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<h3>CHAPTER IV. TRAINING THE COON DOG.</h3> In training, we have been told to drag a 'coon hide, lead a pet 'coon, etc., but your pup soon learns to associate your tracks with the trail of the drag, and when you carry the 'coon hide he simply follows your track to where you start the drag again. Should you have a 'coon so tame that it will follow you, start out and tramp through the woods, along streams and just such places as 'coons frequent. Your 'coon will run logs, go up on the side of trees, in and out of the water, in fact will do just about as a wild 'coon would. After you have been gone for some time, have someone turn your pup on the trail and if he runs it, keep him a little later each time, and you will soon have a trailer out of him anyway. Should you have neither 'coon nor old dog, you can train your pup without. In nearly all places where there are 'coons, squirrels and woodchucks (groundhogs) may be found also. Teach your dog to lead and when he is about eight months old, attach a light cord to his collar; then some good morning for squirrels, take him to the woods. Keep him until he gets sight of a squirrel, then drop the cord and let him go; he will likely see it run up a tree, and perhaps he will bark, but if not, do not urge him, but give him plenty of time; then take him to find another and if he does not get to barking, get one in small timber, where you can make it jump from tree to tree; if he does not bark then, he will never be much of a 'coon dog. If he barks after he has learned to tree squirrels, take him to a woodchuck country. He will soon get to working after woodchucks and while they won't all tree, some of them will. Should he get one in a hole, hollow log or tree, get it for him if possible and let him kill it, and see that he doesn't get hurt much. If he trees one, shoot it out for him, and after he has gotten a few, and trees another, go to where you can see him, but do not let him see you, and watch until he starts to leave; then go to him and by so doing, he will learn to stay and wait for you. After you have a good dog for woodchucks, you may rest assured that he will tree a 'coon if he finds a trail. If it happens to be summer time, take him where 'coons abide and turn him loose. He will likely run rabbits, but when he strikes a 'coon trail, he will take it. As soon as you know he is after a 'coon, keep after him as near as possible, but let him have his own way. If he trees it and barks, get to him as soon as you can, but do not urge him, for he will get to lying as soon as you want him to without any help from you. After he has barked awhile, encircle the tree with him; then if the 'coon has been up and gone on again, he will strike his trail, and, after a few times, he will learn to circle before barking. If the 'coon is up and it is summer time or early fall, when 'coon hides are not prime, take your dog back from the tree, keep still, and unless it is a den tree, you won't have long to wait, for another 'coon chase, and by keeping your dog longer each time, you will soon have a cold trailer out of him. This may seem considerable work for some, but it takes work and time to make even a fair 'coon dog. Should you have a good dog to train with, it saves lots of work, but even then it is a good plan to work early in the season, and tree your 'coon several times in one night, as you do not have far to go after the first tree. In breeding 'coon dogs, the same rule applies as in fox dogs — if your dog is bred from a line of 'cooners, he will take to it naturally. Some one will say, I will take a house cat to teach my dog to tree. Well I have done that myself, but after cutting several good trees, only to get a house cat, I learned better. It is just as easy to break a dog from running cats, as rabbits, and more so. I do not consider a dog that will run and tree every house cat he strikes the trail of, a No. 1 'coon dog, no matter what his other good qualities may be. Years ago, when timber was more plentiful than now, I always trained my dog to take care of himself, when a tree was cut for 'coons, and I never had a dog get hurt, nor had many 'coons to get very far from the tree. They are easily taught by cutting small trees in the day time and making them keep back until the tree is down; but now, timber is getting rather scarce and valuable to cut for 'coons. When a dog is trained for 'coon so that he is first class, he is valuable in dollars and cents as well as satisfaction. One of our good friends sets the value in this way, and we agree with him, except that where one is training a dog for his own use, love of the pursuit and woods repays him in a measure for his trouble: "A man ought not to expect to get a first class 'coon dog for five or ten dollars. In fact, one can't be trained for that price, not saying anything about his feed. In the first place stop and consider how many nights one has to be taken out to get him to understand running them, and to learn their tricks and to tree and stay treed. They may do this in a reasonably short time with another older, well trained dog to show them how to find the tree and keep them out there, but then take him out by himself and when Mr. 'Coon goes in the creek or around an old pond or bog your young dog lacks experience and a year's work or more. Then there is the rabbit which he must be broken not to run, and a dog can always find their tracks before he can a 'coon. Now here is where the right kind of judgment must be used, as all dogs cannot be handled alike, and one may spoil a pup in trying to break him from rabbits. So taking everything into consideration, it is worth far more to train a dog for a first class 'coon dog than most people consider, — what it requires to train a dog, and what he should be worth when properly broken. Of course, it is not so much work to train a dog to run fox, as there is generally a lot of fox dogs one can turn in with, and that way get a young dog started and he will take to running them naturally." I think a good dog, either a fox hound, or one that has never run foxes, makes the best dog, altho curs or 'coon dogs are not to be kicked out, that is if they are good, true hunters. I wouldn't advise trying to train a hound with a cur unless he is an old 'coon dog. Try and get your dog on a 'coon right in the start, and do not let him fight too much the first time, unless he is an extra fighter. Do not let your dog stay out hunting when the other dogs have treed a 'coon; make him come in and bark up the tree. Always climb the tree for your dog and get what he has, no matter if it takes until daylight. When I own young dogs, I always train them myself. I never permit a stranger to handle them. It is all right for strangers to handle the old dogs once they are trained but the hunter who wishes to have good dogs should train them himself or have a man who thoroughly understands the proper way to use young dogs. It is a very easy matter to spoil a dog when you do not know exactly how to proceed. <h5><ANTIMG src="images/055.jpg" alt="Capable Cross-bred Cooners."> Capable Cross-bred Cooners.</h5> On the question of the proper age at which to begin training a hound, a successful Minnesota trainer takes issue with those who advise taking the pup to field at eight or ten months of age. He writes in part: "I disagree with those who advise the early initiation of the pup. Any kind of fairly well bred pup will run, not only at 10 months, but at 5, 6 or 7 months, but the point to consider is, will a dog put at hard work at such age, become a hardy one? Will he develop himself as well as if he had been given a chance to grow some bones? I say no; put a colt at hard work at 2 or 3 years old, will he ever be the horse which he would have been, if he had only been broken at 4 or 5 years old? Every horse breeder knows that if he wants a good roadster, he must give him a chance to grow, then he will not be afraid to cover 60 or more miles in a day with that horse; not only this but he will get many times the price for that horse as for his brother which was put to work two years earlier. I have bred horses and know of what I speak. There are many reasons why a sportsman should not start to train his dog to hunt before he is full grown, that is at least not until he is 12 to 15 months old. Before that age, a pup may have the will but he has not the strength to cover the ground of an old dog. A man who has a valuable pup should wait until he is capable to stand hardships, and until he has also a good knowledge box. In allowing a pup of 6, 7, 8 or 10 months to hunt, he will learn more bad tricks than good ones, such as to remain in the bush longer than necessary, and soon become a long record dog. The risk is great that he will get lost, or if not, will return with swollen feet and legs if he ran at all, also be chilled and be rewarded with a fine dose of distemper. This is often the cause why so many young dogs die with distemper or of some other lingering death, but if a man gives time to his dog to develop and get strong, the chance is, should he ever get distemper, it would be but a slight attack from which he will soon recover." We take it, however, that our well informed friend does not mean to imply that a pup should not be taken afield and given a kindergarten course earlier than a year old. His contention is, no doubt, that the pup should not be permitted to over exert himself or to be thrown too much on his own resources. <h5><ANTIMG src="images/058.jpg" alt="Good Catch in Which the Shepherd Dog Figured Prominently."> Good Catch in Which the Shepherd Dog Figured Prominently.</h5> <hr> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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