Hunting Dogs: How to organize the training of your puppy hound: some rules that you associate with common sense will make your dog a five-star hound.
Training is serious business. You cannot improvise trainers without any basis and no experience, although common sense and the right advice can greatly help the hunter who, with a promising puppy at his disposal, wants to train him in total autonomy without spending a fortune. The days to devote to training are certainly not lacking: i hunting calendars in order to respond to the negative trend facing the wild population in Italy, hunting days are becoming thinner and thinner, and many of those that would have been used for fun hunting experiences, can become interesting training days in the open air. It's all about taking advantage of the right moment.
The first steps of the hound. The advice that first deserves to be given is to not necessarily be in a hurry. The training of a puppy hound can easily start after seven months: on the other hand, if the animal is in possession of interesting hunting skills these will soon emerge naturally.
Training is a way to help show them off and be able to express themselves. The ideal is to start education in one's role as hunting dog and disciplined companion right from the start. It is never too early to teach the value of a good no, to introduce your puppy to the leash and to make him experience in the city, in the countryside and on trips by car. In short, working on aspects that are not purely hunting is not a waste of time as some believe, it is a way to allow the dog to get to know each other better and to learn more about the role of hound that he will soon have to play. On the other hand, the hunter will have the opportunity to discover many aspects of the dog's character, a rather important element for those who have chosen to start their dog on the hunt. On the other hand, the training must be set following what is the character of the dog, its attitudes and its weak points. Training each dog the same way could be a big waste of time. Don't worry if at the first encounter with the wild your hound seems to have forgotten everything: the good teachings will soon come back to the surface.
Right days and locations. The hunter who decides to independently train his own hound must be able to choose not only the right location for the outings, but also the right days. It is good to opt for open and flat terrain, which allows easy visibility between dog and handler. In this way the hunter will be able to follow all the movements of the puppy, studying them and drawing the appropriate conclusions. The repopulation and capture grounds will certainly not be the ideal ones for a good hunting, but they are not bad as areas in which to organize the first outings. The dog will probably have the opportunity to meet the wild and to act in a particularly safe and comfortable location. It is immediately possible to notice whether the hound will give us satisfaction or not: interest in groundbaiting, marking of the tail, hints of primitive combinations are all excellent signals. The ideal is to untie the dog only after making sure that the area is free from other wild animals: if during the training deer, wild boar, roe deer or who knows what else it is better to take the dog away: if you are training him to followed by the hare, catching a glimpse of other wild ones might only confuse him.
Single training. The speech is more thorny than others: is it better to free the dog in a group or when it is alone? At least at the beginning the advice according to some trainers is to always untie the hound alone, or almost. In this way you will have the opportunity to focus exclusively on the puppy and this will not be led to emulate the behavior of other dogs, which is not always a positive factor. Furthermore, he may be distracted by others, compromising the training day. Surely it is a form of training that will take longer, but according to some theories it is also much more scrupulous. In any case, even dissolved in pairs, preferably with a subject of the same age or a few years older, could come in handy. The important thing is to know the “expert” specimen well: qualities and defects can in fact be inherited from the puppy we are trying to train. The outings in pairs if well organized can prove to be very useful: you discover how the animal will behave in a group and you begin to understand if it loves teamwork or not.
Training days. One of the doubts that is most often expressed by those who are involved in the training of their hound is related to the length of the working day. In truth, there is neither a minimum nor a maximum time: the ideal is to prolong the trip as long as you think it will be useful. However, the advice is not to leave the dog the way to get tired of the day; better to disconnect when the animal is still in its maximum concentration. Prolonging the training could instead prove counterproductive.
Training camps. Although outdoor training has great benefits, training camps can represent safe environments, in which the hunter will be able to control his dog, observing it at every stage. Since each training camp has its own strengths and weaknesses, we recommend not getting your dog used to just one location, but trying multiple settings: by changing the altitude, vegetation and density of the wild, the dog will be able to get used to many situations. divers by developing their well-rounded hound skills. We also remember that to have a mature hound at your side it takes time and effort: it is good to enjoy the training without being in a hurry, it will be a pleasant opportunity to get to know your dog better and get to know yourself better.