Babbit Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Good day to all, I have a young cairn terrier who iwould like to train to rabbit. She is 14 weeks old. Her instinct is very strong already. Do any of you have any experience in training a small terrier for killing. I have always had jack russells in the past. But this young one has very strong instincts and is a right little madam. any advice welcome Babbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmore Fudd Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 My family always had Cairns so I know their character very well. But I've never heard of them rabbiting. I'll be very interested to hear how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salop Matt Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Babbit , Myself and Silver Pigeon have a Cairn Called Bryn (There are photos of him as a youth at 6 months on here) ( 16 months old now) He is happy arround shooting ( No gun shyness) and Retreives a Canvas dummy. This wednesday the last Shoot in the season he is coming out for his first time beating to see how he gets on. I plan should I be allowed to take him shooting more regularly where possible. The cairns as a breed are ratters who used to work rock and wood piles in scotland years ago for rats and no doubt the odd rabbit and is thought the be the oldest breed of scottish terrier . Our dog bryn is 8. 4KG and far stockyer than a jack, am sure yours will love it, take it slow and dont listen to to much critisism as i was told Bryn would never be interested in shooting or being out and about as he is apparently a lap dog ! He proved them wrong. He sulks if he doesnt get to come clay shooting he loves it that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salop Matt Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 NTTF is the bloke to speak to, here is the link to my post : http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/ind...c=50733&hl= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver_pigeon Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Hiya Babbit, I second what Salop Sniper has said, Bryn too had a very strong instinct from a pup, stalking his food!! He has proved to be very trainable in the field, retrieveing a hefty weight canvas dummy, and gets very excited and whimpers when we get to a clay ground as he just wants to get out and loves the field! We started him around guns early on, but not too early, and he has proved excellent, either of us can clean a gun in front of him, or lean a gun against a chair and he'll sit next to it! We are stating Toby off now and hope that he will go the same way and have no issue at all with guns! I think it would be fair to say that the kill instinct in a Cairn is strong, due to the nature of the work they were bread to kill, but because they've ended up so much more of a family breed, that instinct has peetered out a bit! Your bitch sounds lovely...good luck with it, but for sure NTTF has some great training tips and really knows his stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santlache Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 A terrier is a terrier, so the dog should have that hunting instinct anyway, although she'll probably not be as quick as your previous Russell so will be handicapped on that score. I'm a great believer in the fact that not all dogs will work and a dog should never be pushed into doing something it doesn't want to do, because more often than not it will ruin it. If a dog wants to work it will, and if it does show that keenness then it's up to you to bring it on responsibly, with plenty of encouragement and praise when they do things correctly. When my youngest bitch was just starting to come on I'd take her down the fields with her mother and they would work the edge of the Rape. At the time there was a bit of Mixi about, which in a way was ideal as she soon got the idea of what to do and was hoovering them up. This was at four 1/2 months and a couple of weeks later she then took her first squirrel, which quite amazed me how quickly she dispatched it but she'd learnt how to do it on the rabbits. Same with Rats, once they get their first one there's usually no turning back and they are as keen as mustard to do it again. The only problem you may have after is that if it's a family pet, she could then start to treat every outing like a hunt, as she'll see all small rodents and fluffy things as fair game. Good luck in bringing her on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toka_shigazu Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Hi, gran had a cairn at oban when i was a kid, the farm next door did too and i was allowed to go off into the hills after rabbits. some had myxo but most were healthy and the cairns used to catch quite a few, in and out the gorse. no training done just instinct....all the best and have fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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