Thread: Teaching a whineing dog to shhh

I have had my 1 year old black lab since a puppy. She went well on phesants last season, havnt had a go on ducks and she has seen a few deer. Problem is, when we are out deer hunting she wont bloody shut up if told to wait while someone goes in another direction, or if she sees something she wants to chase like birds she starts up. When her 'daddy' when in the other direction looking at pig sign with pig dogs, she was not happy whineing alot. As soon as i walked her the other way she was happy as, so id say she just wants to be hunting and helping. When she saw the birds and started up she was on the back of the bike and she got a few whacks around the head and no shit she just agrueed back by barking at us with the most bossy look on her face. I am after some ideas that may work before I resort to a shock collar which I think may just wind her up but its a last resort. I should say she loooves to play fetch but can sit and wait quietly for as long as I want before I let her fetch it. She also never whines in her kennel, no matter how long she has been in there for.

Short rope tied to her and your belt so that she is by your knee, then drop your rifle barrel on her noggin each time she makes a noise. And hunt alone to stop distractions. As she has been used on birds she will want to run ahead and if you do get a shot at a deer you will flatten her ears back with muzzle blast. Teach her signals with hand movements to keep sounds in the bush to a minimum and she will become deaf, although it is amazing how fast they learn the sound of a safety snicking off. Expect to lose the first few deer but in time she will repay you well.

Im no expert, but hold off on lighting her up with the collar for a sec. I'm not sure if I would persevere with a dog that gave tongue on sight to birds, and I'm probably wasting my breath on a guy who belts up his dog and wants to torch her with a collar out of frustration but here goes:

I think in your shoes I would go back a step or two, going back to sit/stay in your yard at home. Sit/drop/stop means that until I tell you to move on, I would be working on that daily, sitting her for increasing periods of time, gradually moving it to places of higher distraction ie, in the places you would hunt. She has to understand that sit means that regardless of where that happens, and she needs to learn to trust you in that you will always come back. Basically things you should have had her doing before you took her out hunting.

I are in a slightly differant situation too you Hunting 101 this should be a good thread with some bloody shit hot advice.


My black is a hunterway x lab and he loves too bark.Natural hunterway when rounding up the cattle.

But he barks when I stop to unlock gates and every time he passes other dog kennels he flies into it yapping his head off!

Doesn't help when theres a mad bitch in there that never shuts the fuck up!

Any help appreciated.....Hunter101 not hijacking your thread but interested in help like you.

Originally Posted by Spook

Short rope tied to her and your belt so that she is by your knee, then drop your rifle barrel on her noggin each time she makes a noise. And hunt alone to stop distractions. As she has been used on birds she will want to run ahead and if you do get a shot at a deer you will flatten her ears back with muzzle blast. Teach her signals with hand movements to keep sounds in the bush to a minimum and she will become deaf, although it is amazing how fast they learn the sound of a safety snicking off. Expect to lose the first few deer but in time she will repay you well.

Sorry but I personally hold the opinion never e, ever tie a dog to you whilst you also have a loaded weapon in your hands, recipe for an accident.

It's bloody impractical in the thick stuff too. If you don't have control of it you shouldn't be hunting it. At worst let her trail the cord behind her and jump on it if you have to, but I still think if its at that stage you need to take a step back in your training, heel work in low distraction areas first

+1, although even the trailing rope is a pain in the ass. Adds a lot of extra noise in the bush. Tried this, had to suck it up and do some decent training to get some compliance.

Thanks, yes will be going back to basics, she already knows them well but not good enough I guess. Took her out over the weekend and she was actually really good, im hoping she will grow out of it. So many shots were fired off the deck and it was so good for her and her excitment. She actually found her first deer! It was shot in the spotlight and the boys walked to the area they thought it was, and she tracked off in the thick bush and held it (already dead). She did have a major spaz when we were sighting the gun in when she was in dog box and we ran over to check if it was on target and left her in box, she is fine in box if no shot fired so maybe more practise with that too! I think she is a needy dog out hunting, she just wants to please, I just need to show her whats right and wrong

The whining is a symptom, not a problem. 100% a collar will never fix it.. likewise smacking her in the head with a rifle barrel....

It's not just getting back to basics but getting a decent relationship going is what is needed. Right now she might be doing the "tricks" you've taught her which you think is training, but she doesn't think you are in charge or she wouldn't be telling you to get fucked when you tried to towel her up.

I don;t hold out a lot of hope for you with the way you seem to view the issue... first thing to accept is the dog doesn;t have a problem, but you expecting her to do all this without proper training is the issue.

Get serious about training a hunting dog and you'll get a result, keep taking shortcuts and hoping and you'll just get more of the same.