Dane and Tyrone have only got into the sport of pig hunting in the past year but are already hooked and want to learn as much about the sport as they can. Dane works as a roofer in Oamaru and Tyrone works on a dairy farm near Duntroon. Both guys had a dog each of about one year old that where brother and sister. Dane’s dog was the male called Ace and Tyrone had the sister, Star. On the Saturday when they arrived the weather was atrocious, by the time we got to the hut it was snowing and down right miserable. So there was only one thing we could do and that was sit down and have a beer and hope that it would clear up. At about 6.30pm the rain started to ease so we decided to head up into the training block to give their dogs a run. For this run we took my two dogs Breeze and Fog and Danes dog Ace. Ace was the only dog wearing a muzzle for this run. As soon as we entered the block the dogs tracked away one hundred meters up the creek and
started bailing the black boar. This bail did not last to long as Ace managed to break though the bottom of the muzzle and was straight in for a hold until we got there and pulled him off. This gave the boar time to break down to the bottom of the block where he was being bailed again. This time we where on hand to keep a closer eye on Ace. He still could not help himself but want to go in and grab so this time because I was right there I grabbed him by the tail pulled him back and with my other hand I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and held him on the ground for about thirty seconds while the other two dogs where still bailing. This had taken him from a frenzied attack to being in a submissive position in an instant and while he did not like it there was nothing he could do about it. Over the thirty seconds that I held him down he managed to calm down so that when I let him back up again he went and bailed the boar with the other dogs as well as keeping one eye one me. It was just about dark by the time we called the dogs out of the block and returned to the hut for tea. Next morning we woke up to a beautiful day. A quick breakfast and we where heading back into the block again, This time
with Cloud and Tyrone’s bitch Star. We where three hundred meters up the hill when Cloud let us know where all of the pigs were. As we approached we could see all of the pigs sleeping together. We kept Cloud and Star bailing for the next ten minutes. While Star was giving a few barks she was not really getting right into it and the problem I could see was Cloud was pissing around as he was not to worried about the pigs and only giving a few barks and then walking away all the time so I decided to take Cloud away and swap him with Breeze as she will stay with a pig and bark until the sun goes down. We left Tyrone and star bailing the pigs while Dane and I went and swapped dogs. We also brought Ace back into the block on a lead. Back at the pigs Breeze brought the tempo of the bail back up and Ace just kept on wanting to go in for the hold but we did have a lead on him so he could not get close enough to grab. Something that we did with the collar and lead on Ace that is a good idea to keep the dog facing the right way is we took the collar off his neck and put it around his waist so he could be held back but still face the pigs. Finally the pigs had had enough and started breaking the bail so I got Breeze to focus on the main boar in the block. Star got some real good bailing practice here with the boar trying to break
and the two dogs having to stop him all the time. Each time he was bailed again we would lead Ace into the bail until he broke again. After fifteen minutes of bailing this boar I decide that we could let Ace off the lead to see if he would bail. I was expecting the boar to through him off if he tried to hold so that he could learn to stand back. Things did not work to plan Ace went straight in for a hold but could not because of the muzzle and the boar broke straight down into the gully where the dogs stopped him one hundred and fifty meters away. There was a bail for about ten seconds and then a scrap, the boar broke another four hundred meters before we caught up with them to find that Ace had broken his muzzle and was holding so he was quickly put back on the lead. That same boar five minutes earlier was as relaxed as he could be at the bail and yet now he was one worked up angry boar. It took the other two dogs five minutes to settle the him down again to get to the stage where he would stand in the one spot without trying to run or charge the dogs. Once he was settled down again we let Ace back in and with the lead on, over the next fifteen minutes he started bailing much better, to the stage that Dane could let the lead go slack. We finally exited the block after two hours of bailing pigs on that run. Next bit of training was to have the dogs running through the sheep with out thinking about chasing them. For this we took the four wheeler to the top of the hill with the dogs running beside. I had Jeff the possum dog with us this time, our first obstacle was the at the gate there where about fifteen sheep wanting to get let back up the hill. Because the sheep would have tried to get through the gate as soon as it was opened I whistled to Jeff to go and chase the sheep away for us. At the same time making sure that Ace and Star showed no interest in them. On the way up the hill we came across ten sheep in the bracken and matagouri and at these sheep one of the dogs started showing a wee bit of keenness in the sheep so it was a
simple matter of using an angry tone of voice and saying get out of that. This helped the dog to quickly associate the sheep with a negative and so not to show an interest in them. We did not make it to the top of the hill because the snow was so bright with the sun reflecting off it you could hardly keep your eyes open. For our last run in the block we took Fog, Ace and Star This time we where lucky as the pigs where at the bottom of the hill eating the food that I had put out for them. Before we entered the block some of the pigs left and only two grey boars stayed around so we let the dogs in. Fog and Star where bailing well but Ace was still pulling on that lead so it was time to play an ace of our own. This time when Ace was just about to grab the boar we gave him a shock on the collar. The first shock was to light and made no
difference so it was turned up until he took notice. Once he backed off from a shock he started to realise that he was not aloud to go in and grab. A couple more lighter shocks and he stopped even thinking about going in and stood back and bailed well. I was so impressed with his turn around that I took his lead off as well as all of the dogs muzzles and the whole three dogs bailed away for the next hour. Star was starting to get a bit tired by the end of it as she curled up to have a sleep two meters from the bail. Dane and Tyrone had to lift their dogs up onto the back of their truck when they left as they had used up every bit of energy they had. These two dogs will take a couple of days to recover from the workout that they have had in the past 24 hours.