[jleve206]

So my young dog, now almost 8 months old does really good in the field. I have been taking him pheasant hunting the last few weekends and when we get a bird, he runs out, retrieves it and drops it in my hand or on the ground directly in front of me. However, as we walk around, he has this very unpleasant behavior. If he finds a dead bird... or animal, he totally disregards his commands and starts to inhale what he can before I make it over to him to take him away from the situation. Is there a way to correct this? Is this where the e-collar comes into play? II feel like it might be my only way to correct him without having to basically go to him and pulling him away. Any comments or past experiences with this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Jeremy and Ishmael

 

[rbr]

What training have you done?

Bert

 

[Laurie McCain]

A simple fix would be to have him on a leash.

Laurie

 

[Quackwacker]

A simple fix would be to have him on a leash.

Laurie

How is he going to hunt on a leash?

 

[David McLendon]

He's a dog and dogs scavenge, solid obedience is what you don't have a what you need. With that you should be able to call him off carrion or any other situation that he may encounter.

 

[chuck187]

Obedience. Get a dead something, and put it in the yard. Practice pulling him off of it with a long lead, and what ever command you wish to use. Reward when good stuff happens. Be fair when good stuff does not happen. Remember, this is a dog. They like smelly stuff.

 

[steve schreiner]

If he understands to come when called and you have a collar..In the yard teach the come or here , heel or whatever your command is and reinforce it with stimulation ...then as chuck said. pick up a road kill and use it as a distraction....It is just an obedience issue ...As stated it is normal for a dog to do this ...Also be fair, reward for compliance....Steve S

 

[jleve206]

Thank you for the great idea! I never thought to find the stinkiest most rotten not to mention super valuable find for the dog to use as the distraction during normal training sessions. I train a lot with my dog and he comes instantly when called. I can tell him to sit, lay down, roll over, come from 50 yards away. He listens very good! Unfortunately I guess I never added a dead rotting animal as a distraction to those games. Now I am on dead animal look out so I can get a couple of them to work with him. Thank you again for your comments.
Jeremy

 

[jleve206]

Sometimes the obvious is not always so obvious. I use all sorts of distractions during training, why wouldn't I add dead smelly animals? My dog seems to love them with a passion and I need to show him that they are not to be played with or eaten. Thank you!

 

[yellow machine]

Be on the lookout after dear hunting season. Mine likes to roll in the rotten gutt piles that are left in the woods. Windows down on the ride home!

 

[jleve206]

Yeah... I caught him wandering toward a carcass two weeks ago. Lucky for me I was close enough and he listened. Windows down!!! LOL

 

[Chris Atkinson]

All of our dogs need to be proofed on obedience and gradually learn to obey in the face of distraction.

For your dog, a temptation is to eat carrion. I don't think you realize how lucky you are! Some dogs think it is just awesome to flop down, roll on their back and "break-dance" all over dead, rotten stuff. I'd rather have a dog eat some of that stuff than totally coat himself.

Anyhow, before you start hauling rotten roadkill to your training grounds, you may find that you can equally well proof him with stuff from your pantry or fridge. He apparently likes to satisfy his canine desire to eat stuff. I think I'd try to train with other food as a distraction that's less nasty first.

The "cure" is not any special tool. (e-collar, leash, etc.) But those kinds of equipment can be part of a stepwise process to help reinforce obedience in the face of distractions.

Good luck!

 

[Kenneth Niles Bora]

.....The "cure" is not any special tool. (e-collar, leash, etc.) But those kinds of equipment can be part of a stepwise process to help reinforce obedience in the face of distractions.

Good luck!

makes me think of the Jerry story of the teenage son, the mailbox and the friendly next door girl in a bikini.

 

[DarrinGreene]

More kibble?

 

[Chris Atkinson]

More kibble?

This reminds me of a story....

Regular RTF readers who've seen this before, please ignore...I've posted this before.

There is a retriever guy, still active today, who used to run the AKC FT circuit. He had a dog with a hardmouth problem. He eventually chose to take a fresh killed mallard and put it in the dog box several hours before the trial started. The dog ate what he wanted (the story goes that it was the whole bird). His desire to crunch birds was fixed for that day.

I wasn't there. I can't prove or disprove. But I can believe it.

 

[badbullgator]

All of our dogs need to be proofed on obedience and gradually learn to obey in the face of distraction.

For your dog, a temptation is to eat carrion. I don't think you realize how lucky you are! Some dogs think it is just awesome to flop down, roll on their back and "break-dance" all over dead, rotten stuff. I'd rather have a dog eat some of that stuff than totally coat himself.

Anyhow, before you start hauling rotten roadkill to your training grounds, you may find that you can equally well proof him with stuff from your pantry or fridge. He apparently likes to satisfy his canine desire to eat stuff. I think I'd try to train with other food as a distraction that's less nasty first.

The "cure" is not any special tool. (e-collar, leash, etc.) But those kinds of equipment can be part of a stepwise process to help reinforce obedience in the face of distractions.

Good luck!

Yeah, we'll my 11 year old HRCH/MH ate a dead alligator this weekend.
Order in which things stink;

rotten fish < rotten crabs < rotten shrimp <<<<< rotten gator

Nothing smells as bad as a bloated rotted gator. I tossed a the remains of one in my neighbors trash can last season because the neighbor is a winter resident and I didn't think he would be down until October and it was August. He came down the night before the trash was to go out. He was about to call the police because he though there was a dead body in his trash. I got home just as he was calling. He wasn't real happy.

BTW - Chris I got your message. I had no phone service over the weekend. I was in a doctors appointment when you called today. I will catch up with you sometime this week.

 

[jleve206]

Thank you. I am definitely going to wait on the dead animals. I have a ton of super tempting treats(i.e. steak) that I can continue working with and then when I see he is flawless with those, I will find something even harder to resist. Also, I now am happy that he is only eating it and not rolling around in it. Hopefully I can condition the problem so that he never wants either.

 

[Chris Atkinson]

Thank you. I am definitely going to wait on the dead animals. I have a ton of super tempting treats(i.e. steak) that I can continue working with and then when I see he is flawless with those, I will find something even harder to resist. Also, I now am happy that he is only eating it and not rolling around in it. Hopefully I can condition the problem so that he never wants either.

Never is a long time. But if you are consistent, patient and persistent, you will likely succeed at an obedience standard that makes you happy.

Good luck!

Chris

 

[todd walker]

I would not own a dog that would not eat some thing he finds dead,my dogs run free 50% of the time they are always bringing things back to the house
at the age of your dog he is just hunting,not a bad thing.....for a hunting dog,as they get older they will out grow it.They will learn that it is more fun hunting for you,to me now he is unsure so hunting for the first best thing he can find. with age will come wisdom...let a dog be a dog..!!!

 

[Kenneth Niles Bora]

Yeah, we'll my 11 year old HRCH/MH ate a dead alligator this weekend.
Order in which things stink;

rotten fish < rotten crabs < rotten shrimp <<<<< rotten gator

Nothing smells as bad as a bloated rotted gator. . . . .

but I just readed above they outgrow that?????

and what does a badbullgator smell like?