Dog Training to Hunt — Dog Training At Home Near Me
Dog Training to Hunt — Dog Training At Home Near Me
This article is about dog training to hunt — dog training at home near me. A Canine provides unconditional love and friendship to a caring owner. A well-trained dog increases your pleasure and satisfaction ten times over, as compared to an untrained dog. Studies have shown that a well-trained dog is a happier and more content animal than one who is not. I have been training dogs for more than 25 years and my objective is always to have a pet that is happy and who I can control in any situation including coming in contact with children or other animals. I have been successful in accomplishing this with absolutely no cruelty and without breaking a dog’s spirit. When proper training techniques are employed, you will be surprised how quickly a dog will learn to follow your commands. The following are examples of some great dog training techniques you can use to teach your dog some basic obedience skills:
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In this article I would like, from my experience, to give a few touches on the basic training of the one who is going to become our inseparable companion: our hunting dog.
Without a doubt, empathy with our puppy should be a key condition when starting training. The ideal age, generally to carry it out, ranges between 8 months and one year of age (always taking into account the maturity of the dog).
Before starting with the training of our dog for hunting activity, whatever breed it may be, the most important thing is that it is perfectly socialized .
Contact with us and all family members is of vital importance for socialization. That is, we have to start by socializing our puppy in a positive way, and once socialized we can start with training.
When I refer to training in a positive way, it is because we will always work with training in a positive way. No punishment, no pressure or taking our dog to the psychological limit. On the contrary, training will be based on awards.
Each action carries its reaction: a successful behavior will be rewarded with a caress, positive expressions and, for those who prefer, some food. On the contrary, when the aptitude of our partner is not correct, we will not punish; we simply will not reward. Their behavior will teach them what is the way to get their “prize”.
Well, with that said, we get down to business. Training a hunting dog requires a succession of retrieval and search techniques. If a routine training with exercises is carried out, and with this positive method, we will be able to form a great hunting dog that, without a doubt, will give us many joys in our days in the field.
Restraint exercises are also essential in the training of this type of dog so that they do not stray and can unleash their hunting instinct under the watchful eye of their master. That gaze full of complicity between the dog and the owner that only those of us who experience it understand and which has been the closest thing to talking with the gaze.
We can always help ourselves with basic instruments to be able to carry out the training correctly, which are: electric training collar, an extendable strap, a detonator, a long handling rope, a fetch roller that will help us with the collection and a double whistle. , with a fine tone to call the dog and a louder sound to correct mistakes during training.
Get used to noise
When we go to accompany our dogs for hunting with firearms, it will be convenient to the noises and dry blows so that they are not scared later by the shots.
That the dog does not associate the noises with something negative from an early age will be essential for the exercise of hunting in which, more or less frequently, shots are hit. Periodically slapping or even dropping objects while your puppy is eating or receiving a treat will help him associate the shots with something positive.
In the field it will be when we use the detonator, and always in such a way that that noise is associated with a positive stimulus such as the race or flight of a piece. If previously we have accustomed it to hearing noises, the sessions in the field will be sewing and singing, although this noise greatly influences the character of the dog and depending on how we must act.
Collection exercise
As its name suggests, this exercise is the procedure by which hunting dogs learn to bring back to their owner the live or dead prey that the hunter has shot.
To do this, we will distinguish between carrying and charging .
Carry is that the dog learns to pick up and carry the roller or the piece, while charging is that he associates the fact of giving it to us and does it. We must try to make this double exercise a game for him and, in turn, attract his attention, so the sessions will be short and stimulating.
Let the dog walk with the roller we will achieve it with the training leash, until the dog gets used to carrying the roller in its mouth without releasing it. We can reward you every time we pick up the roller from your mouth.
Once this step is achieved, we can walk it with the training rope or with the electric training collar so that it does not stray too far
When the dog already looks for the roller and brings it without any problem, it begins to introduce the first hunting smells. We will use hare, rabbit skin (it is important to previously salt it) or some bird, which we will tie on the roller to start using it in the exercises. The dog will automatically associate his roller with the scent of the animals, which he will then collect in time of desveda.
Cross search
This exercise consists of the dog learning to search from left to right for prey in the available land. To do this, an extendable strap that measures about 30 meters will be used without easily tangling. This way we can correct him when he does not look for the part properly, giving a tug on the rope or with the correct whistle. That already “for tastes, colors.”
Remember always, always, reward your dog, offer positive encouragement. dog training to hunt — dog training at home near me The best of our teammates will give us unforgettable moments both on the field and on a daily basis, so our maxim will be: positive training.
Hunting dog training
TRAINING
How to train my dog to pay well?
How to train my dog to pay well?
By far, one of the questions that hunters ask me the most in reference to handling problems is related to collection. Undoubtedly, hunting distance and collection often drive many hunters head over heels. Let’s see how to start the education of a puppy on the right foot and not make mistakes.
How to teach my hunting dog 4 basic obedience commands?
How to teach my hunting dog 4 basic obedience commands?
After having achieved the correct socialization of our puppy, it is time to get down to work to teach him some basic obedience commands. Specifically we are going to practice the following exercises: “sit”, “together”, call, “still”, the lace in front of the hunter.
How to train a dog to bark for hunting I
So that the dogs can coexist in a group without killing each other, they have had to devise a system of coexistence, the hierarchy. And to be able to establish hierarchies and be cooperative they need good communication systems. One of these systems is the bark
4 Tips for the positive growth of our puppies when hunting
4 Tips for the positive growth of our puppies when hunting
There are many of us who, at the start of the quail season, have our hope and enthusiasm in a puppy and we are eager to get it ready with the African women.
Is smell the most important thing in a hunting dog?
Is smell the most important thing in a hunting dog?
Humans have always been struck by the olfactory capacity of dogs, and it is one of their senses that we have used the most for hunting. But is smell really that important?
5 steps for a good socialization of the hunting dog
5 steps for a good socialization of the hunting dog
Our expert trainer explains to us how he makes our puppy interact correctly with people or other dogs, leaving his fears parked and thus turning him into a real hunting machine.
Stimulation exercises for the first months of a hunting dog
Stimulation exercises for the first months of a hunting dog
We are going to delve into how the brain of a puppy evolves in the first months of life. This is one of the most interesting discoveries that have been made in recent years about canine learning.
How to get my dog to have a fondness for hunting?
How to get my dog to have a fondness for hunting?
Of the main qualities that a hunting dog must have, the hobby is possibly the most important. Above other characteristics, such as smell or display, the passion for hunting is what we must always look for… .. but with certain conditions.
The training area for hunting dogs
The training area for hunting dogs
If we want to keep our hunting companion in shape and that he is in full capacity at the beginning of the season, a very good option for this is his training in the so-called training areas. Don’t you know them? We tell you what they are and we reveal the characteristics that they must meet so that the work with the dogs gives the expected fruit.
Bases of learning the hunting dog
Bases of learning the hunting dog
In this small tour that we are carrying out on the steps that we must take in the education of a hunting dog, after going through the different stages of maturation of the puppy, it is time to focus on learning.
Dogs against poison
Dogs against poison
Preventive and deterrent are some of the measures pursued by the Canine Poison Detection Unit of Castilla-La Mancha, which performs a very important work. To be exceptional witnesses to his work, we travel to Albacete, where he has his base of operations.
How to train a dog to bark for hunting II
How to train a dog to bark for hunting II
There are dogs that bark excessively, any small noise or alteration is enough to start barking in a scandalous way. This becomes a problem. How can we prevent things from going to this extreme?
11 guidelines to train your new hunting dog correctly
Laying the foundations of our future hunting dog is not an easy task. How to socialize him with the environment, humans and other dogs? What are the essential commands that you must learn to obey? How and when to take him hunting? This guide answers the big questions we ask ourselves when a new puppy comes into our pack.
Studies in canine psychology and analysis of the growth, behavior and development of our puppies have determined novel education and training techniques, showing that some approaches from the past could be negative in their development as hunting dogs. These are the new dog training guidelines.
1-. Socialize it with the medium
Walking them through the countryside and the city will help them balance their emotions and create positive relationships. A puppy that lives in a kennel, an orchard, a residence or our own home and that only grows in that environment is like a child who spends his childhood in a town of about 100 inhabitants and from which his parents have never taken him to meet another environment, other people, other ways of living.
The most normal thing is that when that child, as an adult, goes out to see the world everything will cause fear, something that can mark his personality, making him shy and withdrawn, and his life when it comes to relating.
We must offer our puppies the greatest number of sensory experiences taking into account, as I always say, that their learning and intelligence is only associative: that is, they always learn through experiences. It is useless to try to explain what he should or should not do, since he does not understand our language.
We must, instead, offer them the greatest number of experiences to facilitate their ability to adapt to any terrain and situation. A clear example can be found in woodcock hunting dogs, where the terrain is usually wooded and full of firewood, which makes any action difficult as well as visibility over long distances.
two-. Offer him the greatest number of experiences
A dog, even an adult and with experience in other modalities and other areas that we suddenly want to hunt for woodcocks, it is very possible that it will take us a long time to adapt to this new terrain and that it hunts at its highest level, since the new situation Generate new insecurities in you that prevent you from taking the necessary search distances and the necessary concentration in the search for it to be effective.
It is not uncommon for many of these dogs to have to be discarded for this modality because they have not been socialized with this environment as puppies. The conclusion: offer them the greatest number of experiences and in different settings. In this way you will have companions with great adaptability and resolution capacity.
3-. Let him interact with the children
Petting and playing with our puppies, as well as letting the children interact with them, will help them grow and build a good relationship with us. It has been shown that one of the guidelines that govern and direct the lives of our dogs, whether they are hunting or not, is, first of all, their gregarious nature, that is, their way of life in a pack, being able to adopt almost any species as part of your family.
An example is that of the mastiffs , which is enough to introduce from puppies into the cattle so that they directly become their herd and, therefore, defend it to the death against any external aggression. Both we and other dogs that we have and with whom we live will directly become the herd of our hunting dogs, being able to give a herd of two without any problem, that is, my dog and me.
4-. Establish a good hierarchy
Create a close relationship with them from puppies, feed them, walk them, play, reward and capitalize those actions that we like, as well as punish or ignore those that do not, will serve to establish a perfect bond and will help us in the face of the other guideline that governs his life: the hierarchy. Its social structure is based on this concept: a dog is born to occupy a status within the pack in which we must occupy, without a doubt, the rank of leader.
For this , physical punishment is not necessary, although confrontations are frequent between them to claim their social position. Feeding them, setting guidelines, educating them and, finally, training them are actions that will grant us the mandatory status that we must occupy if we want them to obey us and, as they say, hunt for us.
5-. Prepare the ‘tools’
Teaching them from puppies to walk on the leash and flexi , using taste rewards as positive reinforcements and handling the whistle as a method of understanding and communication will allow us to establish the first necessary hierarchy guidelines in their lives.
As for the leash, teaching our puppies to walk on it is one of the best exercises that we necessarily have to do with our companions.
When we talk about flexi we mean an extendable leash that is ideal for training hunting dogs. Its use is similar to that of a conventional strap, but it allows us the advantage of being able to work with it at different distances, even up to ten meters, and, in addition, it offers our colleague a very positive feeling of semi-freedom for his habituation to this tool and handling. The best for the field are the rope ones, since, unlike the ribbon ones, they hardly become entangled with the vegetation.
6-. Make good use of the leash
This umbilical cord, which unites us to our dog and by which we tell him how, at what speed and where he has to go, will begin to mark in his life the necessary hierarchy so that he ends up being an obedient animal and, as it is colloquially said , hunt for us.
This simple exercise of control in any situation will also be the future basis to solve any problems that may arise, such as a poor sample or a bad collection, and the foundations in the first phases of training.
However, we must not be careless: misuse of this tool can destroy all of the above. Who has not had, has or knows the typical dog that, when putting on the leash, pulls it, dragging us where he wants? So we ask ourselves: who walks whom? Who rules over whom?
So that this does not happen, we must teach him to walk without pulling the leash, in the direction we choose and at the speed we decide. To achieve this, it is essential to name the exercise — I use the command ‘together’ — and keep the negative corrections and reinforcements perfectly balanced with the rewards, both verbal and gustatory, with which we will reward you when you are walking by our side without pulling the belt.
7-. Use the whistle correctly
Teaching him the exercises by means of whistle-blow commands allows us several advantages over verbal ones, such as the distance at which he can hear our order while at the same time we do not alert the pieces or cause them to flee.
This tool allows us to always give orders in the same tones and structures, which will favor a better understanding and execution of the exercise by our student. Depending on the number of touches and their intensity, we will be giving you a specific order. I use it in the following way: a long touch (piiiiiiiiiiiiii) means, ‘come here’; a short one (pi), ‘you have no orders, go hunting’; two short (pi pi), ‘turns’; a strong and vibrant one, (pririririririririri), ‘still’ ..
8-. Avoid false beliefs — only real experiences
A very common mistake is trying to teach a puppy to do the sample or to ‘get his instincts’ by attracting his attention with the typical reed or butterfly, moving the feathers and withdrawing it when he pounces on them without being able to catch him.
The sample is not an instinct, but a neurological mechanism that has only been developed in the so-called sample breeds. Many popular beliefs can negatively affect the growth of our puppies and their future behavior during our hunting days.
In addition to the rod or butterfly, the early collection of pieces without a confirmed sample, the cut pieces … can be the cause of serious problems in the future hunting actions of our four-legged companions. In reality these are baseless popular beliefs that require very little effort and do not take into account the consequences: if they do not bear the expected results, the answer is simple, it is always our dog’s fault.
9-. Encourage a good show
We must expose him to hunting with real experiences, with escapes of the pieces. That is to say, the most important thing to capitalize on a good sample is that the dog understands that by itself, and even counting on its attack speed, that it cannot catch the piece: in this way it will come to the conclusion that through a perfect sample , counting on our help and the shot, is how you can achieve your goal.
If we offer him the best of the prizes, that is, catching the piece, without having done all the previous work well, we run the risk that he will learn to do it badly, since in spite of this he has won the great reward.
10-. Name each order
Photo: Ángel Vidal
As I describe this pattern in my book From Mount to Hunting, dogs have their own language, which is often gestural, guttural, and visual. One thing that is evident is that it is nothing like ours. If we stop to reflect, we act with our dogs believing that they are born knowing all languages, that it does not matter in which language we speak they will understand us; and when they don’t obey us we end up shouting the command or repeating it ad nauseam, as if he were deaf or stupid. Put yourself in their place.
Imagine that someone gives you an order in a language you don’t know and, if you don’t obey him, he yells at you, keeps repeating it or, in the worst case, even slaps you twice. The first thing to be able to obey is to understand what we are being commanded to do; and the same happens with our four-legged companions.
Teaching them our language is essential for understanding and performing any exercise, as well as naming each action or command. A very simple example: at the same time that we give the command ‘turn’, we turn; seeing that we are moving away in another direction, it will turn around so as not to get lost. Thus, based on repetitions, it will associate the sound ‘turn’ with turning around. As I explained before, this is what your associative intelligence consists of.
eleven-. Take him out hunting when he’s ready
It is an answer that will always depend on each dog, but seven months is the average age to start our puppy hunting. He has already ‘built up’ and, most importantly, his brain is ready to assimilate and analyze hunting actions.
In this phase of their life they are like sponges, so be careful: they will learn both the good and the bad things. I tell you a couple of practical examples. If we hunt a partridge that has been pounced after locating it and after a short sample — which is the most common in the first experiences — the most normal thing is that our partner learns to jump for the pieces without holding a good sample, since this method has given him good results.
If before working and verifying a perfect sample we dedicate ourselves to work the collection with real pieces, either dead or cut, the information we are giving you is that the game can be caught without having to show it previously, therefore, when in hunting action, locate a piece, the most normal thing will be that instead of showing it you will try to catch it, because that is what we have taught you.
In the world of dogs and their training there are no magic formulas or miraculous tricks. Knowledge, first, work, patience and perseverance are the only tools that can ensure our success. Of all this, thousands of books could be written, almost as many as dogs and it is one of the guidelines that we have to take into account, never stop learning. I hope these lines help you to ‘manufacture’ great hunters with dog training to hunt — dog training at home near me. See you on the mountain.
