Hunting Dogs

[tuna]

I'll start my rant now and get it off my chest while I still have 29 days before hunting season starts...

Does anyone train their dogs?

Every year it is the same thing: dogs running all over creation, owners calling for them at the top of their lungs (always "Brandy", "Lady", and "Champ") and the ever present background noise of cow bells and the newfangled beepers!
Am I the only one who has had enough? We read stories about great dogs but I have never seen one. I hunt without a dog (don't have time to keep a pet dog, never mind train a hunter) and am pretty successful. Sure, it is a little harder, but that is why it is hunting, and not shopping.
My solution this year is to buy some pheasant scent for training dogs. I plan on putting out scent all over the field this year (sticks and such) and watch the fun as the dogs try to flush the stick.

I just can't stand it anymore. If you can't train your dog, leave it at home, you can still enjoy hunting, and so can everyone else!

rant off...

 

[fisherman66]

I've hunted quail behind some fine dogs. I don't know how it would be possible without them.

Funny though; we usually take the same couple dogs each time and leave the rest at camp, hoping they will learn though osmosis.

Having hunting dogs is more about the dogs' training and less about taking game. A good dog is mesmerizing. Truely incredible

 

[bean357]

Quote:
Having hunting dogs is more about the dogs' training and less about taking game. A good dog is mesmerizing. Truely incredible

Very well said, fisherman66!

My hubby and I do alot of pheasant hunting with our GSP and lab (and yes, they do work very well together--the lab has even "learned" to point )
Watching good dogs at work is much of the pleasure we get from the time spent with them in the field. Some of our friends simply cannot understand why their dogs do not listen/hunt/retrieve/etc like ours do....but what can be expected when the dog does not get consistent training and time spent with it, and in some cases, it finally gets out of the kennel for opening day. So sad. But then, our dogs are our "kids". The shorthair turned 11 this past March.....soon will come a day I will be crying (bawling) in my beer.

 

[fisherman66]

We hunt 2 Shorthairs (out of Dixie Land line mating) and until a few months ago 2 English Setters (one passed of old age at 12).

 

[killzone]

I have just got my dog

About two days ago I got my dog ( Kangal) He is 9weeks old and eats like a pig. I was told to start his real traning when he starts showing axtious act where he likes to play hide and seek or hide a thing and find it... He is planed to start his training at 14 weeks just doing run and follow drills and so on.... Of course pros are involved and its kind of spandy after all. however it is a must. I've got a friend that used to work at the K-9 unit and he says it is vital to let him enjoy his youngster hood to build a better friendship and bond between the animal and the owner....
P.s My son really likes him and they seem to be getting along.....

 

[fisherman66]

Good job getting help. Someone new to hunting dogs are facing an impossible task if they go it alone. It is money well spent. Watch the training as much as possible and you will soon take over the drills.

Practice is soooooo important, but you do not have to spend a long time for each session (esp with a puppy.) Just a few minutes (maybe a minute for each month or week for a puppy) is best now. Do that several times a day (4 or 5 or even more). Have a calm even temperment and use verbal reinforcement. If you get stressed out that the training is not immediately "taking", then take a break (try to end the training on a good note.)

We use shock collars, but it is something that can be abused. Occasionally a dog will have a barking problem and living in the 'burbs they will wear a collar for that. When hunting it is used VERY spareingly and the shock level is tailored to the dog's sensitivity. Some dogs will stop immediately with the lowest, some need it higher. Use the lowest effective level that the dog will respond to immediately. *Important*, you don't want the dog to associate the shock with you. If a dog takes off after a rabbit and you shock it for loosing focus or not sticking to training...you want him to think it is a natural consequence for chasing a rabbit (not you electing to buzz him.) Don't let anger get the best of you. Be sweet right after you buzz him! Just keep in the back of your mind that this dog is putty and if he's got the instict, but won't hunt you need to figure out what YOU are doing wrong.

I'd imagine you have done a ton of reading and I am repeating things you have thought about or made plans regarding. I am in awe of good hunting dogs. I am spoiled too. They make things so much easier.

 

[Byron Quick]

I've hunted quail behind some fine dogs. I don't know how it would be possible without them.

There's not many quail left in these parts. A few of the farmers are changing their land use patterns and they are coming back around those areas.

When I was a teenager, my Dad and I used to hunt quail often. We never used a dog and got our limit often. We wondered why anyone would go to all the hassle of training a dog to do it. You could walk up three coveys wandering over a hundred acres just about any day of the week.

 

[fisherman66]

Depending of the amount of rain and preditor population we can see between 3 and 10 coveys a day on 800 acres. I've walked one covey up in the 5 years we've been on that piece of land (I usually get antsy and take a mid-day walk when everybody is naping. I do try and avoid the areas where I know there are birds.)

Is not at all feasable to hunt quail without dogs. The "elder members" do tell stories about tripping over coveys every walk.

 

[Bwana John]

I have had the pleasure of being the best friend of two great hunting dogs.

It took two hunting seasons for both of them to mature into the outstanding hunting dogs they became.

The days I have spent hunting with my canine companions in the field have been some of the best in my life. The days I spent in the field TRAINING those dogs to do what I wanted ment missing shots, coming home skunked, yelling, arm waving, ect...

I would really like to watch someone without a dog try to retrieve a goose out of the lake, after breaking thru the ice on the edge, swimming 100 yards thru 34 degree water and back, and being HAPPY about it like my dogs have. Or busting thru brush so thick a human would be stuck in it after 3 feet.

Sometimes my dogs have been a pain in the ass for my hunting partners for the first couple of seasons, but those guys know that Im the guy that has the dog for birds for about the next 8 years or so after that learning process.

So, I feel sorry for you not getting to expearance one of the great joys in life, hunting with an animal that that has been helping hunters for at least the last 100,000 years.

I lost my wonderful hunting partner last year at 13 years old when I had to put her down because of heath problems.

This year I am in the field with a little female Labrador Retriever name "Chukar", and she is a bonehead.

So, if you see a guy with a little female yellow lab that is tearing up the countryside like a crazy dog, and a guy screaming at the top of his lungs "CHUKAR", come on over if you cant find your downed bird, she will round it up, and who knows, next year (or the one after that) you may have the advantage and privlage of hunting with a "great" dog.

 

[roo_ster]

The shorthair turned 11 this past March.....soon will come a day I will be crying (bawling) in my beer.

I hear ya. Love my shorthairs.

Neither is trained for hunting, so I only take them in the woods on fun walks. (got the male at age 3: dad-in-law could no longer care for him; got the female when I was working on my MBA).

Those dogs are a hoot to have around the house & yard.

 

[TaxPhd]

Find a local breed club in your area (pointing breeds). Go to their hunt tests and field trials. You will see what a well trained dog is capable of. It is pretty amazing.

If I didn't have a dog, I would still hunt, but it wouldn't be nearly as fun.




Scott

 

[TrapperReady]

I plan on putting out scent all over the field this year (sticks and such) and watch the fun as the dogs try to flush the stick.

Sounds like the high road.