Running a pup with another dog
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Ryan
Running a pup with another dog
With a new puppy on the way I have watching a few videos and reading some books. Alot of them say you should run a puppy with another puppy or dog to build up the puppies confidence. I figured with Bailey and the breeder I am getting my puppy from they are keeping a puppy I could run with either of them. But when do I stop runnign them together? When I am ready to train and he feels comfortable running alone?
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Wagonmaster
- GDF Junkie
- Posts: 3372
- Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 10:22 am
- Location: Minneapolis, MN
i will run very young littermates together, just running and no birds. but as soon as we start any bird work, which could be as early as 8 to 10 weeks, i always run them alone. the reason is that tagging, which is one pup depending on another to find and point birds, can happen pretty fast and at a young age. it is a dependent, dominant/submissive behaviour that can develop very early. it is better to give a pup the incentive of birds, to bold it up, than to give it an example in an older dog or another pup.
one exception would be a pup that, after some trying, is just unwilling to run on its own, or a pup that is getting a little older, like around a year, and just has not been run at all yet, and thus does not have a clue. in these cases we might run the youngster with another dog just a few times, to get it familiar with an area and with the concept of running. but would wean that pup off the "example" dog as fast as possible, and give it the incentive of birds to find.
generally, it is way better to let them figure it out on their own. better to have them running to something - the excitement of finding a bird, than running with something.
one exception would be a pup that, after some trying, is just unwilling to run on its own, or a pup that is getting a little older, like around a year, and just has not been run at all yet, and thus does not have a clue. in these cases we might run the youngster with another dog just a few times, to get it familiar with an area and with the concept of running. but would wean that pup off the "example" dog as fast as possible, and give it the incentive of birds to find.
generally, it is way better to let them figure it out on their own. better to have them running to something - the excitement of finding a bird, than running with something.