Thread: Time commitment in training/having a deer indicator dog

Hey mate, I'm far from an expert but can give you a heads up from my limited experience. I have a 2 yr old gsp which is mainly a pet but have trained him to scent track without too much hassle. Initially I would just expose him to deer hide from a young age, letting him play with it and then dragging it through the bush to where I would have hidden a treat. To date he would have been on about 13 deer, the first few he didn't have too much idea but caught on quickly and he now is responsible for me finding deer I would have otherwise lost. Although mainly used for scent tracking he will indicate, however I have found it hard to stalk in once he has, especially in dry beech forest!! I have found hunting with the dog provides a bit of company and as I said before he starting to earn his keep with locating those shot or wounded deer I would have otherwise lost. I'd be just as interested as you with regards to developing his indicating technique as I have a feeling that the scent tracking bit was the easy part....