Boone continues to impress

The past week has been filled with dog training.  Usually the "dog days of Summer" refers to the oppressively hot days we face during this time of year.  Fortunately, our weather has been quite pleasant over the past couple of weeks, which has been helpful in dog training.  Layla, ran a nice 22 hour blood track this morning, laid in the woods beside our home.  No need for her to take a back seat just because we have a new puppy.

Boone has a lot on his plate, and is taking it in stride.  He is still not terribly excited about nights in the crate, or days in the outside kennel when I am away.  However, he is complaining less and less.  House breaking is not complete, but has been pretty easy so far with only a few accidents.  The key to success is a lot of trips outside to accommodate his little puppy bladder.

 In addition to blood tracking, we have also started some basic obedience.  "Sit" and "come" are always at the top of the list.  He is a quick learner, and is progressing well.   Lessons are kept short to match his puppy attention span.  Also, I never work on obedience around the time of a practice track at this point in his training.  I don't want to apply any pressure during the track at this young age.  When his obedience is solid, we will combine the two, but this is months away.

I have also started with leash deconditioning.  He has been dragging a leash around during outside play time.  In a few days, he won't even notice that he has it attached.  This is important when tracking on lead.  He ran a track yesterday with his leash attached, and did just fine.  I forgot to attach it for today's track, but it will become a feature of most tracks from here on out.  Here is a picture of play time with the lead on.  I expect the dog to bite or carry the leash in his mouth the first time or two.

Yesterday, we also ran our first track using a deer hoof drag in place of the small section of deer hide.  The hoof was sprinkled with blood, and drug through the grass.  It was obvious that this was a learning experience for Boone.  It was not a seamless transition from hide to hoof, which is why we practice the change. He ran the track a little slower than the previous day's hide/blood tracks, and needed a couple of words of encouragement to stay glued to the trail.

Today's track demonstrated Boone's fast learning curve.  The same hoof was used to make a 300 foot drag.  The track was aged for 2 hours, his oldest to date.  As you can see from the video, he made short work of the track.  He even remained focused when a rabbit bolted out of the brush a few feet away from him.  Good dog, Boone!

Good hunting! Brady