Hunting dogs

[Caitlin Williams]

Thought this was a very cool photo to share.
my GSP is now a year old and is learning to track and bay animals. this was a blue wildebeest that I had shot and sent her to bay it.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Here is "Puppy" aka Coral. A French Brittany, she just turned twelve. Almost lost her in January. Very suddenly ill and x-rays revealed a large internal growth. Rushed her across the border to Minneapolis (during the worst blizzard of this century) where a tumor was removed the size of a softball. It was cancerous but a kinder variety. She recovered very quickly but then had a bad bout again two weeks ago. X-rays revealed nothing but her liver count was up. She is 100% now. Possibly an infection of canine hepatitis. One day at a time. She is as frisky as a dog half her age. Guess that's why I keep calling her Puppy.

"Not leaving camp again without me!"

And this is my main "go to" bird dog, Ellie. She hales from the same little ND town as Puppy. Puppy's breeder owned Ellie's dad. Ellie is a deadly uplands dog. She works very close and is an amazing pointer. Ellie's only drawback is she won't retreive honkers from the field. From water she's great. She won't let the big birds get away but I have to go pick them up. Oh well. I've owned six other Labs but this one is the "happiest". What a character! She just turned eight.

I am an empty nester due to duel family tragedies twelve years ago. I don't think I would have made it but for the dogs. They're good for a lot more than just hunting.

 

[Velo Dog]

Greetings fellow dog lovers,

This is preaching to the choir here but, dogs are much better company than most humans are these days.

We have a pair, (10 year old male and 1 year old female), both Irish Terriers.
Our old male, Theodore Roosevelt was named after perhaps the most revered by some, loathed by others; New York Police Commissioner, N. Dakota Cowboy, World Explorer, Published Author, Amateur Boxer, USA President and soforth.

Our young female, Lilly Langtree was named after the in-her-time, The World’s Most Famous Actress, (on stage only, in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s).
Most don’t know it but, she founded the first commercial winery in Lake County California, “Guenoc Winery”, just north of the Napa County line a short way.
It remains in business today.
Also, she was so popular that, Langtree Texas, named their town after her.
Judge Roy Bean fancied her and wrote to her more than one or two romantic letters, even though it is arguable that they were never together.
She travelled the earth and led an incredible, interesting life, to say the least.

Blah blah whatever.

Irish Terriers are primarily pursuit dogs and superior rabbit / hare dogs over beagles, when hunting in snow, due to their longer legs.
Their thick wirery coat also helps keep them warm when hunting in snow conditions.
That said, Irish Terriers are fine retrievers as well.
They’re well suited to duck hunting, and my old dog Teddy, has also retrieved spruce grouse for me, perfectly.

This breed does not usually point.
So when hunting with them,
one either has to put an electric buzz collar on them or use a long rope to keep them at short range, and not let them flush the birds out of shotgun range.
Neither arrangement is perfect, especially the long tether.
But, my wife and I love this breed, as they are super intelligent and not only hyper vigilant watch dogs but very entertaining clowns, as well as affectionate companions.

Oh ya, this breed also loves to hunt tree squirrels as well.
Upon treeing one, they give a certain barking pattern that differs from their frenzied yapping at people they don’t recognize, stray dogs, cats, bears, etc.
Their squirrel up a tree bark is much slower intervals, about one single bark per 2 seconds.
Teddy & Lilly are both excellent squirrel retrievers.
Old Ted had to be trained to not mall the little rodents but Lilly so far, has not shown a burning violent hatred toward them.
She retrieves with a soft mouth.

Anyway, I am such a computer dud that, I experience nothing but grief and general failure at posting photos in the forum.
Even when I owned a computer, I had little luck with this.
Now, I only have a cell phone and so, posting photos is even more difficult to impossible than it was before.

So, if anyone wants to see pics of my doggeroos, and / or post them for me, just PM me either your email address or your cell phone number.
Indeed I can send a couple via email or text.
For whatever reason, that seems to work fine for this satanic phone of mine.

Otherwise, just google “Irish Terrier” and many pictures of this breed will pop up.

Anyway, CHEERS to everyone’s Good Doggies here and everywhere.

Best Regards,
Paul
(Velo Dog).

 

[PARA45]

I currently do now own any hunting dogs. When my lovely Yellow Lab Savannah passed, I have not been able to get another lab. However, my wife and I rescue an 8-year-old German Shephard named Kaly, and she has turned out to be a fantastic gopher hunter. She has killed 4 that we know of, and she gets them and brings them to mama, who freaks out and calls me to get them.

BTW, she had been in the shelter for quite some time, and we decided to give her a good home for her remaining years. Her owners were in their 80s, and the wife passed away, and the husband couldn't take care of 3 dogs, so he gave them up for adoption. She is a fabulous companion, and great guard. She is going to be 12 this year, and she is slowing down some. I'm glad we brought her home.

Here she is.

 

[fourfive8]

Oh yah I'm all in for rescue dogs. And they all become members of the family that unfortunately we generally outlive. While I no longer have opportunities for much bird hunting, I remember long hours with my lab in very cold duck/goose blinds and some great pheasant hunts in Kansas. My favorite hunting dogs for late season pheasant hunts are well seasoned, tight healing, 100% retrievers like labs. The most common name I know of for young, unruly hunting dogs is, "sht head". Has to be because that's the only name I ever heard their owners call them. Whether just before sunrise on the duck marsh or in the vast expanses of open stubble fields or weed choked sloughs of pheasant county, "tweet, tweet, tweet, tweeeeet" on the whistle in between yelling, "get over here sht head!"

 

[Inline6]

Oh yah I'm all in for rescue dogs. And they all become members of the family that unfortunately we generally outlive. While I no longer have opportunities for much bird hunting, I remember long hours with my lab in very cold duck/goose blinds and some great pheasant hunts in Kansas. My favorite hunting dogs for late season pheasant hunts are well seasoned, tight healing, 100% retrievers like labs. The most common name I know of for young, unruly hunting dogs is, "sht head". Has to be because that's the only name I ever heard their owners call them. Whether just before sunrise on the duck marsh or in the vast expanses of open stubble fields or weed choked sloughs of pheasant county, "tweet, tweet, tweet, tweeeeet" on the whistle in between yelling, "get over here sht head!"

Lol, have taken care of the name calling with an Alpha 200. Don't have to do anything other than tap a button. It that doesn't work I hit the other button and they come running back.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Lol, have taken care of the name calling with an Alpha 200. Don't have to do anything other than tap a button. It that doesn't work I hit the other button and they come running back.

Until the technocrap breaks, comes off (yes, I have seen it happen), or batteries give out. My whistle (which I rarely use) and my voice never fail. To see a great dog working in the field without electronics is the mark of a great handler. My dogs are controlled directly by me. At home or in the field we are essentially a single entity. Nothing powered by a battery runs that relationship. We are two souls joined together by physical love and respect. Nothing mechanical involved.

 

[Hunt anything]

I here you Ontario Hunter, I tried an e-caller on one of my Chesapeakes. All’s it did was piss him off, didn’t phase him a bit. He had no respect for mr. Edison at all. Went back to the whistle and never looked back.

 

[Inline6]

Until the technocrap breaks, comes off (yes, I have seen it happen), or batteries give out. My whistle (which I rarely use) and my voice never fail. To see a great dog working in the field without electronics is the mark of a great handler. My dogs are controlled directly by me. At home or in the field we are essentially a single entity. Nothing powered by a battery runs that relationship. We are two souls joined together by physical love and respect. Nothing mechanical involved.

Guess you are a better trainer than I....

 

[Joker12]

Until the technocrap breaks, comes off (yes, I have seen it happen), or batteries give out. My whistle (which I rarely use) and my voice never fail. To see a great dog working in the field without electronics is the mark of a great handler. My dogs are controlled directly by me. At home or in the field we are essentially a single entity. Nothing powered by a battery runs that relationship. We are two souls joined together by physical love and respect. Nothing mechanical involved.

My setters are also voice controlled but I also use a tracking E-collar because they are frequently too far for voice control or perhaps its a windy day and they can't hear me. I like knowing where they are and having the ability to communicate when they are out of earshot. They know that if the collar beeps its time to check in with the boss.

 

[Louis Toadvine]

Any recommendations on tracking collars for smaller dogs? I have two fiery pups that are in the 20-22lbs range that are not hunting dogs in the conventional sense but that we walk off the leash in the woods a lot. They are fierce and regularly chase (and often catch) small game like squirrels, rabbits, woodchucks, etc. They are getting better at staying close and listening to voice commands but I have a fear that they will chase an animal too far and I won't be able to find them. They are a basal breed and despite training they often can't help themselves. Looking for something that will allow me to track them in the deep stuff if they go too far.

The collar doesn't need to have a massive range or be too heavy duty--like I said, these pups aren't hardcore hunting or tracking dogs, I'm just looking for peace of mind/margin of safety when on woods walks. Thanks.

P.S. There are so many great pictures in this thread!

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Guess you are a better trainer than I....

Perhaps I have a lot more time available to work with my dogs. I'm retired and spend a couple months every fall in the field with them pretty much on a daily basis. Also breed choice/purpose makes a difference. I've always said a Lab wearing an e-collar is either ornamental or sign of a handler who doesn't have the time or knowledge to train a dog properly. Labs work close and generally have a dying-to-please disposition. Not hard to work them without electronics. My present Lab is an excellent pointer and she works close. That is a DEADLY combination for uplands, especially late in the season when birds are shot up and spooky. Rangey pointing dogs aren't much good if roosters won't hold more than a few seconds. Handler can't catch up to them in time for a shot. In thick grouse woods a close working pointer is ideal ... unless you enjoy listening to a beeper going off constantly or looking at GPS instead of the scenery. I don't need to gut birds bad enough to play that game. Anyway, I'm in the woods to escape the technology that overwhelms my daily life at home/work.

 

[Inline6]

My pup is a mix half GSP half GWP. I don't have to turn on the the controller. When the collar is on she knows what can happen and she has more incentive to listen. She has a lot of energy and she needs to run it off in the very beginning. I'm in south Texas we don't have a lot of quail. So she mainly retrieves dove and ducks for me. We have donkey's in the back pasture. That is another reason for the collar, if I need to turn her she needs to turn right then. Have come close to shooting the donkey once. He acted like he was going to chase her, my pistol was in my hand and I was punching out. When I came to full extension he pulled off. He was with .5 secs of getting smoked.

I have no problem taking ownership for any of her short comings, this is the first dog I have ever truly trained with on birds. I sent her father to be trained, the trainer wanted to keep him. He was truly impressed with him. She has every bit of his drive.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

My pup is a mix half GSP half GWP. I don't have to turn on the the controller. When the collar is on she knows what can happen and she has more incentive to listen. She has a lot of energy and she needs to run it off in the very beginning. I'm in south Texas we don't have a lot of quail. So she mainly retrieves dove and ducks for me. We have donkey's in the back pasture. That is another reason for the collar, if I need to turn her she needs to turn right then. Have come close to shooting the donkey once. He acted like he was going to chase her, my pistol was in my hand and I was punching out. When I came to full extension he pulled off. He was with .5 secs of getting smoked.

I have no problem taking ownership for any of her short comings, this is the first dog I have ever truly trained with on birds. I sent her father to be trained, the trainer wanted to keep him. He was truly impressed with him. She has every bit of his drive.

Donkeys and mules can be quite territorial/defensive. They are often used to guard sheep. Keep dog in hand if hunting around a flock! Also, watch out for those Pyrannese guard dogs! Mule may chase a hunting dog but those mutts will kill it. Hunting with black Labs around Angus cattle in the fall can be interesting. That's the time their calves are shipped to market. Poor heartsick bossies come running after my dogs thinking they might be their missing kids. Confuses my poor dogs and it's irritating but quite harmless. Kinda funny to watch. I am hesitant to hunt in the same fields as livestock but the ranchers are usually okay with it. "Ain't yet seen one of them black cows learned how to fly." Even if one was hit broadside with #6 shot at twenty yards, I don't see how it could penetrate its thick hide.

 

[Hunt anything]

We used to keep donky with our cows to keep coyotes away, they are very good at their jobs

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

 

[Peter Larsson]

This is my dog:

Hunts mostly roedeers and She can follow tracks of all wounded animals.

 

[Wemshie]

Alan and Nicky, my Standard Poodles.

Stupid dogs....

 

[IronRanger]

Here is my old dog, Iron. This was most likely his last year hunting, 14 year old springer that still puts the kill on racoons (skunks n porcupine too) while mixing in finding upland birds. IA opener in this photo. He's hunted, MN, IA, SD, ND, MT. Very sick today, old, not long with us.

 

[IronRanger]

The current main horse in my/our dog power hunts, Shal'gure. My second Brittany, and wow more go then I anticipated at my age n leg strength. MN opener 2022 in the photo. She's great with birds around, no so great with no birds near as she feels they must be jn the next section and heads that way for advance scouting.