How to train a dog to find deer?

[Dux 5]

http://www.born-to-track.com/

[matulkoh 66]

Hello all, I've got myself a wee russell pup and I'm keen to train him to find deer, as I do abit of hunting in the bush for reds, fallow and the occasional sika. Any advice on a method of training and at what age to start? My lurcher goes fine, but is a bit on the greyhoundy-side to really find them using his nose. I've thought about dragging a deer skin around and see if the pup follows the scent and maybe a good feed of venison might get his hunting juices flowing. Also, barking might be a problem, especially from a terrier, any advice would be appreciated, cheers.

 

hi mate,

first of all terriers are not the dogs for flushing reds, sika or fallow, for hunting such a quarry y used the dog just for tracking the wounded animal, terrier can be used for short trac, up tu several hundreds meters on relatively fresh track. specialist are bavarian and hanoverian blood hounds,well trained dogs can follow track older than 48 hours and tracks which can have several kilometres, those breeds are aible to stop a red, fallow or sika. her in slovakia or beter to say in continental europe we have special test for those dogs and only those who passed them can be used for such a hunting. every area with reds, fallows have to have at least one such a dog. y can start at the age of 3-4 months as a play for pup, never use a skn for making a track just legs from red. its better when the track is made by somebody else not y so the pup wont follow y smell. at the begining the track can have 20 meters, 10 mins old. do not train much.

[woz 260]

it always makes me laugh....get ya dog out there and he'll pick it up naturaly ...just the same as if you buy a car you'll naturaly be able to drive it...

 

you need to teach your pup to track...start by laying a food trail around your garden.small piece's of cheese every foot or so works well nothing to long.then start moving the small piece's of cheese further apart..then when the pup is getting the idea of using his nose move to an area were you would like to work the dog again lay a trail for the dog with plenty of reward..cheese!!!..you need to get your dog toy/ball crazy.lots of play..following the cheese is the job.when the dog finds the cheese the ball/toy is the reward!! when you have taught the pup to track he will target what ever scent you ask of him...this take's alot of time and patients and someone that can explain it better than a duffer that cant write like me.i hope you get the jist of what im trying to get accross..

[waidmann 105]

why would a terrier not be able to follow an older trail?( i have done 100 hour trails as tests/trials with teckel and jagd terrier have the same).

the only limitation to a small dog especially the teckel is if it comes to the chase( this should be identified at the very beginning before collaring the dog( clearing of shot placement,angle of penetration,hair book,ground sighn,blood/sweat)these are the first and most important parts of the job in hand.only then can i decide if i or the dog are capable of completing the trail( poss of a chase,species etc).

i agree that the bavarian and hannoveran are the specialists in the field if trained AND used to a high standard,i have seen them fail and a jagd terrier which belonged to our gamekeeper( in germany) completed this traiol after 3 days and found the boar after nearly 5km in a mud hole alive and pissed off( weighing in at 120kg). had he accepted the view of the "profesional" dog handler and his TWO dogs ( a bayerischer and a dachsbracke) that this pig was not to be got...........................

 

any dog with nose,prey drive,concentration and stamina can be trained to trail( bodily limitations apply only to the chase/catch and for example high snow).

 

one of the main things to remember is the HONEST and well informed asessment of the situation BEFORE starting,otherwise you will make the trail for a better suited dog much more difficult( dog and man scent on the trail,walking all over the "stand at shot" etc etc...)

 

 

imho opinion a terrier is more than capable,most handlers are not.

yis

[matulkoh 66]

why would a terrier not be able to follow an older trail?( i have done 100 hour trails as tests/trials with teckel and jagd terrier have the same).

the only limitation to a small dog especially the teckel is if it comes to the chase( this should be identified at the very beginning before collaring the dog( clearing of shot placement,angle of penetration,hair book,ground sighn,blood/sweat)these are the first and most important parts of the job in hand.only then can i decide if i or the dog are capable of completing the trail( poss of a chase,species etc).

i agree that the bavarian and hannoveran are the specialists in the field if trained AND used to a high standard,i have seen them fail and a jagd terrier which belonged to our gamekeeper( in germany) completed this traiol after 3 days and found the boar after nearly 5km in a mud hole alive and pissed off( weighing in at 120kg). had he accepted the view of the "profesional" dog handler and his TWO dogs ( a bayerischer and a dachsbracke) that this pig was not to be got...........................

 

any dog with nose,prey drive,concentration and stamina can be trained to trail( bodily limitations apply only to the chase/catch and for example high snow).

 

one of the main things to remember is the HONEST and well informed asessment of the situation BEFORE starting,otherwise you will make the trail for a better suited dog much more difficult( dog and man scent on the trail,walking all over the "stand at shot" etc etc...)

 

 

imho opinion a terrier is more than capable,most handlers are not.

yis

 

hi, i know bavarian blood hound which was tracking red for 10km 2 times he crossed the small river Turiec, go straight to the fields with a lot of cows and bulls, dog was following the track, he didn t care about animals which was very close to him. this is not a situation for terrier, teckels are much better on the track than terriers. y re right that good terrier is better than bad b or h blood hound.

 

terrier won t focus on track when living animal cross .the track even worse when he see it

Edited January 14, 2010 by matulkoh

[waidmann 105]

that my friend is rubbish.i know of blood hounds chasing the same deer for three days( after a "killing shot from a marksman" which took off the tail only!!!!!!!!!!!).

 

this is trained into the dog( verleit faehrten, crossing of live trail to throw the dog. indeed a sau crossed my 100hour trial and was ignored by the dog and not even seen by me, iwas informed by the three judges behind me after the job was done!!!)

 

any dog is as good as his experiance and training. if the dog knows the job in and out he will track THAT deer untill it or he is no longer capable of moving another inch, because he wants to

 

that a teckel runs a trail better than a terrier i would also dispute, alot of teckel are so hot headed and used to bushing that they will be off as soon as you turn your back. i would not be so quick to judge a dog by its breed. more by its ability in the field.

[matulkoh 66]

that my friend is rubbish.i know of blood hounds chasing the same deer for three days( after a "killing shot from a marksman" which took off the tail only!!!!!!!!!!!).

 

this is trained into the dog( verleit faehrten, crossing of live trail to throw the dog. indeed a sau crossed my 100hour trial and was ignored by the dog and not even seen by me, iwas informed by the three judges behind me after the job was done!!!)

 

any dog is as good as his experiance and training. if the dog knows the job in and out he will track THAT deer untill it or he is no longer capable of moving another inch, because he wants to

 

that a teckel runs a trail better than a terrier i would also dispute, alot of teckel are so hot headed and used to bushing that they will be off as soon as you turn your back. i would not be so quick to judge a dog by its breed. more by its ability in the field.

i d say in slovakia, czech onlu bavarian blood hounds, hanoverian, kopov, ABB are able to enter such a test ( red, fallow, muflon) i think it s because their experience. i d like to see jagdterrier who ignore living animal and follow the track. i wont argue.

[waidmann 105]

all of the named dogs are "bracken" are hounds( including the teckel).

also that roe deer are not mentioned,who often produce very complicated follow ups( back tracking,slipping out/in etc) but are by decree of the clubs/verbaende are not ALLOWED to be followed up by bgs/hs ( seen as lower game and not worthy of the dog ) this causes controvesry in the clubs and is i'm told ( by a very experianced forst meister and handler of bgs/hs for over forty years and has done seminars on blood trailing in your country and sweden,denmark.........) for exactly this reason.

 

once again i agree totally that the hounds/bracken are the specialists in the field,but what of the wachtelhunden,hpr, and elk dogs for example???? all very capable of following up after the shot and produce some of the best work I have ever seen.i do not want to belittle the work done by bgs/hs and their crosses but find that other dogs when trained and regularly worked(this being the deciding factor imho) can be just as good.

 

one of the best dogs i have seen was in poland,undershot ugly little terrier x mongrel who hunted up pigs alone for 20 guns. then followed up on five after another,packing,stopping and holding included. nothing to look at but the heart of a lion

yis

waidmann

[dastardlydeed 9]

this is some of the very best tracking info i have found on the internet. they have good books as well as dvds. however, there is tons and tons of information/learning to be read on their website alone. John and Jolanta Jeanneny raised and train dachshunds for blood tracking/trailing and from what i am told they are very very well respected.

 

http://www.born-to-track.com/

 

here are some puppy training clips

http://jola.smugmug.com/Video-clips/Puppy-training

 

EXCELLENT articles

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