needed it. I may have released a bit early once or twice, but it’s there if ya need it.
Happy weekend! I hope you guys are all having a good one. I was up in Wisconsin this week and got to spend some time with my good friend Joe Aumann he is a 2 time Armbruster winner and has placed in the top 5 quite a few times, he is a judge, a fellow breeder, and a professional dog trainer he has trained and tested many many drahts as well as many other breeds. He has helped me tremendously and taught me so much more than ya can really imagine. There are many ways to get the job done, I have adopted Joes way of doing things because of his great success. He attributes his methods and success to Delmar, Rick, and Ronnie Smiths Hunt smith way of training. After many years of training he has developed his own way of doing a few things with the backbone being the Hunt Smith silent command techniques. Have a watch I hope you enjoy and learn something. Stay tuned for more videos I will show ya the good bad and the ugly it doesn’t always go as planned but that’s the reality of hunting as well! I have made plenty of mistakes and Joe has too I think the smart thing is to learn from the successes and failures!
Second day of step one! And I forgot to open the bob/door. The two dark birds pushed through! I opened it up and the others went in
My buddy shot a doe at my place Saturday so I took Dixie to check out some blood and a deer. I kept the legs and some hide to drag around for them. She didn’t really know what to think! ya have to expose them to it all! Hardwire there brains for the future the more blood, scent, and dead critters they get to check out the better off they will be
When y’all picked up the pups I mentioned putting food on the ground scattered about and putting the food in a line!
Happy New years everyone! We have had an incredible Christmas week! Lots and lots of exposure and excitement for the pups we quail hunted with the big dawgs and the pups got to check out a few live birds my phone died during that so I didn’t get great footage. We also duck hunted a few times so the pups got to mouth and smell several wood ducks. As well lots of walks in the fields, woods water front ect… all the pups have been crate training everyday, and all are adapting pretty well to that as too!
This video is of a lil drill I do only a few times to help open up pointing and prey drive! It didn’t take long for this pup to start pointing. You do not want the dog to catch the wing it’s ok if ya mess up a few times and they do catch it, just walk up to the dog and get it out maybe even a good dog. When they get a lil tired of the chase and realize they can’t catch it they will start to point and stalk it. Once ya do this a few times put it up and start with the live birds!
Here is a video of the sequence, ya really need to do this everyday once in the morning and once at night, I have slacked a lil bit over the holidays but force ya self to do it as much as possible and gain some consistency. It will pay huge dividends in the long haul. Once everything is going well start getting ya buddies to do the sequence for ya. Getting others involved will simulate judges and vets checking them out and putting there hands in there mouth as well. Get after it y’all!
Get them fired up have fun! Open those senses!
Southern Drahts South Alabama premier Drahthaar breeder
