starting pen?

dale · Post by **dale** » Wed May 05, 2004 5:45 am

is a one acre starting pen to small?i own 5 acres there is an acre that is over grown.tall grass,lots of brush,pine trees was wondering if it was to small to fence in for starting pen

steveb · Post by **steveb** » Wed May 05, 2004 8:17 am

I think an acre would do for starting small pups. I have a friend with about a two acre starting pen. He gets the pups started, but they catch some of his rabbits.

keep the cover heavy

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed May 05, 2004 8:38 pm

One acre pens usually do more harm then good as you will have the pups running over the same scent too quick and they usually develope bad habits with backtracking and running an old lines and with all that scent they sound off and get too mouthy and get too many sight chases. If you decide to do this I would suggest that as soon as you hear them open on a scent trail pull them out as soon as possible and put them outside the pen to finish the starting process. I used to use a 2 acre pen and if the dogs have any foot they will catch every rabbit in the pen as my pup did. Just my experience with small pens.If you have 5 acres to use I would make the pen atleast 2 or 3 acres and only put 2 rabbits in it so they have to actually search for the rabbit and not alot of scent from other rabbits scurrying for cover mixing all over. Good Luck

Big Dog · Post by **Big Dog** » Wed May 05, 2004 9:46 pm

If you are only going to use the pen for starting a dog then it is perfectly fine to have a one acre pen. As soon as the dog starts and is running decent, I would move him. Don't leave them in the small pen too long. I like small pens with lots of rabbits for starting a dog, and then I like to have them moved to a bigger pen with fewer rabbits, but still a good rabbit population to get them running well.

Big Dog