Downers like to habitually chase fowl, can be conditioned, are good f
Downers like to habitually chase fowl, can be conditioned, are good for hunting, and are very friendly with people, making them good hunting dog candidates. Six months, seven months and eight months is the fastest developing period of the nervous system and is the prime time to train your puppy. By training the puppy to hunt at this time, conditioned reflexes can be formed. How do you train a basset hound to hunt? These two skills must be mastered!
Tracking
In the wild, it takes two owners to develop a puppy’s ability to track wildlife. One owner drags the killed bird or animal, and then the owner of the hound orders the hound to track. When the pup finds the killed bird or animal, the owner immediately cuts off a fresh piece of meat to reward it or encourages it by touching its head. Gradually increasing the distance from near to far, the puppy can go to the hunting ground for hunting training once it has completed its task. The hunting ground should be chosen in a place where there are not too many hares. During training, when the hare is scared to run away, the owner follows the hound after waiting for the hare to escape. Sometimes the puppy will get lost and become confused, and the place where the trail is lost is usually located after the hound’s lost trail state. The owner brings the hound back a short distance to follow the hare’s trail again. If the pup cannot find the trail, the owner will need to provide assistance; or the owner will find the hare trail and point it at the hound and order the hound to continue tracking the hare; or the owner will trap the hound in a jam and turn it around. In any case, the puppy should not be asked to abandon one rabbit trail and chase another; this will result in the puppy developing a bad habit of losing the trail.
Fetching
After a puppy reaches four months of age, the owner will throw an object into the yard or threshing floor to train the puppy. At first, the puppy will often tear itself apart when it finds something, and the owner should immediately stop it and order it to give itself the returned object. In order to make the puppy happy with this action, it needs to be done through food lures.
Hound training should be done from near to far. Puppies are trained to start using food lures and gradually change to petting, encouraging ways to make the hound form a strong conditioned reflex. The owner throws away dead birds and beasts and commands the puppy to be picked up and given to the owner. This is the same as training any other puppy. With repeated training using this method, the puppy must be able to develop a strong conditioned reflex and this hunting skill can be consolidated. If the puppy is timid in searching for and picking up prey in the hunting field, the owner needs to lead them in the search together. After a few sessions of field coaching, the puppy becomes braver and more courageous to complete the hunting task alone. Puppy field hunting training is not difficult, but owners must be persistent in order to achieve satisfactory results.
