Hunting Dogs: An unforgettable adventure in the company of a five-star trainer and his six Italian hounds. Going in pursuit of a hare has never been more exciting.
Having the opportunity to admire the hounds, the real and capable ones, well guided and at work is a dream experience, especially if you are a hunter who is passionate about the hare following. In that case you are also willing to pay for the ticket, bring something to munch with you and wait for the show to start. The best time to engage in this kind of miracle is in training, when i dogs and shipyards are more relaxed, some able to give their best, others, shipyards, willing to chat and give some more explanations. It is for this reason that from time to time I leave my workstation in front of the computer and in the middle of the week I fly to a dear friend, a five-star canettiere, of those able to polish any four-legged rough diamond and make a whole jewel of it. to envy.
I have always envied Damiano for the great ability to be able to evaluate a dog from the first glance, to make the most of it and to train it in the most convenient way and then conduct it in the way that best suits the abilities of the auxiliary. He is modest: he has always said that the dog can really do little when he does not have an exceptional dog in front of him, but when you have a hound with great potential, things change.
He is quite certain that he has no secrets to reveal, as he does exactly the training actions followed by his colleagues: this does not mean that things are better for Damiano than for others; it is no coincidence that whenever I have a puppy to initiate in the art of following I contact him: he has never disappointed me. On the other hand, dogs are very important to him and he has always been very important to dogs. I remember that when we were kids, when we went hunting with our parents, dogs always listened to Damiano, and this literally made their father mad. And even if the animals had never seen him, a word, a look, a nod was enough for them to become friends: it was written that he would become a fairytale trainer.
One Thursday of this March just ended I managed to reach him at the training camp where he spends practically every minute of his day and just to chat like old friends, now really old, who don't meet too often anymore, I kept him company during the training of his fabulous pack of Italian hounds. Watching them in action is always an emotion, and Damiano knows it. Maybe that's why he chose his best dogs that day, to give me a beautiful morning, full of emotions and fresh air. I immediately notice that even today, after many years as a trainer, his patience has remained unchanged. After enjoying the phase of the loose, always very exciting dogs, five short-haired and one strong-haired, I am already following. Unfortunately, the fact that the training camp is super crowded has not too positive consequences. The dogs soon realize that they have followed a hare that has recently left its lair, moved by other hounds who have just preceded ours. Damiano does not get impatient: he cuts the way to his hounds, stops them and binds them by choosing to free them elsewhere, in an area that is poorer in hares and therefore much less frequented. In a beautiful meadow, Damiano frees his hounds and the emotion starts again. The search starts practically immediately, and a few minutes later i hounds stop. Damiano beckons me to keep his eyes on Tib, a rather young but damn promising specimen.
La muta scagna decided, unmistakable sign of the meeting. It is precisely Tib who finds an access point to the wood in which the hare must have been hunted, and lead the way. It surprises me with how much dedication others follow him: he is such a leader. A few steps and we reach the group; a brook has put them in trouble. It is probable that the hare forded it causing it to momentarily lose its tracks. The dogs begin to draw circles with their steps gradually wider until the pass is not resumed and the six set off in pursuit. The signals in the distance are clear: first the scagni and the unmistakable scream of the scout then make us understand that the hare has been found and that immediately after it left. Damiano again advises me to observe Tib: he demonstrates a great speed, a surprising tenacity but above all he is able to mix well with the suit without creating any kind of tension. All the hounds do their part, which is why the pack works so well. Tib, however, compared to the others clearly has an extra gear given that, as Damiano confides to me, he is a complete dog in the four hunting phases, he succeeds well in pack, in pairs, as much as he hates him alone. < > He tells me that one of the fundamental elements, technique and knowledge aside, is to enter into symbiosis with the dog: it is very important that animals blindly trust their trainer, that they understand that they are everything to him. In that case they will do everything to please him. It is also essential to spend at least two hours a day with them, study them, become friends and teach them everything possible, the rest will be done by the good instinct of the animal.
And the trust, coupled with the time spent training these six exceptional Italian hounds is immediately paid off by a potentially unpleasant situation. From a clearing not far from the wood, in which the hare is splashing away, two roe deer appear, probably annoyed by the passage of dogs. I grit my teeth expecting to see the pack overwhelmed by instinct. But no, the six dogs practically graze the roe deer but do not care for them and pull straight towards the tireless hare. After a two-hour long training, Damiano decides to stop his promising hounds: they, recalled, surprisingly stop, get tied up and are ready for a well-deserved rest. Damiano and I continue to chat and a few hours later we say goodbye, promising not to let too much time pass before our next meeting. Time will tell.