The Scottish Deerhound is a gentle giant, a towering, shaggy sighthound bred to course red deer across the Highlands. Sweet and calm at home, it brings two challenges that shape its training: an enormous, slow-maturing frame and a sighthound's chase drive. Most mistakes relate to size, joints, and that prey drive. Here are the five mistakes that cause the most trouble, and what to do instead.
1. Waiting to train
A Deerhound reaches 35 to 50 kg, and a giant that pulls or ignores cues is far harder to manage than a smaller dog. Owners who delay miss the window when the dog is still physically guidable. Start gentle manners, leash work, and handling at 8 weeks, so the towering adult already knows the rules.
2. Over-exercising the puppy
This is a large, fast-growing breed, and too much high-impact exercise, running, jumping, stairs, while the growth plates are open damages developing joints for life. Owners who exercise a Deerhound puppy like an adult sighthound cause lasting harm. Keep puppy activity low-impact and free-form until 18 to 24 months, then build the running up gradually.
3. Trusting it off-leash too soon
Beneath the gentle temperament is a true coursing hound, and a Deerhound that spots a deer, hare, or running dog can be gone at astonishing speed, well past any recall. Owners who trust open ground lose the dog over a ridge or into a road. Treat reliable off-leash freedom as a securely fenced goal and build recall on a long line.
4. Harsh handling
The Deerhound is famously soft and sensitive, and harsh corrections make this gentle giant shut down and lose confidence. Owners who apply pressure get a withdrawn, anxious dog. Use gentle, reward-based methods only, keep your tone warm, and the breed's calm willingness comes through.
5. Forcing a tight sit
A Deerhound's long limbs and deep chest make a tight sit physically awkward and uncomfortable, and drilling it frustrates the dog for no reason. Owners fixated on a textbook sit miss easier wins. Use a down or a stand as the default position instead; the dog is far more comfortable and compliant, and you avoid souring it on training over a single cue it finds physically unpleasant.
What works with Deerhounds
Start training early while the dog is manageable, protect the growing joints, treat off-leash as a fenced-only goal, handle gently, and skip the forced sit in favor of a down or stand. The throughline is respecting a giant, gentle, fast sighthound on its own physical and temperamental terms, and the reward is one of the sweetest, calmest, most dignified companions you can own.
TailorPup's Deerhound plan front-loads the manners that matter for a giant, structures exercise to protect growing joints, and uses gentle methods throughout.
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Related: How to Train a Scottish Deerhound · Recall Training · Leash Pulling