# Dog wont stay at the tree?



## ArmyTaco (Oct 22, 2009)

OK got a 3 yo dog that I just got hunting good, but she wont tree. She is gun shy so I dont want to shoot out a coon and make her scared because of it. She is not aggressive toward a coon, but loves to track. I have started tying here back at the tree and it will get her going. Is this all I can do and just hope it clicks? Is there any tricks to help? She has treed on her own about a year ago and we shot it out and the gun scared her. We just really started hunting her hard and she is doing good other than the treeing. Any help is appreciated.


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## psycosoninlaw1 (Oct 22, 2009)

Might want to work her a caged coon. As far as being gun shy, don't know how to help you.
Randy


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## coonhunter1 (Oct 22, 2009)

Have you had this dog since it was a pup?  I have had a few gun shy dogs in the past.  It took some time but I would leash them to a tree so they couldn't run and shoot 20-25 rounds every day for a couple of weeks.  Just don't shoot directly over her head.  She will probably panic at first so be aware.  Between shots, be sure to pet and praise her, maybe even take a pocket full of treats to reward her.  Let her smell of the gun often too.  She has to learn it will not hurt her.  BE PATIENT. This tatic has always worked well for me.    Before long my dogs wouldn't pay any attention to the shot.   And they soon learn that a shot means a coon on the ground!   As for the treeing part,  working her with a caged coon is a great idea.  I have done that many times too.
But it sounds like the gun shyness may be the primary  problem.  Good luck with her.  Let me know how it turns out.


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## state159 (Oct 22, 2009)

I don't everything but a gun shy may or may not overcome it. It usually takes a lot of patience and there are a lot of things to do to get a dog use to noises, i.e. banging metal feed pans at feeding time, taking a dog to town (Walmart parking lot is good) and leading them around traffic/people, bubble wrap (pop at a distance, then reward with a treat if dog ignores the sound; retreat and repeat until comfortable), sacking a dog out just as horsemen do (tie dog and use a plastic bag (Walmart again), rub dog with the noisy bag until he likes it, etc. Remember a dog prefers a noise in front of him rather than behind. After he seems OK with most noises, have a friend (shooter) with a .22 to start walking ahead of you and the leashed dog. After there is about a 50 yd. distance the friend can shoot once while you and the dog are walking towards the the shooter. If dog is OK with the shot, pick up the pace until about 40 yds. between the you and the shooter. Let him fire off another shot and if dog is OK repeat process but don't shoot within 10 yds. of the dog (too risky). If dog is really relaxed let shooter walk 50 yds. behind you and the dog and shoot, then 40 yds, etc. Me personally, I would be concerned if my 3 yr. old dog didn't hate a coon by now. He has to hate them and want to get to  them before he will ever bark treed. A coon in a roll cage may help his desire. Just my rambling thoughts.

Thanks,
Ronny Staten


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## GA DAWG (Oct 22, 2009)

My buddy had the worst gun shy dog I ever saw..He would run and tree though..We would tie him and shoot the coon out to my dog..After a good bit of that he came out of it..Never was gun shy again!


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## ArmyTaco (Oct 23, 2009)

I am not concerned about her not hating a coon. She just isnt aggresive which I know other coon dogs like her that dont bark at caged coons. Maybe I will try to shoot one out next time I get a chance.


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## wildlifecory (Oct 23, 2009)

try getting to the tree as fast as you can and leash the dog.  Knock the coon out dead.  Let the dog know if it stays there it gets the meat.  Gradually start taking longer and longer to get to the tree.  In my opinnion this is the best way, some use shock collars every time the dogs comes off the wood.  I do not like the technigue but I have seen it work, I am just scared I would do more damage than good.


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## Doug B. (Oct 23, 2009)

ArmyTaco said:


> I am not concerned about her not hating a coon. She just isnt aggresive which I know other coon dogs like her that dont bark at caged coons. Maybe I will try to shoot one out next time I get a chance.



In my experience, the more a dog hates a coon, the more likely it is to tree. A lot of times they won't tree if they don't have a reason to.


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## state159 (Oct 23, 2009)

Amen brother. A dog that hates a coon, squirrel, etc. is more likely to bark, letting you know that they want that game in the tree.


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## ArmyTaco (Oct 25, 2009)

Well how do I get her to hate it? I think I am just gonna tie her back and shoot it out to the other dogs.


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## southerntaco98 (Oct 25, 2009)

let her fight 1 lol


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## Blue Iron (Oct 25, 2009)

I'm not trying to put a damper on you at all man. But some dogs just don't have it. I'm not saying she doesn't but there are a lot more that just won't tree than do tree.


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## Mrs. Armytaco (Oct 25, 2009)

She just turned 3 in September. I've had her since she was 8 weeks old. She was and still is my companion. I took her everywhere with me.. she had plenty of socializing and I even broke her of being gun shy when she was a pup. When my husband and I got married last year we had to leave her here with his parents. She was only with them for right under a year... and she's a completely different dog now. She is a natural hunter for sure and always has been. She loves the game of tracking. I'm not sure what made her scared of loud noises... I know she jumped my inlaws fence one day, came back with her collar missing and they said it took them 4 days to get her to go outside again (so I'm assuming someone beat her... she will run up to people no problem.. but if they pay her any attention before she can sniff them she gets scared). We've only been home for about two months and she has progressed quite rapidly. I'm confident that after going so many times she will learn that once the chase is over with she's supossed to stay on the tree til I tell her other wise. She treed her own coon last year right after we got married (so she was already in a different state of mind then I was used to her being in) she stayed on the tree.. treeing hard and trying to climb it. So we shot it out to her and took us a year to get her back on the tree. She is a very smart dog and seeing how much she has already progressed I have alot of faith that she's gonna be a jam up coonhound before long. "practice makes perfect"
Thanks for the advice....


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## state159 (Oct 26, 2009)

I hope none of my replies sounded too harsh but I have young dogs each year that need to be in the woods learning to hunt and tree. If one doesn't "cut the mustard" and the others do good, well then there is just not enough time to "baby sit" one and neglect the go-getters. The slow starting dog may not get hunted but 2-3 times a week and the go-getters will probably get hunted 5-6 times a week. At the end of the season, I will spend more time with the slow starter and try to work out any problems that the dog may have. Every dog is different and they all have different personalities, so after the dog is 1 1/2 to 2 yr. old, I have to decide if I'm going to keep the dog and spend more time with him or send him on his way. I have given several away to people that thought they could make tree dogs out of them but, to my knowledge, none ever made it. To be honest, in my experiences, maybe less than half of the dogs actually make a tree dog and these are well bred dogs. In your case, if the dog hasn't been exposed to very many coons, I would trap a coon and put him in a roll cage. Let the dog get excited fighting/rolling the coon then tie a rope to the cage, pull the roll cage with the coon up a tree just out of reach of the dog. Don't let the dog get too tired if he trees him good; leash him and walk him away. Pet him up and repeat the next day. Maybe day 2, you can wet the coon prior to pulling the cage up a tree. The dripping water off the coon helps sometimes. Also, look on the website coondawgs.com for more tips/advice. I hope this helps and I really hope your dog makes a fine coon dog.


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## NCHillbilly (Oct 26, 2009)

Try shaking one out on her or walking it down with a squaller if you can so that it's lively and mean when it gets to the ground. If that don't get her fired up, she just may not have it.


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## southerntaco98 (Oct 27, 2009)

may have to be culled out lol j/k


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## Mrs. Armytaco (Oct 28, 2009)

Thanks again for the advice. I believe she is worth the time. She was no doubt a go getter when she was younger. My husband was in Iraq though and I didn't have anyone to go with. I made sure she got out 2-3 times a week (day light hours I was usually by myself then) just to let her run and let her natural instincts kick in. She used to tree just fine. Then we shot that coon out to her and I didn't realize she was scared of loud noises at that time. I was scared and thought we had for sure ruined her. We took her out with broke dog after that and my dog wasn't even wanting to get close to the tree. We took her with us to go shoot a few times and gave her treats... trying to re-break her of being gun shy. It helped but she still acts cautious of guns but at least it got her back on the tree.

NCHillbilly thanks for the advice but I know that wouldn't help. Growing up I always got on to her for showing agression.. mainly because she liked showing it to other dogs. (can't have that at a competition) She's never seen anything be attacked like that before. My husband and I have discussed tying her back and letting the other dogs get it and see how she reacts. I don't think she'll care much for it... I think she'll just look at the other dogs like their crazy. She can't keep her nose off the ground though. She is definitely a good track dog... she's fast and percise. I'm gonna keep hunting and working her and hopefully she'll get back in the grove of it and be a hard tree dog. She is progressing fast... so if she isn't a hard tree dog by then end of this season mabe I'll give up on her. She had great potential but things didn't work like I hoped and I didn't get to really start her before now... so I'll just cut my losses.

Bubba she will never be culled! She'll always be  m companion at least.. she's a good cuddle buddy.


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## ArmyTaco (Oct 28, 2009)

Think the dog is gonna come around. First time she has had a chance at a caged coon. Took her to my other dog and let her see it. At first she was unsure and was kinda scared cause that coon was a mean little joker. Then it clicked and she started gettin after it. The more it hissed the more she liked it. Tied it to a rop and drug it up a tree and she was still going after it and treeing on it. Well we let it go to run down the yard and into the woods but it took a turn and hit the brush pile. Low and behold she followed that thing in there and was treeing it. I mean there was times you couldnt even see her and you could only hear her treeing and the coon hissing. She couldnt never get quite to it but she was going after it. We are going to take her hunting tommorro night and she how she does. I am gonna catch another one and let her watch it run away after getting excited about it and hopefully it will help flip that switch. She has treed on a wild coon hard before so I think she will do it again. I mean she was pulling brush and sticks out of the pile trying to get that coon. Made me very proud. Got to thinking and she had never really been worked that way. Gonna try it a few more times though without over doing it but I think she will be ok. Thanks


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## state159 (Oct 29, 2009)

Way to go ArmyTaco. I love to hear success stories like that. It sounds like she is on her way to making a nice tree dog. Keep it up.


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## ArmyTaco (Nov 1, 2009)

Well she treed in Nite hunt last night. Couldnt find the coon( big nasty mess of  propably 10 trees together) but I think it was there. She didnt like the first two trees them Walkers hit but on that third one she liked it and treed! Going tonight and hopefully keep up that streak.


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