? on training a young decoy dog

I

Illusion

New member
I was wondering if any of you feel like its helpful to start a young dog on something smaller like rabbits or if it does more harm than good later down the line?
 
I think some guys use rabbits to teach the dog to stop and come back when toned while it's chasing the rabbit. I'm sure no dog trainer myself, just info I've been given.
 
I use rabbits all the time on young pups. They have got to learn how to hunt. You can't wait till a dog is old enough to handle a coyote, to teach them to be a hunting dog. The window is small to ingrain it in a dog for life.

Tony
 
Just remember to not throw to much at them when they are young. Its pretty easy to burn out or foul up a pup. Just let them hunt and develop, maybe only work on one thing per session.

just my opinion


Casey
 
IMHO, one cannnot train a dog to "hunt". A pup will hunt, or it won't. The instinct is there, or it ain't.

It's OUR job, as their handler, to train the dog WHAT to hunt and what to leave alone. And to do so in a way that they can understand.

Encouraging a dog to "hunt" a rabbit is great, if you want a rabbit dog. But ask yourself if you want your decoy chasing rabbits on stand?

Or are you going to break your dog of chasing rabbits after encouraging it to chase them? That makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. Talk about confusing the heck out of your young charge!


Don't get me wrong, a young pup taking off after a rabbit is great sign. It shows your pup has got some prey drive. But a rabbit is certainly not something I'd use to specifically focus a young pup's hunt drive on. Unless it's a beagle...
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Get your pup a coyote hide as a tug toy & let the rest come naturally. It's alot easier to screw a dog up than it is to make one, so go slow & keep the pup focused on what you want it to be...

good luck!
 
I used a racoon and a rabbits at a young age just to get them used to chasing something.My dog knows when the caller comes on or mouth calls start we are looking for coyotes, now I can sic her on cows,rabbits coons or what ever but when I am calling she is watching for yotes and not messing with everything else.Just a thought and I am not nor claim to be a dog trainer such as Tony Tebbe or Duane.
 
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All of the dogs I have ever owned have learned differently, but my approach is always the same. I use posative reinforcement with the smell (such as a hide or carcass) of the game I want the dog to hunt at a very young age (3 months). I then just allow the dog to tag along with me when hunting for the first year of his life, continuing to keep him familiar with the smell by playing with hides and putting him around as many dead game animals as possible.

By 1 year old, the dog should be showing a big motivation to hunt and should really start singling out the game that you want him to chase. I do not use shock collars to break dogs from trash, rather I just force the game that I want them to chase on them.

I have always been very leary of encouraging a dog to chase non-game animals, as I feel it will distract him from focusing on the most important animal (whatever that may be).

My newest deer dog I got this year had located and tracked 6 crippled or dead deer before his 5 month birthday. I truely believe that the most important thing in making a good hunting dog is communiacating to the dog what you want him to do. Dogs strive to please their masters so much, that once you get them focused on the task that you want them to do, they will almost always excell at that task.
 
The dog is a mountain curr he is 13 weeks old. I've been dragging the coyote tail around and working him on that. I've took him on a few hikes getting him some exercise. I just have a hard time hiking around seeing rabbits running all over and not packing a gun to shoot at em. Thats why I was wondering if it may teach him bad habits. But on the other hand I feel like the more the dog is around you the better.
 
13 weeks old... teach him his name, keep training short and end on a positive. you have alot of time.

and by the way you can't teach hunting.it's been said hundreds of times if he's got it,he's got it. good luck and enjoy your pup.
 
13 months old??????,(OOPS should have said weeks
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) let him be a puppy, if he wants to chase rabbits, rhinos or butterflies, who cares. If you start pressuring a pup at that age , you may be sorry in the future.
 
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