Hunting Dog Training

August 24th, 2008 by admin

Filed under:dog training

IS HUNTING YOUR FAVORITE PASTTIME? If so, you need the assistance and support of a hunting dog. Not all dogs lend themselves to this type of activity. Only certain select breeds, properly trained, can serve your purpose. Learn here how to choose a breed and perform hunting dog training.

Train a Dog While Still a Puppy.

Adopt a dog while it is still a puppy. It is much easier to train a puppy than an adult dog, even if it has received some hunting training from another handler. Early hunting dog training provides an added advantage of developing close affinity between the dog and its master, which is important to hunting collaboration. The ideal age to start training is from 4 to 6 months old.

Choose Your Breed

The kind of hunting dog you will produce after training will greatly depend on the specific canine breed you will choose. Different breeds possess different abilities to perform specific aspects of hunting. They fall into different categories: the general hunting dogs, gun dogs, retrievers, and bird dogs. The most popular choices are Labradors, Beagles, Bloodhounds, and Daschuns. Base your choice on what you want your dog to specifically do in hunting.

Training Materials

Certain materials can be very helpful in hunting dog training. Among them are dummies, collars, and whistles. Use dummies to teach your dog to retrieve game and provide it exercise for fitness. Correct certain dog behaviors with the help of training collars. Replace your voice with whistles in issuing commands to your dog at a distance.

The Training Program

1. Basic Obedience Commands. Training in basic commands are cornerstones of any dog training program. Obedience to the basic commands of sit, down, stay, come, etc. is requirement for more advanced hunting dog training. . As in other forms of training, positive reinforcement is always a must.

2. Physical Conditioning: The hunting dog requires strength and stamina for efficient performance. Physical exercise and sound nutritional program should form an integral part of your hunting dog training program to enable you to achieve this goal.

3. Psychological Conditioning: Get your dog used to the environmental conditions of hunting. Help it associate the sound of gunfire with game. Instill the idea of water as fun. Train it to perform under different seasons and weather conditions, and under various types of hunting terrain.

4. Retrieval Training: Basic to a hunting dog performance is game retrieval. To train for this, choose an object of interest to the dog, and throw it to a short distance for it to fetch. Increase the distance in subsequent throws. Let him understand that the object has to returned. Dogs have a natural instinct for doing this that you should take advantage of. Retrieval training, therefore, should be play activity for your dog.

5. Distance training: The reason for this obvious. Commands are given while the dog is at a distance while retrieving the game. Voice command becomes ineffective with increasing distance, so whistle commands are used instead.

6. Scent training: Train a dog to hunt from scent rather than by eyesight alone. Scent hunting begins where sight hunting ends. Various game scent training products are sold by some hunting dog supplies stores. A cursory Google search with the keyphrase “scent products for hunting dog training” will reveal their whereabouts on the internet.

A properly trained dog will not only help you hunt successfully but will also serve as an obedient, loving, and lifelong friend. A hunting dog is only as good as its bond with its owner. That is why it is best to do the hunting dog training yourself. If you cannot, have someone else do the job, but be sure you are always present during the training.

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