Hi all,

I am trying to track down some resources for an aquaintance.

History:

Black and tan female spayed hound of some sort, aquired through the SPCA. The dog had escaped from two differnt SPCA's and was moved to the most secure one, where my friend adopted the dog.

Nice enough temprement, well bonded to its owner, but has escape issues.

He has to have the dog on a leash at all times. Pulls like crazy and has escaped from by the handler loosing grip on the leash several times. Most recently the handler lost the flexi leash (I know) and the dog followed her nose to the trans Canada highway Obviously got the leash snagged and chewed through it.

Anyhoo, if this were a golden or a GSD I would go into great detail with this guy on how to train a reliable recall and to be the most important thing in the dogs life....

However I have no experience with hounds, but from what I have seen of this dog, the handler will not be competition for its nose and I would NEVER trust a recall with it.

I do not train with an e-collar but am wondering if this would be a good choice for him. I am unsure of how it would be best used on a hound dog.

Anyone have any experience here? I would love to recommend a trainier to him in the Banff Alberta area.

As an off note, I have personally found two hunting hounds on two different occasions (one wearing an e-collar, another a locater collar), so I am aware of their drive to elude a recall and follow their noses. In both cases I found the dogs on the opposite side of a mountain range from where they were lost. One had a face full of quills. Both had id so were returned. Last year a local hunter lost two hounds hunting never found.

Are hunting hounds particularily difficult cases then?

Any advice appreciated.

Jennifer,

Can I have your permission to copy and paste this on another board where I moderate?
One of the other moderators has Blue Ticks and uses the e-collar as positive reinforcement. She does well with it and her hounds have won obedience titles and I am sure she would give you some information.

That would be fine!

Thanks.

I posted it and will send you all replies as they come in.

IMHO, hounds are one of the more difficult breeds to train the recall as their nose tells them more of what to do than their brain does.
With my BH, he is never allowed out and loose unless I have the four wheeler out, then I allow him to cruise and do "hound" stuff.

Between the three Black and Tan coonhounds, and two Bloodhounds as well as four beagles (all at different times) that I helped out with (one of the BH and one coonhound was mine, the others were my uncles, whom I lived with after HS and throughout college) We were never without leashes or kennels. Even the best ones were never trustworthy. THey just would go into hunting mode and that was it. Those clumsy paws and legs unsuited for the house would just unfold and they would be GONE in seconds, all you could hear was the sound of their voice as they went off. It usually took about a mile or so running after them before they would slow down enough to be caught - usually because they would start circling to pick up the trail. If you love hounds, you find ways to "deal" and make the best of it. (LOVE the atv image!) I know that it CAN be done, but it is a major chore to train a dog to go against those instincts to listen instead! Any time I see someone with a well trained BH I KNOW they have/are a good trainer! It's hard to do!

I would suggest the E-collar for this dog. That being said, I recommand that you look for an E-collar specialist. They are a great tool to train any dog, but needs to be used correctly. We do not sell them to our clients without them buying our training. Go on line and see who trains with this method and make sure you get a demonstration with the trainer bringing their dog as well. Talk is cheap so do your homework. Steve

Electric Collar Training for the Pet Owner
http://leerburg.com/318.htm