Thread: Advice, hunting dog

Hey is there anyone on here that i can talk to who has a hunting dog (deer)? Got a few questions, Thanks in advance

there's a few of us here, ask away and then batten down the hatches.

Deer only? Vizsla from really good lines.

Do you hunt at least 3 times a month?

Gsp x munsterlander, he's only 12 weeks atm and would be hunting every weekend. Just want to know when I should start taking him with me, and is there any deer specific training I should do around home

Don't take him deer stalking for quite a while. Too long a walk for a young pup and you risk permanent joint damage. Check with your vet about when long walks are fine.
At home and on short non-deerstalking walks just concentrate on the basics. Sit, stay, heel, stop. Don't take him hunting until you have a bombproof heel and stop, especially the stop.

Originally Posted by mellowski

Gsp x munsterlander, he's only 12 weeks atm and would be hunting every weekend. Just want to know when I should start taking him with me, and is there any deer specific training I should do around home

Will still be short on completing his vaccinations too Id guess. You will want to get basic commands sorted first. STOP and Heel. Get him used to a rope/lead.

Originally Posted by kiwijames

Will still be short on completing his vaccinations too Id guess. You will want to get basic commands sorted first. STOP and Heel. Get him used to a rope/lead.

I've got some deer legs in the freezer, should I drag them along lawn and get him to find them ?

Hi,good control is a must in any dog, i train labs for field work, try to simulate a hunt as best you can, first of all you will want your dog to recognise deer scent if you can get him near some farmed deer and reward him when he looks at them, this you can do without putting to much stress on him as he is young, with your deer legs if they have the skin on them remove some of it and place it on a path walk your dog buy it and praise him when he takes an interest do not hide it at the start just progress to hiding it when he begins to realise what you want, a dogs nose is a fantastic piece of equipment and will wind a deer from hundreds of meters what you don't want is him charging off but to indicate that deer are there, do not assume any dog is gun proof take your time to introducing him to the noise of a gun, i start of with an air rifle a good distance away firing it empty walking closer to the dog if he shows any signs of distress stop do not try to comfort the dog just take him for a short walk and just carry the gun the try the exercise again on another day this may sound a bit over the top but once a dog gets gun shy, try not to over work when training 10 to 20 mins is enough and try to do it regularly

All deer skin drags do is teach a dog to find deer skin! The best deer dogs I have seen or owned are air scenters from afar, and ground scenters after the shot on a blood trail.

Control before introducing game, as the others said heel sit stays etc before you even take him bush. With a well controlled dog a few deer shot to its finds and it will be away.

Control is what I'm lacking at the mo, Pup listens only half the time.
I use deer skin but only on windy day/nights. Put pup in shed, go hang skin from a tree, Go get pup and make her sit with the wind blowing up her nostrils on other side of section, when she gets a wiff she then leads me in on it. Gets a bit excited tho and pulls on lead.

Some awesome help guys, I've only had him 2weeks so it's very early days but he's picking up commands fast which is awesome, got 3 months off work with shoulder surgery so got plenty time to train him. Hopefully he becomes a weapon up in the kaimais

The advice I wish I listened to in the beginning was that you just need basic training for the first 18mths. Don't even worry about the hunting.
You have a dog 10+ years, don't push them and destroy them too early

Best advice I was given was control and don't rush them out hunting.

The best dogs are the ones that are with you as much as possible.
You've got three months coming up. Perfect!
a few minutes every couple of hours. Shitloads of time with you. Its all right there.

I think the less commands the better at an early age such as yours is.....Sit / Stay / Heel works for me......and never ever try training when you are in a bad space....dogs are pretty fly and pick up on stuff like that......