We just practiced a form of rodent coursing last night.
We were walking out on our farm with Kuma on a flexi leash. About a 100 yards off, a ground hog was in the middle of the alfalfa field. Dan says, "if Kuma sees the ground hog, you should let him go with the leash attached still because he won't run off because he will be too interested in catching the ground hog." We knew the ground hog was far away from its hole (because the holes are on the fenceline and it was in the middle of the field). Kuma did spot it and sprinted a 100 yards or more till he caught it (ground hogs can MOVE/RUN fast if they want to). He grabed it and flipped it, but then the ground hog stood him off so Kuma switched to the "bark to detain" till we got there. Dan then nudged the GH with his foot, which gave Kuma a chance to go in and quickly kill it. Kuma did what a good farm dog does, which was great (we have no love of ground hogs here on a working farm).
Also, when he was in full hunting mode, he did not even notice the flexi leash in tow behind him (when usually he would be a bit intimidated by the dragging noise of the leash on the ground). As would be expected, Kuma loves to go for walks out in the fields. Usually, however, we just let him on his flexi and he has pulled ground hogs out of their holes before on the flexi. But this was the first time we "coursed" because the ground hog was so far away from its hole.
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We were walking out on our farm with Kuma on a flexi leash. About a 100 yards off, a ground hog was in the middle of the alfalfa field. Dan says, "if Kuma sees the ground hog, you should let him go with the leash attached still because he won't run off because he will be too interested in catching the ground hog." We knew the ground hog was far away from its hole (because the holes are on the fenceline and it was in the middle of the field). Kuma did spot it and sprinted a 100 yards or more till he caught it (ground hogs can MOVE/RUN fast if they want to). He grabed it and flipped it, but then the ground hog stood him off so Kuma switched to the "bark to detain" till we got there. Dan then nudged the GH with his foot, which gave Kuma a chance to go in and quickly kill it. Kuma did what a good farm dog does, which was great (we have no love of ground hogs here on a working farm).
Also, when he was in full hunting mode, he did not even notice the flexi leash in tow behind him (when usually he would be a bit intimidated by the dragging noise of the leash on the ground). As would be expected, Kuma loves to go for walks out in the fields. Usually, however, we just let him on his flexi and he has pulled ground hogs out of their holes before on the flexi. But this was the first time we "coursed" because the ground hog was so far away from its hole.
I know some would think it icky, but I'd actually want to see a video of that - Kuma's tactic.