Thunder is know at the stage of being big enough for me to want to take him up into the training block. He has been able to run to the top of the hill and back again beside the 4 wheeler and every time that I have been feeding the pigs he has been wanting to bark at them. The first time he got to bark at a pig was during the big snow when Mr Pig got out and down to the hut. While the four dogs were bailing, Mr Pig smacked Thunder into the ground causing him to run away whimpering. After a couple of seconds he looked back to see Mr Pig back up to the trailer so he snuck back and bit Mr Pig on the arse.
Last week I had both of my sons dogs up for the week, Dusky seven months old who belongs to Bryce and Mack eight months old who belongs to Sloan. So with three young dogs I spent a bit of time in the training block. I could see quite a difference between the dogs. Mack being the oldest was the least likely to bark as he would rather run up to the boar hoping he would break but if it came back at him he would quickly back off. He also tried doing this with the sheep but was quickly discouraged. Dusky liked to bark and was keen to look around for the pigs. Both of these dogs normally live in town and that difference showed in their confidence. When Thunder was in the block he just loved bailing the boars and anything that tried to break on him he would put in a good effort to try and stay with them. I can see that within the next month Thunder will be able to go into the block on his own and find and bail the boars himself.
When the three dogs first started in the block together they where not keeping up with the boars when they broke so I put Breeze in with them to help them to stick at the bail and with the boars whenever they moved. By the time Mack and Dusky were ready to go back to their homes I was ready to see the back of them. If they did not have the tracking collars on the would sneak off up into the training block on their own. It was good to see that they were keen but each time they took off into the pig block on their own I would have to put my dogs away then go up and retrieve them. With all of my dogs they know the pigs are up their but they also know that they are only allowed up there when I am with them.