Like any abnormal interest among the more usual stuff?

We have visited few dog shows so far and going for more shows in the future.

We are also planning the career for racing. Lure coursing and track.
But not just yet because Pyry is only 10 months old, we'll see it in the end of year 2010 or the next year. Let the boy develope with no rush.

But the reason for this topic is this:
I'm about to teach Pyry some obedience for competitions.
Pyry really likes to do things with me which is new for me. Running out of leash, with friends or just with "big sister", is not even near by enough for him. He needs to use his brains as well as his muscles or there won't be any peaceful moment for me.
Pyry learns very fast even though he can't focus for long. And that's mostly because of his age. Yougster doesn't have any good reason to focus on one thing for too long, the world is out there!
But we do short lessons, for minute or few. Or just for ten seconds if needed.

Again some pics.

Pyry at a dog show last Saturday.






And Pyry was practicing lure coursing last winter.



And the same thing at the breeder.


So what do you do with your Deerhouds?

My young deer has shown interest and abilities in maintrailing. So I hope to be able to start in a mantrailing course with him. There is one starting right here (10 minutes walk from my home!) - and we cant join, because he may still not stress his elbow too much after the surgery!
All we can do is a little nose work in the garden for the time.

Hermione ( Ceridven of Canadagh Caoinlan , now 13mths ) , sister to KimC's young deer , is very versatile in her interests and does learn easily ( so far ) . She has had a few practice runs in lurecoursing and won over a couple of really good Whippets the last time we did it ; as I usually have to drive about 400km to get to them this doesn't happen too often yet . She did a puppy class / basic obedience ( clickertraining methods ) when she was 6-7mths old and by now is enrolled in her 2nd agility class ( " advanced beginners" ) , where she is doing incredibly well so far (imo ) . Last week I took her with me when I assisted at a Tellington TTouch training week here in Vernon and she enjoied herself quite a bit . She also learns how to swim and does have a blast out there in the bush , hunting with my other dhs - treed her first few bears and chased moose the other day. As long as there is movement involved Hermione will do anything - she helps , every night , with watering the garden and also still helps quite a bit with vacuuming....
My other dhs all did/do lurecoursing and puppyclasses , 2 of them excelling at lurecoursing - and a bit of clickertraining and a teensy weensy bit of showing .

I wish I had more access to dogsport activities out here - even the agility training is about 60-70 km away - having a hound like her makes it great fun.
Pyry sounds "ahead of his age " - they say , deeround boy brains only come in with about 2 years of age...- and , we do hope , that Penticton's elbow will heal soon and way better than the doctors thought .

P.S.: Atteached a pic of Hermione , helping to bing back te lure after her very first practise run at 4 mths of age

She is helping?! Looks like she is having fun! Gx

We just go to shows and the odd lure coursing vent, though he did well the first time we went, the second time, not so good, the interest wasn't there. He gets excited hearing the lure move and seeing the other hounds chase, but now when it comes to him he would much rather have a nibble or a play with his partner! You do find with Deerhounds that they have such small concentration spans, what is interesting one day is a no no the next. I have lots of toys in my van and I have to alternate them, if I take one toy out one day, he will play with it, the next day it is boring!
When he was a puppy he was also ver hyperactive and could drive you mad in the evenings not sitting still for 2 seconds, but enjoy it while it lasts as they do become quite lazy!

Welcome to the site Bohann. What lovely pictures of your deerhound.

I've tried CaniX with deerhounds and also my lurcher Hettie. I've mentioned it before on the forum (well maybe more than once!). However, it's great fun. There's an event near me in the south of England on 13th Sept - Lurch how are you fixed?!!

Here's a picture of Banrigh and me at Crufts this year.

I also did a lot of agility with my Lurchers in the past. However, Hettie (our current Lurcher) is not really into agility training. She frankly doesn't see the point of doing something more than once which is somewhat problematic on the training front. So we run instead and maybe eventually we'll get to back to agility. Hope your agility training goes well Verenav - keep us posted. Do you have any pictures of your deerhound in action? Here's an old one of Tousie (who has now passed away) and part of me. However, she was an excellent agility dog and did very well in a number of competitions. Not incidently at the time this photo was taken. If I remember rightly she ran out of the ring to see Rob!

Brice loves free shaping and clicker training in general - he is very bright. We do some retrieving (mainly cos he hates being left out when the gundogs are working) and we have done agility in the past.

Now his main recreation is Dog Games and he adores his Tuesday evening training sessions, last week he confirmed his bright craftiness by opening a gate and wandering where he shouldn't have been ........... according to humans NOT deerhounds.

He will be 5 in september and as yet I haven't found him learning to be lazy, maybe cos his main playmate is my 28 mth old brittany livewire.

The agilty group I joined with Hermione also does use clickertraining and she does very well with it ( all my deeries love working with it ) - I LOVE this tool ! Hermione's puppyclass teacher also used clicker training and it was a sheer joy to see all those different , really young puppies there , being quiet and attentive and so very eager to figure out what we wanted of them .
And no , unfortunartely I do not have any photos yet of agility - perhaps when /if we start taking part in competitions someone will take pics ; usually it is only the participants and the whole lot of trainers there when we train . As I have to drive for close to 1.5 hours to get to the club non of my friends has made it out so far.....
I really never thought I'd have so much fun with some form of " organised " training - always go to puppy classes with my dogs , but usually not more . My 2nd youngest had started basic obedience ( off leash ! ) with clickertraining and loved it and did very well , but then came in heat and we never took it up again.

Mac loves to hunt :

Oh , hunting , yes , that is a biggy for my girls , too -not that I would do it ( then they might be more successful , even in the dense bush out here ) - still , it is so beautiful to watch them being in their true element and showing their great skills and the sheer , total joy and passion they excude is incredible .
Does happy Mac get to eat his kill or is it for your supper ?

With regards to the agility , it is at the moment just way to hot to go , unfortunately - will most likely have to wait until mid September to continue and sure do hope we/I won't have forgotten everything by then ( way more complicated than it looks ) .

verenav wrote:


I love to watch him run, it truly is an awesome sight. He lives for it. Most the time he just lazes around the house or in his kennel. Even on walks he just meanders about only bothering to run when one of the dogs play tag with him. But get him out in the field with something furry to catch and he really comes alive.

Funnily enough, he doesn't really like rabbit to eat, but the other dogs are always very grateful.

I agree, it's a site to behold when a Deerhound gives chase to a live quarry. As Ben's got older he seems to have become more selective about what he chases. If he sees a rabbit near a hedge he won't chase like he did when younger as he has learnt that he won't catch it. If there's a rabbit in the middle of a field then he really comes alive. These days our Terrier flushes rabbits out of hedges and he just walks along parallel to the hedge about 40 feet away, when a rabbit bolts out into the field he will usually catch it but then the Terrier pinches it off him.

Lucky Mac..no wonder he's all smiles. The first our baby boy caught a rabbit..I disposed of it quickly.

Zippo loves to play football in the school yard, where there is a full football field. Since I used to teach obedience...we've started working on that recently...he loves it..and isreward withlots of praise. He walks off lead very well now...and his 'sit - stays' are amazing for a 2yr old boy - hound. I try to go out to 'countryside' at least twice a month - where we pack up for the day...picnic stuff..some toys..and off we go. He likes exploring with us..and a month ago we drove out to the Pembina River - about 45 min west of Edonton. Zippo went into water, all by himself. Some people came by on the water, on huge tire inner tubes...they were asking us about Zippo as they were floating by..drink in hand, enjoying the sun...looked like fun...except with lightening hit the area.

Zippo loves to play football in the school yard, where there is a full football field. Since I used to teach obedience...we've started working on that recently...he loves it..and isreward withlots of praise. He walks off lead very well now...and his 'sit - stays' are amazing for a 2yr old boy - hound. I try to go out to 'countryside' at least twice a month - where we pack up for the day...picnic stuff..some toys..and off we go. He likes exploring with us..and a month ago we drove out to the Pembina River - about 45 min west of Edonton. Zippo went into water, all by himself. Some people came by on the water, on huge tire inner tubes...they were asking us about Zippo as they were floating by..drink in hand, enjoying the sun...looked like fun...except with lightening hit the area.

sorry...darn computer..defragged yesterday??

Robb, what you have just written, could be me! We've never 'taught' our hound and terrier to hunt, it is just natural instinct that kicks in.
Our DH won't chase any rabbits near hedge but in the middle of the fairway he will. Our terrier knows what bushes to flush them out of and the DH is alert and ready at the outskirts ready to give chase, He rarely catches a rabbit, unless it has become startled or has mixi and has lost it's bearings. The terrier usually steals his catch off of him but we know he caught it!

Cassandra, do you want a lodger, cos looking at your photo's of Zippo by the lake, I'm thinking of moving in!! It looks beautiful where you live, I envy you!

Lurch, our dogs obviously both follow the same behavior patterns when hunting. I've also never taught them, it just comes naturally.

I often walk them down a valley that is at the end of the garden, it's usually deserted and there are lots of rabbits, although strangely there have been very few in the last week. The Terrier is a natural in finding them, rather worrying some travellers from a nearby camp asked if they could buy him, we said no and they've warned that they will pinch him if they get the chance. They're obviously impressed them with his skills but we have to be very careful and watch him well.

Well...we are always open to visitors...There are sooo many wonderful places out here, all within 1 hr drive in any direction. Sometimes I think I'd like to take him back to Manitoba for a visit - in summer of course. Manitoba has 100,000 lakes. Grand Beach has sandhills better than the tropics.