I am about to bring home a new member to our family next weekend. She is a 6 week old Rhodesian Ridgeback. I am going to start with general puppy training (crate, potty, command words, etc).
My goals for her are to be a good family dog but I also would like to train her as a scent hound and see if she takes to it. Mainly tracking rabbit, deer and hog is my goal. Don't plan to really hunt with her much but I think its important for a dog to have a job or skill thats useful. I understand this is a big undertaking but Im looking forward to the process.
Im not a complete novice. Ive trained bird dogs and have lived in Zimbabwe and hunted with Ridgebacks while working on a farm there although I didnt have a hand in training any of the Ridgebacks. Ive been watching videos and reading up on how to train a "bloodtracker" as I have never done that.
Any first hand advice, reference material, or just tips and tricks that have worked well for you would be greatly appreciated. Ill post some pics of this beautiful pup when I pick her up next weekend.
Thanks!
My goals for her are to be a good family dog but I also would like to train her as a scent hound and see if she takes to it. Mainly tracking rabbit, deer and hog is my goal. Don't plan to really hunt with her much but I think its important for a dog to have a job or skill thats useful. I understand this is a big undertaking but Im looking forward to the process.
Im not a complete novice. Ive trained bird dogs and have lived in Zimbabwe and hunted with Ridgebacks while working on a farm there although I didnt have a hand in training any of the Ridgebacks. Ive been watching videos and reading up on how to train a "bloodtracker" as I have never done that.
Any first hand advice, reference material, or just tips and tricks that have worked well for you would be greatly appreciated. Ill post some pics of this beautiful pup when I pick her up next weekend.
Thanks!
