Thread: Can I teach my huntaway x beardie to be quiet

I've got this huntaway x beardie pup. I'd like to take him hunting but he barks like its going out of fashion.

I know they aren't exactly hunting dogs and I really only want him for the company. He is around 5 months now and coming along well with heel training. He can sit and come by hand signal too. He doesn't bark at birds or cats or anything when he is out. But at home he will bark at a cat that comes in the yard, he will bark at my other dog when they play, and he will bark whenever he wants anything (food, water, attention etc).

I can't really be certain if he will bark at a deer. He barks at dogs if he's on the lead and I wont let him over to them, but not if he's off it.

Anyone had experience taking a beardie or huntaway hunting?

Put some sides and a stop on him and hool some deer Gibo and I will come driven deer shooting

With beardies the ears are only painted on they dont work for anything at all. They are also born knowing absolutly everything and have no hesitation in telling you. Best working dogs I have ever owned were beardies but good luck with keeping one quiet.

teach him to bark when YOU WANT then have counter command...eg a shut up,is I believe the current trendy advice to give.Ive hunted with huntaways and crosses and always been able to tell them to shut up.

What MD said. Teach him to speak up on command, and to shut up on command.

You don't hear working huntaways barking at heal unless they are asked to "speak up".

Hot Beardie



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An interesting thing is that in my days farming and shepherding I never really came across a beardie with a decent bark. They tended to all have a weak bark, but made up for it by being pretty damned clever.

Who remembers the beardies that old George Dinnon (and Vic Cook, too - I might have them mixed up)) from the Taranaki used to breed? Hundreds of them. If you went there to get a pup, he would be armed with a rake to hook the pups out from under the bitches' kennels. How he knew who the sires of the pups were was beyond me, there were dogs every where in this one big dusty enclosure.

We still have that breed here Tahr, Vic Cook was my wife's Grandad.
Here's one of that bloodline



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don't see many round that look like that these days, ones up here are blue or brindle.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll try the bark on command route. Both my dogs are from the same parents but my hunting pup came out with the short huntaway fur. I think he will be better in the bush, it takes the girl 2 hours to dry.

Originally Posted by BRADS

Hot Beardie



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holy fuck batman the lochness monster really has emigrated to NZ.hark -do i hear a quiet toby chuckle in the yonder distance.

you can teach hunterways beardies to quietly head so infinitly possible.
i had a tri cloured beardie whose roar would give you a headache under the tin roof of the yards when penning up at shearing/crutching time.
ive seen one big black and white one that had a good bark and a tan one from kaikoura way. but most were yakkas and would work till they dropped.
as i remember it the big ones werent as good backers as the greys blacks black and tans but were better mustering dogs.
mostly due to thier better noise meaning they didnt have to be up the sheeps bums to get them moving barkups could be a little embarassing if you only had yakkas.

Its always hard to work against a dogs nature......

If you want a dog to move sheep get a a huntaway....

If you want a dog to fetch ducks get a retreiver....

If you want to race the Iditarod get a dog that wants to run all day....

If you want a dog to indicate deer get get an idicator dog....

Dogs have been breed for hundreds of years to do certain jobs. If you stick with what they were made for you will have a much better time of it all.