Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 9:04 am Post subject: Hard-mouth
I can see from reading the forum, that there are some very knowledgable Lurchermen on here (far more knowledgeable than me)... there's also a few youngsters showing an interest in long dogs.
For the new dog owner, the term "Hard-mouth" is used to describe a dog that rips the quarry to shreds on the pick-up, leaving it useless to us.
I had a friend who bought a "Hancock" pup, and was doing every thing right with the training. But the dog would "shake" everything that come before him. It was only by a convo with his missus did he discover that, while he was at work she would play with the pup...using a piece of rag in a game of tug-o-war Hence it becoming Hard-mouthed!
A lesson to be learned.
I wonder if anyone else has experienced this? and what you did to overcome it? (your answer could save someone else a lot of heartache )
Dully noted, I informed my misses and kids not to play tug of war with my dog as I thought it would inevitably become tug of war with a rabbit, but she does shake most of her toys do you think this would lead to a hard mouth. Charl.
Im no expert myself but some things are just common sense really when you think about it.
Some dogs will be hard mouthed naturally imo,any lurcher carrying terrier blood [including bull] might be at risk of becoming hard mouthed,after all terriers were bred to kill and then ask questions.
That said i think most hard mouthed dogs are badly entered really.
I dont think shooting squirrels [unless stone dead] is a good idea,your young dog soon learns to put a hefty killing bite in when it gets bitten by a wounded squirrel and carries this on when it catches its first rabbits,once it does this its ussually curtains for the rest of its life[not allways though]
I try and avoid anything that bites back before the dog has had a few rabbits.
Ragging toys or the odd game of tug o war isnt the end of the world imo,so long as you dont work the dog into a frenzy,all pups,fox cubs do this with each other anyway even spaniel/labs,but you have to be able to know when enough is enough when you play with the pup,i think it helps to form a bond with them,that said i wouldnt do it with a pup over 12 weeks old.
As for breaking a dog of being hard mouthed,i dont know the answer,and dont think their is one really,how would the dog understand you werent scolding it for catching the rabbit?
I dont know of a solution to a dog being hard mouthed, all my pups, were brought up on catching rabbits, some were very soft mouthed, and some
would bruise there catch, around the rib cage, and I never let them near the Fox, until they were at least 2 year old, and when they pick up a pheasant
I found were most very soft mouthed, when it comes to the BLACK, TIP, due to the speed it was
inevitable, there is ab it of bruising, at the end of it all I never really owned a hard mouthed dog,,
Ive had one fairly hard mouthed bitch,she didnt smash things to peices,just never brought anything back to hand alive,she retreived very well and gave the catch up willingly,and she didnt mark pheasents either?
My feeling is she was kicked in the eye by a rabbit/black tip when young and killed everything to make sure it didnt happen again.
That was the early 80's and i sold my catch in those days so i didnt want bruising but she was such a good bitch i lived with it,it wouldnt bother me at all now.
My Lab sam will retrieve live to hand this has had its drawbacks in its time.
Once we were walking by the sewage works when he nuzzled into my hand I looked down at him and he had a very large adult rat that he had some how caught and the f'ker was still alive, I told him to drop it and stamped the life out of it but he had almost put it in my hand.
there were no washing places local and I got very paranoid about weils desease, now I always carry those little antiseptic wipes just in case but thankfully it is mostly rabbits he catches live, not bad for a Lab eh?
My Bedlington could be renamed the Gravy maker!!!He goes in at everything real hard even if they dont need it,As for Pigeons just pick em up quick before he gets to them,or forget it.
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Hence it becoming Hard-mouthed!
)
