HELLO TO EVERYONE FROM JOHN:
Whether we choose to call it an E-collar, shock collar, remote trainer, or tickle collar, many of us have them but few of us get maximum use and value from them. Although some novice trainers use these wonderful and helpful gizmos too often, too harshly, too inconsistently, and set on too high an intensity, many other trainers are needlessly frightened of pushing the button. With some helpful coaching and information sharing, it’s a sure bet we could ALL improve our dogs and become more correct and confident in our training ventures.
Each month I’ll offer some food for thought designed to help you confidently move forward with your training efforts and ensure that owning your TRI-TRONICS’ equipment is a wise investment which will pay for itself over and over.
If you wish to discuss a topic further, you’re welcome to call me any day from noon until dark Central Standard Time at 573-564-6146 or 573-564-3028. About two-thirds of that time I’ll be available. The rest I’m Gone Dawgin’!
Empty Trees and Treed “Off Game” May be Remedied
A Missouri hunter wrote to me and asked:
I own a 15 month old hound that is a fine tree dog, and maybe that’s part of my problem. He has treed since he was five months old on squirrels and nine months on coon. I am very happy with this but he pulls up under the tree too fast a lot of times, especially on a cold track. I’ve hunted him with a dog that goes on to the correct tree, and by himself. He hasn’t gotten any better. What I can’t get over is the way he thinks he’s right. He won’t leave under any pressure from the other dogs.
Most of the treeing he’s done has been on squirrels, because coons are scarce around here, and have been run a lot by dogs, so they don’t tree without marking several trees. Ninety percent of the time he will pull up under a slick tree. I’ve been told he’ll grow out of it. Others say I should whip him. What do you think?
My answer:
Treeing empty 90 percent of the time is awful! Yeah, he needed serious corrections tried a long time ago. It might have worked, but possibly not. The only thing worse than not treeing enough is treeing way too much. Some hunters put up with this for a few years, but they nearly all eventually learn it’s a serious fault that they can’t live with. On his own, your dog will not get better with age; he will get worse.
There’s lots of talk these days about dogs making slick trees –– that’s bare trees, empty trees, nothing in them trees, wasted time trees for you and the hound, unproductive trees. Yeah, you get the idea. I don’t like them, and many other folks don’t either. Here’s an explanation for some of them.
Yes, most of them are simply dogs treeing too quickly, and owners or breeders or trainers tolerating it. However, several years ago one of my dogs was starting to irritate me because there were no raccoons in some of her trees. One night it dawned on me that I could see a field mouse scampering around up in the tree, and there had been field mice in a few of her empty trees lately. This was in the dead of winter, and all the trees were completely bare. It occurred to me that maybe this dog was actually treeing field mice, but surely that couldn’t be. Regardless, after taking corrective measures, it wasn’t long until she was back to being an accurate coon treer.
I’ve come to the conclusion that my dog got sidetracked on treeing field mice, just like some dogs start treeing possums, or squirrels, or minks, or chipmunks, or flying squirrels, or civet cats, or house cats, or groundhogs. Also, some dogs tree roosting wild turkeys or hoot owls that fly away before you get there. There are a lot of critters that stir around in the woods at night besides raccoons!!
Many of them climb up and down trees leaving scent for a dog that’s looking for some scent on a tree. Many times these so-called empty coon trees aren’t coon trees. They may be empty, or they may have some little varmint in them, but quite often raccoon wasn’t the game the dog smelled when it locked up on that tree.
Either way, whether it’s an empty tree or the wrong critter in the tree, don’t hesitate to take corrective measures. We don’t have to put up with such wrong and incorrect behavior. It doesn’t matter if it’s caused by the coon giving them the slip, or because a strong-smelling flying squirrel climbed that tree. It’s wrong, and we need to sensibly show our dogs what wrong behavior gets them.
Over my many years of hunting, I’ve had dogs tree every kind of off game there is. I’ve also had my share of dogs that, as they say, treed on trees before the coon got there. Smiles. I’ve tried every kind of tactic I could think of, or heard of, to correct these problems.
Even an accurate coon dog will occasionally be wrong on a hackberry or wild cherry tree. And it’s a rarity to see persimmons and a coon in the same tree, no matter how much the dog is positive it’s there. We may not like it, but we have to excuse them and kind of grin and bear it when they tree on a ’simmon tree, and there’s nothing there except persimmons.
Other than these examples, an empty tree or off game in the tree is WRONG! With consistent training, those problems can be greatly reduced, and possibly eliminated, if you get on it early.
After trying everything, here’s what works best for me. Always have your dogs wearing a necklace. Yep, that’s the secret. In my case, the necklace is a trusty TRI-TRONICS’ E-collar. My hounds are always wearing one when they’re turned loose at night. Don’t leave your TRI-TRONICS lying at home or in the truck where it can’t help you. If it’s on your dog, you’re always ready when the need for correction occurs.
If you have a dog that’s a problem on empty trees, or treeing off game, really bear down on them when the leaves are off. During December through mid-May you can do a lot of good, because you can quickly see in those bare trees what the true story is.
If you have one or two other hunters with you, always instruct them that when you get to the tree, you want to very quickly determine if it’s a raccoon or a legitimate den. If not, the result is the same. It doesn’t matter if it’s off game or empty. As quickly as you can possibly make the correct determination, spin on your heels and get the heck out of there. When you’re about 300 feet from the tree, tickle your hound hard enough that it quits treeing and leaves. Usually it’ll come find you, and then gradually go on hunting again. Sometimes the hound will just leave the tree and go on hunting.
REMEMBER - THE KEY WORD HERE IS TICKLE. I do not share the opinion that treeing is a sacred activity, and that you can’t discipline them there. But, of course, we should discipline them in the least confusing, yet most effective way. Most of the time that’s tickling them with your TRI-TRONICS.
If they’re full-out running a deer, you should probably be tough on them. When they’re treeing wrong, no matter if it’s off game or empty, the first few lessons should be mild tickles. The next few lessons should be a notch hotter. The next few lessons, if they’re needed, should be hotter still. Let your dogs set the pace, but be very consistent about this! Discipline them with the least confusion and handling on your part that you can figure out how to do. Don’t touch them; don’t leash them; and don’t talk to them.
Of course if the tree is right, a little praise will be in order. Occasionally you can harvest the critter if season is in, and it looks like a large, prime hide.
If you’re sure it’s an empty tree, or a critter without rings on its tail, some price should be paid. By using that system consistently for a few months while the leaves are off, you can often drastically improve the percentage of times you’ll see a raccoon or other correct game.
Most dogs DO know whether or not they have a raccoon up the tree. Sometimes they think that treeing will be praised and appreciated whether the game is there or not. That’s a man-made situation, and man can also do a lot to correct it.
As discussed earlier, sometimes you’re thinking coon, but they’re thinking about some other varmint they smell. Some small critter may well be there, or maybe it went up the tree and scampered out of there. Either way, my policy is always the same. It must be a coon or a legitimate den possibility or a coon cross-out possibility or that necklace will get their attention!
Note: Some experienced hunters believe raccoons often climb one tree and then cross-out to another where the limbs from two trees touch. Many other hunters are convinced that never happens. I believe the truth is somewhere near the middle of this never-ending debate. Coons definitely cross-out, but not very often.
I’ve seen very nervous coons run around in the tops of trees, yet not cross-out even though substantial limbs firmly touched neighboring trees.
A few times I’ve witnessed coons carefully move to another tree. On one very memorable night, competing in the PKC World Championship, a Kentucky coon was in the right tree when we shined it. Although the tree was tall and surrounded by large trees, this coon went crazy the instant our lights hit it. Like a scared squirrel, it ran to the end of a limb and recklessly jumped to a limb tip of an adjoining tree. Seemingly in a panic, the coon then did that two more times, with the final tree having a den hole that the flying coon charged into.
Three other handlers, a guide, and a judge temporarily forgot we were in a World Hunt as we stared in amazement. Years later, any time any of the six of us see each other, we relive that very unusual memory. We don’t ever talk about any other part of that night, although we did have a good hunt and treed four or five coons. Because it’s so unusual for coons to cross-out, especially multiple times, that’s our main memory from the night.
The most common cross-out places are probably when two leaning trees firmly touch over a creek or slough. Even the best and most honest dogs could be fooled by this, but I doubt the coon does it on purpose.
An Indiana hunter wrote to me and asked:
I have a dandy young female. I can usually turn her loose and she’ll trail and tree three or four coons and look good doing it. Then she’ll hit a longer track, run it good and tree. When I get there I won’t find a coon or a den hole. She isn’t wrong very often. I’d say nine out of ten trees have a coon in them.
One night I decided to try something. My dog hit a track and treed. When I got there no coon could be found. So, I figured here’s my chance. I leashed her like I normally would, walked around a bit away from the tree. Then I turned her loose. Sure enough she hit a track. I repeated this process one more time. She then took the track at least a mile across an open field and treed in a lone tree. When I got there a 19 pound boar coon was at the top. How should I deal with my dog at a slick tree?
My response:
Often petting and praising is overdone with good tree dogs. After they start to do a fine job treeing, we need to back off on “firing ’em up.” Slick trees, face barking, fighting, and jealousy are often caused or made worse in many dogs by overly praising a fine tree dog. Once they know what they’re doing, BACK OFF! Little or no praise and no coon killing will often make a dog “just right” that was viewed as a lost cause slick treer. Often some E-collar discouragement needs to be added.
Most dogs know whether they really have the coon up or not. Occasionally, if they’re unsure whether or not it’s up there, they’ll do the right thing if they stay. It’s called “gambling,” and sometimes they’ve got the coon. Most of the time though, if a good tree dog isn’t sure it’s there, it’s not there. The dog should smell around and find where the track went on. If they become convinced that it didn’t go on from that tree, they can come back on it and the odds will be better that it’s there.
Possum Breaking
One of the most illogical, yet common old methods in the tree dog sport is that thing about possum breaking. The common old theory is that when you go in and see that your dog has a possum, first you shoot the possum, and then you jump in there and shock or whip your dog while it’s at or on the possum. Yes, many a hound has been broke this way, but before they got broke, they got very confused!
The same people who propose this method as the greatest way to do the job will tell you, “Oh yeah. You’ve got to shoot coons down to get your dog treeing coons.” But it also makes sense to them that to break a dog from possums, you’ve got to shoot possums down. I don’t see it. I just don’t get it. Why add the confusion of doing the shooting? A dog knows he’s got a possum up a tree. There’s no doubt about it. If a dog has treed a possum, he can probably see it and darn sure smell it. The dog knows what he’s got up there.
Don’t confuse or cloud the issue. The dog treed a possum. It knows it treed a possum. Get in there; look at the possum; spin on your heels and walk on out of there without saying a word; and then press that TRI-TRONICS’ transmitter button. It won’t take many times, and you won’t see possums in the trees. There won’t be any confusion. The dog won’t blame it on you. He’ll just think treeing possums sure isn’t any fun!
Here again, as in all training situations, the biggest keys are to BE CONSISTENT AND START IMMEDIATELY WHEN YOU SEE A PROBLEM DEVELOPING.
People often say, “Oh my gosh! You can’t do that! Are you out of your mind? You can’t shock or whoop or discipline a dog at the tree. You must be nuts!” But I’ll also have to say that I’ve never met anyone who had open-mindedly and calmly and consistently tried to train their dogs in this manner that did not find that it works.
It makes no sense to me that people think it’s okay to discipline one if they catch it running a deer, but if it’s treeing a possum, you have to sweet talk it and be real nice. They are both natural instincts. When you discipline the dog running the deer, that doesn’t stop it from running coons. When you discipline a dog for treeing possums, that also doesn’t stop it from treeing coons.
The TRI-TRONICS’ necklace, used carefully, is much more effective and a lot less confusing than any other method of stopping incorrect chasing or treeing—no matter what kind of dog owns you. Smiles.
Let’s meet again right here next month for more practical E-collar tips.
John Wick
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