Went up to Gordies with Ruby. We sent Ruby and Lucky into the woods by the tee in the road. Ruby went about 15 feet and opened hot. Lucky never barked. I waited a few seconds as Ruby away, then I gave her a warning tone. She got quiet but a few seconds later she opened again deeper. I gave her a shock this time & she shut up. We backed out of the woods and walked the road towards her. As we reached the edge of the cornfield I saw something. I turned on my light and ran around in the rows & finally caught up with it. It was a big coon and he wanted to get by us. He jumped over a couple rows, ran out to the road and crossed into another big corn field. I turned around and there was Ruby coming back from her junk run. She struck in the first corn field, fumbled around on the road for a few seconds and then crossed to the big corn field. The race was on! This all happened in just a few minutes. This was a major league race for a puppy so I was glad when Lucky came in and started running the track too. There was a big strip of tall grass between the corn and the woods. The coon would get to the edge and turn back into the corn. I didn't check my watch, but I think they ran hot for somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes. Finally it got quiet, the coon must have made a break for the trees and the dogs were having trouble with the grass. We were walking the road and I saw Ruby, I figure she had lost it and was making a loop. I leashed Ruby and we walked the road towards the tree line which was about 1/4 mile away. About that time we heard Lucky open again and then she treed. I let Ruby go and she went in and treed nicely with Lucky. It was a nice big oak in open ground a few yards from the thick grass. Too bad I lost my camera, this would have been a great shot. I guess this is about the best night of training I've had in years. I couldn't have done it if it weren't for that old dog Lucky. Who would have thought that a Mabel pup could be a check dog. Guess she got that from Bud. Anyway, if I could get lucky and have a few more nights like this Ruby should turn into a real coondog.
Posted by bruceo at October 17, 2004 01:02 AM