Update: Project Wiener - development of a Blood Tracking Dog

[Soonerlongbow]

Thats an amazing dog!

[AWPForester]

Where did you get the help along info for doing this?  In other words, where did you reason to start from, how do you begin training, etc...  God Bless

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Ha, its funny to see this back up again!  Oskar (or "The Wiener" as we call him) is laying on my feet right now.  

Couple answers to questions:

BasilK - no tracking adventures since the testing - its TOO HOT for any of that foolishness right now!  Katia just told me this evening as we were watching TV that she was glad she didn't have a dog to train in this heat, 106F today and 93F at 10 pm!  Seriously, we don't really need to work him on artificial lines much anymore - we'll probably do 1 or 2 in September just to get the rust off (of us more than him) before deer season.  But one thing is for sure....EVERY DAY is an adventure day with a Teckel in the house!

AWP-I read Jeanneaney's first book (Tracking Dogs for Finding Wounded Deer) many moons ago and that was one starting point when we took the plunge to get a blood dog.  Really, though, 80% of the support/help we had came directly from our breeder - she was a fantastic resource - and REALLY knows her dogs from a psychological standpoint.  She does some tracking, has done significant amounts of testing, and some versatile hunting with her Teckels so she knows what she is talking about.  A good breeder is invaluable to a new owner.  With more and more folks getting into this the opportunity for mentors is expanding too....I have been talking with Whip about his new pup (hope I've helped out some) and we plan to get over to Bill Dunn's place and work our dog and his new pup some later this summer.

Ryan

[tippit]

Ryan,
Nice to see how involved you & your wife have been in tracking.  My wife Molly wouldn't consider going hunting with me but wanted to see one of our pups on her first track.  From that time on she loves to go out tracking even in the middle of the night!

It is nearly impossible to keep a Teckel in your yard unless you use a good electronic fence.  They will dig under any regular yard fence and be gone hunting on their own.  The Pet Safe fence system you can get from Home Depot works great but you have to have the Stubborn Dog Collar turned up to the Maximum.  It's easy to enclose an area by just laying the wire on the ground or just barely burying in places you don't want someone to trip over it.  We even enclosed about 7 acres on our farm in Aiken, SC.

When Cash was a pup we had the small collar on her, she broke through the fence because unannounced to us a wounded car hit deer ran behind our house...20 yards from the electric fence line!  Molly couldn't find her and had to take the other dogs out to see if they could.  They found her on top of that deer 500 yards away.  She brought her back home only to have Cash run through the fence again...that's when we got the Stubborn Dog Collar.  It gives a good shock and we've never had a problem since.  With 4 dogs in the house, it is impossible to keep them in a pen or tied up.  They have free range of our yard in MA, our cottage in ME, and our farm in SC...tippit

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Up for fujimo

[fujimo]

thanks mate  

[Basinboy]

I have a Wirehaired Dachshund I'm training. Lack of blood trails on my part is slowng the process. I've put my phone number out there but no calls. Only put her on one real blood trail this season and she did an awesome job. She's just a year and a couple months old. Your dog is way ahead on mine. Congrats!

 

[Kevin Hansen]

Ryan, PM sent your way.

[Tedd]

Ryan,
Thanks Ryan. Interesting stuff! I have a wirehaired version. She can track way better than I can handle her but we have done ok. Like Basinboy mine doesn't get enough work!
The smooth coat sounds like a good idea especially where it's warmer. That dang wirehair fur never stops growing! But in cold weather it's great. The little buggers work so hard and can play themselves out and don't have the mass to stay warm when the work is over.
I like the photos!
Tedd

[Tedd]

   

   

[Kevin Hansen]

Sent you another PM, Ryan.