It's a very bad fault - like chewing or jacking a tree. A relative that lives in Liberty Center OH had a top Walker killed when it fell out of a tree it managed to climb in a competition hunt in NC a couple years back. The other issue aside from the dog killing itself or breaking something is it falling on another dog or person at the bottom of the tree or other dogs jumping it when it thudded to the ground. I remember climbing to shake out a coon and throwing my coat down because it was harder for me to climb with it,(should have realized that before I was about 20 ft up), and when it hit the ground my brilliant 2 redbones tore into the coat. Didn't last long and not much damage but be got a laugh out of it.
That JR pup has a bad habit of jacking the tree. I about have him broke of it though... He's only had to bounce his head off the tree 1,000 times to start to get it. lmao I'll take a tie back leash and leash him to the actual tree. Just low enough that he can stand and tree but can't jack the tree. If he tries it bonks his head off the tree.. Easier than holding the lead and yanking down every time he jumps. The first time i did it i considered stopping after he bounced his chin off the tree about 50 times.. He has settled in now but will still try sometimes..
Ben the older dog doesn't really have any faults. Fastest strike and tree dog I've ever hunted. You better have your crap together when you dump him out of the box. Because that dude is going tree right now.. . He'll usually get treed within a couple hundred yards. In the almost a year I've hunted him and hundreds of drops, that dog has left my hearing only twice. He'll even check in in about 15 minutes. He stays in the woodlots you cast him in and doesn't shoot fields. Not a straight line dog by any means. And when he gets treed that dude is hooked in... He isn't going to leave for nothing. Even on a split tree he'll stay hooked. He'll get in a hole once in a while but almost always comes out and keeps hunting. Only once I have had to put the leash to him for being in a hole. And he was with that JR Dog... I take that back. Last weekend he and JR got in a hole.. When I showed up JR was in the hole. And Ben was about 10 yards away treed.. He thinks I'm a dummy though. I could see his neck, legs and chest were muddy... lmao.. Dang thing saw me coming and knew he better get out of that hole and grab tree.. Lying or not he didn't want to be in that hole. The only time Ben acts up is when i drop him with bonehead JR. Ben's a good training dog but them two are buddies now and JRs bad habits rub off when they are together. His one fault is he chews. Never the tree but if there is a branch, stick of shrub crowding the tree, that dude will clear him a circle around that tree. That and he's hard to break off a dead coon, definitely not a fur hunters dog. He's all around the best dog I've ever hunted though. If a man had the time he could make some buck in competition with ole Ben. He is a PR out of the ole Sackett JR dog i believe i'll have to ask George about it again. Here.. This should be enough said about how good ole ben is. lol. George owned the Softwood Patch dog and sold her started at 9 months. She went on to be a PKC Gold Champ, and won the AKC World Championship. Yet you couldn't give George your retirement account to shuck than Ben Dog even at 5 1/2 years old.. Not that people don't try.. They're always calling George and asking him what he's got on the box and if he want's to sell that Ben dog.