Rocky the Otterhound: Do Otterhounds hibernate?

This week we thought we would let you see a variety of photographs taken over the course of the last few weeks, at differing times of the day.

For the purposes of this weeks title we have included Mij as an honourary Otterhound, of course she is convinced she is one anyway, so it seems mean to exclude her!

Here in sunny old England, autumn has brought darker evenings and later mornings. Our hounds behaviour has altered slightly with the arrival of this phenomena.

We hope you enjoy these images .............

In some images it may look like our hound's eyes are open. They are not; but like some other hound dog eyes, they have a fleshy bottom eyelid which when closed may show some of the inner eyelid ......

This effect is very handy if you want to freak out some of your guests, we have had the full range of reactions from the mildly amused to the full "get up and run"!!!!

Although they have been animated and continuing with day to day life, there has been a noticeable increase in the "abandoned sleep" behaviour. We are sure it's not because we have exhausted them during their awake phase, and it certainly isn't because they have sleep to catch up on!

So, "Do Otterhounds hibernate"? Well, not really I suppose, but give them a few more thousand years of evolution and they might well manouver themselves into it!

We're quite jealous really, how about you?

So, night night Rosie ........

And night night Rocky, dream of sleeping the winter away and waking up ready for a sunny springtime!

Rocky the Otterhound: Experiments in freedom.

During our happy time with our Otterhounds we have often thought that it would be wonderful to enable them to enjoy the full benefit of having the nearby plain to play on (an area the size of the Isle of Wight!). We are very happy with walking our hounds on the lead, or off if in a secure area. But, as regular readers will know, our hounds are scent hounds; and as such would happily run for miles after an enticing scent, if let off the lead on the plain and instinct takes over.

So; we have evolved a little plan which may benefit us all and introduce a new element to tracking with our hounds.

The following has taken place over several weeks and is not, as yet, a completed experiment. But things have moved on enough for me to share this with whoever may be interested.

An Experiment in freedom.

The whole experiment begins with an awesome little diesel bike we have nick named "The Hobbit".

It is not a fast bike, but has the ability to go just about anywhere.

So, step one: Introduce your hounds to The Hobbit and allow them to become accustomed to it.

So we went for a walk to a familiar place ...... And The Hobbit came too!

In a secure area, our hounds were let off the lead and allowed to approach The Hobbit in their own time. Having "dad" on the bike helped of course!

"Come on you two ........ Catch me if you can"!

Well, both rocky and Rosie were up for a chase ....... But only for a little while, then their scenting bones took over and they got distracted!

After allowing them to do their own thing for a while (Otterhounds just love scenting), "dad" encouraged Rocky to follow him.

The best way to get our hounds to relax with something new is to make it a game for them.

Rosie decided to stay where she was, as she had found a particularly tickly scent!

Mini experiment one: "driving your hound home"!

We found the best way to get Rocky back from somewhere (using the bike) is to drive him, a bit like a cowboy with cows!

On the other hand, Rosie responded better to being called to chase "dad"!

After all that playing and retrieving, our hounds worked out that they had been "corralled"!

They stayed where they had been driven until invited to come out again! An unexpected bonus!

Step two: Introduce your hounds to their radio collar.

"Rocky, meet your special collar".

"Special collar, meet Rocky".

Place said collar on your hound to allow them to get used to the feel of it.

Try to dissuade your hound from playing with the antennae ...... The difficulty of this may depend on the maturity of your hound.

Rosie relaxed with her collar very quickly ...... Relaxed into sleep that is!

Step three: Check that your dog tracking GPS is working.

Step four: Check that your GPS is picking up your hounds collars.

This gadget is awesome ..... It lets you know how far away your hounds are - the direction they are, from you - whether they are moving or standing still - their average speed - the distance they have travelled and all sorts of helpful things!

Anyway, enough cooing over the gadgets .....

Step five: Walk hounds (with collars on) in familiar places.

We headed for the woods ...... Somewhere where we often loose sight of them ....... It really helped us to have a relaxing walk, as the GPS let us know exactly how far away they were and took us directly to them!

We were even happy to wait in the clearing for them to catch up ...... something which would have caused some consternation beforehand.

Further on in the walk Rocky came to "dad's" call fairly quickly. "Dad" knew exactly where to go to enable him to hear his call.

Rosie insisted on finishing her scenting first .... but still came along.

Step six: Take your hounds to a large open field (safe, as it is fenced all around), and let them loose.

Give them a good long while (to get well and truly involved in whatever they want to do), then get a reading from your GPS and go and find them.

These early experiments had been so successful that we decided to take the plunge and head for the plain.

Step seven: As it is still early days, we chose a fairly enclosed space on the plain ...... Hard to find but essential for peace of mind.

On goes Rocky's collar .......

A little adjustment to get secure and comfy.

Rosie sits for her fitting ......

Again, time is taken to adjust properly.

Then, as soon as the leads were removed ..... Our hounds were off!

Not even a look over their shoulder to see if we were coming too!!!!

We started out to track our hounds ...... Who were tracking something else of their own.

Long story short ...... They never got more than 300 yards ahead of us .......

..... We never caught sight of them once during the tracking, as they were the other side of a copse for most of the time ......

...... We followed directions from the GPS ......

....... And ........

..... It took us directly to them .........

That's Rosie with her head buried in a bush .....

And we eventually extracted Rocky from the midst of a thicket full of bunny holes!

They had had a terrific time scenting their way across the plain ...... Hadn't caught a thing but that isn't the crux of what we are doing .....We just want them to be able to do what they were born to do ...... Safely!

They made a couple of new friends down one of the tracks ......

Then we were out in the open again. So we let them off again for another run ......

...... They had had a good run and now seemed content to stay reasonably close by.

They investigated the open fields but never went too far away.

Rocky had enjoyed himself so much that he had a lie down in the long grass and contentedly waited for us to head for home!

So; early experiments are looking good ......... Perhaps next time we will head for even more open country and try it with The Hobbit!

Some facts gleaned from our new gadget ....... Our hounds had travelled almost three miles, while the GPS had enabled us to find them by covering a little over two miles! Not bad for a first try!

Rosie was a little faster and ran a little further than Rocky ....... But looking at the tracking, Rocky had travelled more directly, whereas Rosie had gone all over the place.

Whether this indicates that Rocky picked one scent and ran with it while Rosie just followed almost anything she came across, is difficult to say. But if this is the case, it will be interesting to see if Rosie starts to match Rocky's single mindedness when she is a bit older! Is this just a case of immaturity verses a more mature hound?!

If this experiment works, we may be able to learn a lot about our Otterhounds behaviour!? Cool!!

Anyway, once home our hounds had had such a wonderful time ..... They were shattered.

Aaah, have a lovely sleep Rosie!

And of course ....... Night night Rocky, sleep well and dream of running free and the joys of exploring still to come.