Thread: 6 month old rescue pup

Hey guys, we have a 6 month old rescue pup lab x staffy x jack russel. She’s a tiny wee thing we got at about 8 weeks after she was dumped. I want to make the most of her as a hunting buddy. She’s come a long way behaviour wise and I have been taking her out during the week while it’s quiet. Just for bush walks really. She has a wicked nose on her, fearless with the gun and really loves the bush and picking up tracks and is a brave kid. Last time we were out she almost got 2 pheasants, she was just a little unsure what to do and let them go. I just stood there haha.
Silly question but Next time I go out should I encourage her to get on them? Our older dog does possums and hares, my husband trained him and took him out when he was trapping and shooting. I don’t want a pig dog but it would be cool to have her catching things and teaching her myself. I see a lot of potential in her and think she would be wasted as a family dog even though she’s actually our 4 year old sons dog haha.

I also think it will be pretty cool for the kids to be able to take her out on farm and get hares etc in the future.

In my experience, with Jack Russell's you don't have to teach them to hunt, just stand back and keep out of the way!
Our fella would hunt flies, lizards, goats, pigs and deer, and anything in between. He was too slow for rabbits and would start squealing when they were out running him. Goats, pigs and deer seemed to stand there looking at him , as if they were thinking "sounds like a dog, looks kinda like a dog, but it's so small it must be very far away". Until he grabbed hold, then it was all on
Hopefully your girl has enough JR to have the hunting instinct, but enough of other breeds to be kept under control...

Sounds good, I presume she’s taking mostly to the jack russel side despite being jet black she’s quiet tiny and the vets say she has a “jack russel” attitude if that’s anything to go by haha. Any tips and tricks you can give me on training her? I assume we will need deer skins if etc If we want her on bigger targets? There’s deer and pigs in the area but had no luck finding them yet. And we are working on her come back before we even think about bringing her out on a deer hunt, she tends to pick up trails and run off a bit.

perfect...the re call/come back AND a rock solid no bull shit, works at whatever distance, wherever, always will obey SIT will see you right to begin with. the rock solid sit can get you out of a lot of bother and will at times save your dogs life...but what ever you do DO NOT use it if they get into a scrap or your dog will get hurt badly.pegging a phesant could be interesting to explain to fish n game ranger...might be best to discorage that...by all means allow dog to retrieve shot birds but catching on own may just be problamatic in long run.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

perfect...the re call/come back AND a rock solid no bull shit, works at whatever distance, wherever, always will obey SIT will see you right to begin with. the rock solid sit can get you out of a lot of bother and will at times save your dogs life...but what ever you do DO NOT use it if they get into a scrap or your dog will get hurt badly.pegging a phesant could be interesting to explain to fish n game ranger...might be best to discorage that...by all means allow dog to retrieve shot birds but catching on own may just be problamatic in long run.

Are there rules in place for pheasants? I don’t want to get in trouble. I was hoping I can get her to “grab” them and not make a mess of them.

Originally Posted by Chelsea

Are there rules in place for pheasants? I don’t want to get in trouble. I was hoping I can get her to “grab” them and not make a mess of them.

Yes, there are very strict rules about when and how you can hunt pheasants, they come under the gamebird regulations and have a lot of rules around hunting seasons, no hens to be shot, etc. Scragging them with a dog out of season would not be looked upon favourably to say the least.

For training the dog, the most important thing to start with is getting good control, and making it stockproof (no chasing sheep or cows etc, as that is often fatal). And decide what sort of hunting dog you want it to be - pointer/indicator, retriever, chase and catch/bail - though often the dog will decide what sort of hunter it is!

my dog was amazingly gun shy when i got him, he was also emaciated and covered in his own effluent from being mis treated by his previous owner. now 9+ years later he still doesnt like it when i open up the gun safe.
however the previous owner was going to shoot him because he wouldnt perform as a pig dog, so i think maybe he may have had a few shots aimed at him.
luckily he wasnt at home when his girlfriend asked for help re homing on TM. cos i swear as much as i love hunting i hate animal abuse.
back to subject JR terriers are natural born killers, point them at a rabbit or a nest of rats and they stop being lap dogs and turn into psycho killers !
they also believe themselves to believe themselves 10 foot tall and indestructible, one came out yapping at us the other day while i walked my dog on leash (1/2 english bull 1/2 dogo argentina). i swear that JR had balls of steel !

Thanks for the heads up I’ll have a look at the rules around them.
Gonetropo she is very much like that. Our old boy who is rotty x lab and very big was scared of her, he’s just started putting her in her place which has been very good! She was too big for her boots. I more want her to be an indicator, pick up tracks and show signs of “something being around”. My in laws dog is like that when he takes him hunting and is brilliant. She’s stock proof since we live on farm, I’ll have to be careful she doesn’t mix the targets for the stock haha.
Having her find birds and such for the kids would be brilliant and be a bit of fun.

@Chelsea: Bo says merry Xmas