Hounds as pets

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LuckyRed

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Hi guys

I recently adopted a rescue beagle x griffon wire-haired pointer and am taking him to training classes and agility sessions to try and get us as bonded and well trained as possible. I was hoping for some advice from anyone out there who has a hound! Mostly he's very well behaved, I can leave him at home and he doesn't chew the furniture or trash the place, he walks nicely on the lead, doesn't bark or howl, is lovely with the cats and generally is a good pet dog to have. He doesn't seem to be overly interested in most prey animals when we're out walking (although deer are a different matter and I'm working on that too!). When we're out walking, if we're a good distance from the road I'll let him off the lead and for about 20 mins or so he'll come back when called but at about that point its as though he gets too excited and just has to run off, completely ignoring me until he's ready to come back. I've been training him to the whistle and usually he comes when called, even when in a friends garden playing with her dog he comes bounding in for a reward when whistled but even the whistle doesn't work if he has been off the lead for a while. What I normally do is put him back on the lead, walk him to heel for a while to let the adrenalin calm down and then let him off again and the cycle starts all over again

I was just wondering if this is normal hound behaviour - do I stand a chance of being able to get him to control his adrenalin levels so he can actually hear me?

Thanks
 
I know I've said this before but Shirley Bassette has NO recall when she is on a scent,equally so PippittheWhippet comes home when she feels like it.
 
Hounds - and terriers too, do what they have to do when they have to do it; anything else (you) can wait until they've finished unless you really get paranoid about being second in line for their affections.
TBH, if you're not prepared for them to be what they are and you are obedience minded, then possibly not the breed for you.
 
Hounds are notorious for ignoring you. I have a 7 year old female Basset and there is no point calling her if she decided to leg it. They are bred to pick up a scent and not be distracted from it hence the heedlessness. They are very frustrating but amusing.
 
LOL - I knew exactly what to expect from a hound after several years hunting with a bloodhound pack and having friends with Beagles but i'm not prepared to give up and just say 'he's a beagle' and accept him running off forever - I'm going to do what I can to improve his recall and minimise the number of times he just ignores me. I work with a guy who never lets his beagle off the lead cos she has been out over-night a couple of times and I'm determined that I'm going to keep on letting him off the lead (in carefully selected, safe places) but I want to work on feeling that I have an improving amount of recall so he doesn't get run over or shot by a farmer!

I'm booked on a course this weekend called 'The ultimate recall' all about improving the recall in every situation so we'll see how that goes...
 
LuckyRed said:
I'm booked on a course this weekend called 'The ultimate recall' all about improving the recall in every situation so we'll see how that goes...
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:D I wish you luck! I never had any problem with the actual recall with the hound pups. They would always return if called. It just took about 3 hours!

They look over their shoulder as you're yelling and you can HEAR them saying: 'be back in a minute, Mum!' as they keep heading in the opposite direction.
 
LOL JanetGeorge - I get that sometimes and other times it's like when his nose is engaged his ears switch off so when he eventually lifts his nose and sees/hears me it's like 'Oh, did you call me?'.

Other times there is no response at all and he just heads off! In a big field you can see him rocketing along as a tiny tri-colour dot off in the distance in a big circle - in the woods it's worse cos you can't see him adn I have to rely on the alarm calls of the birds to know where he is - unless he's on a serious scent in which case you can hear him 'yow-ow-ow-ling' as he goes along!

At the moment though, he's curled up under my desk at work snoozing! Ahhh!
 
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