GWP chases rabbits

[GoodToGo]

I have a 3 1/2 yr old GWP that is obedience trained and has hunted in the field with me for two seasons. There has not been any formal field training, pretty much instinctive for both us. She points grouse and pheasant, sometimes flushing them, especially if they run. I do not have much desire or time to go much past that. I just like spending time with her hunting in the woods. She has one extremely annoying habit. When the finds a rabbit, she chases it, to the point where I hear her excited barking disappearing over the horizon. 5-10 minutes later she's back, tongue hanging out, ready to hunt again. I would love to break her of this, but do not have the time to do a full gun dog training regimen. Are there any simple techniques out there for breaking this kind of habit? Unfortunately we also have rabbits on our property, so she does this regularly.

[brittman]

Is she chasing rabbits or deer in the woods?

Cottontail rabbits usually do not run that far or for that long. If your dog pushes one out of cover most will run a short ways to the next cover. Most rabbits "circle - back", that is why rabbit hunters do well with beagles. The dogs push the rabbit out of cover and it tries to circle around the dogs - giving the hunter a shot.

If a dog is running away over a long distance or for a long period of time - I would suspect deer. Deer leave a very strong scent that dogs can and will pick up.

My britts chase and kill rabbits in our backyard, but they seem to know by experience that this is a backyard game and turn it off once in the field or woods.

Two recommendations:

1) Birds, birds, and more birds. Dog sees enough birds (wild or pen) and rabbits will soon be ignored.

2) Shock collar. Under a very control situation. Zap the dog when chasing bunnies (or DEER). Be extremely carefull that no birds are in the area or you will be in an even worse situation.

[GoodToGo]

It's rabbits, at least duting the first part of the chase. Once she's out of sight I guess I couldn't say for sure. I can tell when it's about to happen, her nose goes to the ground, she gets excited, and a rabbit will bust out and she's gone. She won't listen at that point. A couple of times I've thought, if only I had a shock collar...but I do not have one and am unsure of when it's good to use one and when it would do more harm. I'm willing to buy one, my thought would be to only use it at the moment she breaks on the rabbit, if she's close enough that I know she hears me and I know that it's a rabbit. And of course keep going out and getting her more experience, but she sure seems to enjoy chasing bunnies, I'm not sure there's any motivation for her to stop without some kind of negative reinforcement.

[Tripleplay]

All of these dogs have such a strong instinct on fur and feathers!

It is my basic understanding of the Draukter testing in the US(sorry about the spelling) that they basically throw a GWP in a field for example and watch it work anything it can find including rabbits, deer, turkeys, skunks, coons, etc.. (What I'm getting at is that even in the US where GWP's are used mostly on birds there is still some focus on fur.)

I'm definitely not an expert but I'd have to agree that since she has been allowed to do this up until now that an E-collar for correction will be the only way to stop it. I've got a GSP and when I worked with my trainer we actually hoped for a deer to be found to give us the opportunity to correct the chase. I have to admit that the first deer every year usually requires a correction but after that it may be 20 yards of full bore run and then she remembers and turns back.

This forum has an excellent group of moderators who may have some other suggestions, but I think it is going to be a challenge to correct a natural instinct.

[LABS4ME]

The collar is probably the best route to go, but to just strap it on and burn during a bunny chase won't nessacarily give you the results you want. To use a collar correctly, she needs to be properly collar conditioned so she understands what the "zap" means. If you can find an area with a guarnteed bunny population (like my yard ) you can begin the process with a long check cord say 50-75 feet. I've found in the past that lasso rope works the best as it is stiff and doesn't tangle around everything they run by. Stop the chase immediatley by grabbing the rope, giving a command such as "leave it", and then commanding "here"! Once she begins to understand the "leave it" command you can progress into collar correction. This can also be used to re-inforce the here command or any other recall command, as these are closely tied into breaking her of running game. All this training goes towards the "no bird" training (missed birds, hens etc). Alot of times you can train with fly away pigeons and train "no bird", get them solid on that command and relate it to rabbits. This is generally how I train my dogs, I teach them both "no bird" and "leave it" commands, if needed in the field, either of them have the same results, with "leave it" being the sterner of the two. Hope this helps...

Good Luck!

Ken

p.s. on a side note, we have daily bunny races at home but they'll rarely go more than 20 feet after one in the field... I think they've been able to correlate that when hunting, rabbits are not on the menu. But at home I hope everyone of them have a heart attack when they have a lab on their tail!

[Mr. B]

Labs,

I am surprised that you have so many bunnies. My lab has chased all the rabbits, squirels, birds and cats from the yard. It is fun to watch the squirels run the power lines over the backyard with Maggie right under them just hoping they fall.

I know that Maggie understands about deer and fly aways but I do not think that even the highest setting on the e-collar would slow her down if she saw a cat.

[duckbuster]

Labs has hit it right on the head, once again!! You must first condition the dog to the collar but start with the check cord and simple commands, "leave it" and "here".

One of the neatest things I got to experience this past fall hunting involved my yellow and a bunny.

Walking down a trail we came up to a corner and a god awful squealing noise. I wasn't sure what it was so I told her to sit, I don't use the stay command. Around the corner, running wide open comes this bunny. Stands on the breaks about 10 feet in front of my sitting dog and the stare down began. I had my finger on the collars constant button not knowing for sure if she would break on the bunny. They stared at one another for a few minutes then the bunny hopped right past her, within a few feet and right on past me. I could have dropped the butt of my gun right on top of that little thing, it was that close to me.

To witness those two animals feet apart just staring at one another is what makes going into the woods so enjoyable. It's not always the kill that makes the hunting season rewarding but things like that.

[LABS4ME]

MrB, I wish I could get them all chased out, by my 3 acres of primo bunny habitiat, butting up to 10 acres of primo bunny habitat... you get the idea... Oh well the wind sprints my 10 year old female does everyday is keeping her looking young! My seven year old male could care less about them...

DB... great story, it's good to hear of those every now and then, it truley is what makes having a dog fun and rewarding!

Good Luck!

Ken

[GoodToGo]

Thanks for the suggestions. There was a bunny head on the deck the other day, this will probably be a challenge.

Paul