The American Beagler Forum

today I went on a out of state hunt w/ my dogs ,it was very hot and they were hunting hard but we couldnt put up a bunny just birds and they were yiping on them ,after an hour of hunting all 3 dogs picked up a trail and took off like a bat out of hell ,I came through the thicket and saw a deer bed and knew I was in for a chase ,they croossed a field then a road and got about a 1/2 mile before I shocked them and got them back ,what a bad feeling it was .I got them home and got a fresh deer hide from a butcher and let them near it and the minute they wagged there tail I red lined them ,they didnt want anything to do w/ it after that but on time will tell ,is there anything I can do to break them of this

I feel your pain! I won't have a set of shock collars until Christmas, so you can imagine the bad times i have! LOL! Everyone i talk to says there is no substitute for shocking them off the real thing. Good luck man!

took the dogs out again today and they jumped a bunny and ran it for some time ,we saw the rabbit .then we saw some deer break a field and walked the dogs over there path my buddies dog started to take off on it so he lit him up and that was it ,my dogs put there nose to the ground and looked up at me w/ fear so I hope this was the end of this ,I am gonna take them back out this evening and every day this week and see what happens if they do it again they are gone for good ,I am not feeding a dog that runs deer

It takes time and work. Your dogs (most) will figure it out. Before shockers we would cut them off and give them a good switchin on the hips while holdindg the collar with a small fly rod type branch, lots of NO DEER, NO DEER!!!
Most figure it out w/ time. Also before e-collars would use a long check cord and walk them across fresh tracks (dusk in fields where you just saw deer) and gave them the biz if they show interest. With e-collars its alot easier to reach out and tickle them!
Good luck--sounds like your on your way. Its all part of training.
I had a top strike/lead bear dog broke off deer, and one day he drove a small herd of Elk across the dirt road just pounding. When he saw me he quit. I almost fell over--I was expected a nice big blackie! all in fun and fond memories. Good thing my friends weren't beside me, lol.
Mc

I have a 6 more days to break these 2 dogs then the breeder will be bringing me new dogs ,he said they never touched deer before and I trust him he has been right about everything so far .it just sucks I like these dogs

Catfish, listen, your doing it right. You've planted the seed that the scent of deer means discomfort. It takes patients and time but it sounds to me that they are getting the message. If you like what your seeing from these dogs, then just keep working with them. One of my best rabbit dogs ever took a whole summer to break off deer. Personally I think it shows something if they want to run it after getting shocked. "true GRIT"

Having your dogs run deer isn't the end of the world, and if you like those dogs, then break them. It sure wouldn't be the first time someone ever had to do that. Be patient, and since you have an e-collar, use it.

I'll just quote an movie:
"Patience, Grasshopper"


Hope you fella saw that old movie!

Greg H wrote:Catfish, listen, your doing it right. You've planted the seed that the scent of deer means discomfort. It takes patients and time but it sounds to me that they are getting the message. If you like what your seeing from these dogs, then just keep working with them. One of my best rabbit dogs ever took a whole summer to break off deer. Personally I think it shows something if they want to run it after getting shocked. "true GRIT"

If they want to run deer after being hit six times they need to leave my kennel. You may call it " true grit ". I call it hard headed.

APFII wrote:

Greg H wrote:Catfish, listen, your doing it right. You've planted the seed that the scent of deer means discomfort. It takes patients and time but it sounds to me that they are getting the message. If you like what your seeing from these dogs, then just keep working with them. One of my best rabbit dogs ever took a whole summer to break off deer. Personally I think it shows something if they want to run it after getting shocked. "true GRIT"

If they want to run deer after being hit six times they need to leave my kennel. You may call it " true grit ". I call it hard headed.

Turn that hard headiness towards runnin rabbits and see what kind of dog ya have. These dogs are just like teenagers. Some are gonna rebel and some are gonna fall in line. True grit comes with a price. If you start shocking them off game young enough and don't let up, I promise you that by the time they are 18 months old they will have had enough and get down to business.

Up here the Amish are big into raising whitetails. I don't have to drive 100' to expose my dogs to deer. Some even got doe's that will flat kick the stink hole out of a dog. Trust me, they don't want nothin to do with a deer after that encounter.

Shock them on 6 til they break dance. It has to be painful. Do not scold them. Pet them and talk to them softly. Reassure them you still love them. Don't associate the shock with you. Let them think it is the deer scent. Otherwise they will run from you. If you let them have it real good they will learn. Don't give up too soon. You may end up regretting that later.

When I shock a dog off deer or any off game, I shock them and after a few seconds I start calling them to me and don't stop the shock till they get to me. It won't take long before they come running to me when they get close to a deer. If they start coming to me on their own without having to be corrected then I just tell them to get back to hunting. They learn to just ignore them after time.

I'll tell you this, I've got a male that is about ready to turn 6 and he has never taken a deer chase and I will walk him right by them and their tracks and still tense up thinking, please don't do it. Everyone of them has it in them to do it and as soon as you think they don't you will be proven wrong.

In my opinion the best way to train them off of it is to put them in so many rabbits early that they don't want anything else and then introduce them to it with your transmitter turned all the way up and hope the lesson won't be necessary.

Sounds like you've got the scales tipped back in your direction, just keep on it and don't let another deer run happen.

Catfish Your already at the next step, They are scent hounds, so they want to follow any hot scent when they don't know any better. Some people never get the chance to recover their dogs after that first time, because they are long gone.
The best advise I ever got, was on this board, Drive around an area that you know there are some deer, let the deer go out of sight, then let the dogs out, walk in that direction and don't encourage anything, just walk, when or if they take off, fire them up on #6, and Like PIKE RIDGE said don't even let on that you had anything to do with the shock, because if they associate the shock with you, they might run deer if they get a good safe distance from you.
Then get them on rabbits as soon as possible, and PRAISE THEM.
Then the ultimate test happens when you set them up with a dog you know will run deer, and then fire them up again if they go with the deer runner.
I wish you the best because more beaglers have been there than want to admit it!

thanks for all the great advise guys ,I am gonna run these dogs again tommorow and see what happens ,I hope there deer days are over

Your first post said you had hunted for about a hour prior to the deer chase. My experience has been the longer i go without a rabbit the more they just would like to run something. Prior to shock collars i would sometime leave a place if we hadnt jumped something in that long of a time for the fact i was sure it was about to happen. This is one old man that would have to give it up if it wasnt for shock collars. At the time i started there wasnt a deer to be seen in this area.