Sporting Dogs What's the best dog for what type of game? Find out what other hunters think.

Dog breed

Old 11-23-2015, 02:35 PM
  #1  
Spike
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Default Dog breed

I'm wanting to get a puppy to train for rabbit hunting, blood tracking and and shed hunting is there any one breed that could do all that? I've been reading on line and I know beagles are rabbit dogs but I didn't know if they could be trained for shed hunting and blood tracking any help would be great thanks
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Old 11-23-2015, 09:22 PM
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Just an opinion, but a bird dog would likely be a good choice. Bird dogs naturally air scent instead of ground scent. They cover a lot of territory.

Most any dog can be taught to blood scent. I put the long leash on my Terrier and his nose goes to the ground, he knows what I want.

One of the best blood scent dogs I ever knew was a Münsterländer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_...terl%C3%A4nder Good family dog, eager to please.

A lot of guys around here use Bird dogs for Rabbit and Hare.

My Beagles would stick there nose to the ground and follow a trail forever. They seem to have a knack for sorting out crossing scent trails and following the freshest. They seem to want to ground scent and not air scent.

I've had three Weimaraners, Rabbit, birds, blood tracking, pointing, retrieving and flushing is in their genes. I've never trained one to shed hunt, I don't imagine it would be too hard to do. Good family dogs, they are also good personal protection dogs. High energy, they need a lot of exercise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimaraner
I do know they have good noses. My last one could scent a Fox at a quarter of a mile, while he was asleep, no kidding.

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Old 11-24-2015, 08:48 AM
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Versatile breeds can handle most hunting tasks. They have the genetic make up to track, hunt air borne scent, and are very trainable. Wirehaired Dachshunds are used for tracking and while they move a little slow are good at blood tracking. They might also move rabbits out of a brush pile for you and this would be a fun way to hunt.

Another choice would be one of the working dogs. Belgiun sheep dogs, Lab's and German Shepherds both do well at tracking and may well produce small game for you. Border collies are another idea

So, in the end I'd suggest either a Drahthaar, or a Kurtzhaar from German lines as my first suggestion. But looking into any of the others as well is a good idea. Try to see them working before you make up your mind.
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Old 11-24-2015, 01:11 PM
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I went to school with a kid that's parents bred and trained registered beagles they are great rabbit dogs I just wasn't sure if they could be trained for blood tracking and shed hunting too
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Old 11-24-2015, 03:46 PM
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Just an opinion, but IMO training a Beagle is an oxymoron. I'm likely to upset somebody, but IMO most are all instinct and no brains. Their whole world is fixated on following that scent, you can be pretty much irrelevant when they get fixated on a scent. I love the sound of the music they make.

Maybe somebody has succeeded in breeding a smarter or more flexible Beagle. In my experience they kind of get tunnel vision and are hard to train to anything once they get a scent or the occasional idea.

A little story, I had a Hog dog, a catch dog, half Rottweiler half Beagle. I got him from the airport Police, he was a dope dog. He was a trial that didn't work out. A PHD was breeding them as Hog catch dogs. Somebody decided whatever made them good Hog Dogs, would also make them good dope dogs. It didn't work out, he was great at finding dope, but borderline uncontrollable and basically a man eater. I Hog hunted and had a recent home invasion. I volunteered to try and rehabilitate him, put him to work and help him avoid being put down. I actually made the hundred mile drive to the PHD that was breeding them and asked for advice. What he told me was interesting, a dog that would go into a thicket after a Boar or Bear almost had to have tunnel vision, have a strong prey drive, be a scent hound, extremely aggressive and stupid. No kidding that was the traits he was breeding for. What he meant by stupid was a disregard for the consequences or in other words a dog that would do that a second time.

My Hog dog was buddies with my wifes dog, a Pharaoh Hound, a really good Rabbit dog (an eye hunter almost as fast as a Greyhound). The Pharaoh we got from the family of a Grandmother who had died of old age. One day about a year and a half after we had gotten the Pharaoh, she jumped the fence and disappeared. We did everything possible to find her with no success. One day my Hog dog tore the fence down and headed East. I eventually found him. I built a better fence, that he tore down and headed East. And built a better fence, he tore down and headed East. I eventually caught him, that time, two miles from home headed East and chained him to a 45 foot long cable line roller setup.
We got a call from the grandson of the dead Grandmother, he had seen the wifes dog. Half a mile from Grandmas house about ten miles **due East** form our house. The Pharaoh was smart enough, just stubborn and independent. The Hog Dog was dumb as a sack of rocks, but would track until he dropped (that was the Beagle in him). I have no idea how he knew his buddy was ten miles East, must have been his nose.

I raised Beagles at one time, I could see the Beagle in my Hog dog. I have a Terrier mix now, I can see the Beagle in him, I can also see the Bull Terrier in him, he is mostly Jack Russel. Trying to train against basic genetic instinct can be difficult (understatement).

Beagles tend to pick up a scent and stay with it, which can make training them to do anything else problematic. They have a really strong instinct for certain tasks and getting them to do anything else can be futile and/or extremely difficult. IMO they aren't very smart or flexible.

Like I said, just my opinion.

Last edited by MudderChuck; 11-24-2015 at 04:00 PM.
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Old 11-29-2015, 10:34 PM
  #6  
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Little late to the party here but I have found it highly problematic to actually train ANY dog in differing areas. Rabbit dogs are rabbit dogs. Blood dogs are blood dogs. I hit my beagles with the shock collar early on if I catch them running deer. Once they start running deer it is EXTREMELY hard to break them of it and will actually come off a hot rabbit trail if they nose up a deer trail. No matter what MC up there said, dogs are far from stupid BUT they can get tunnel "smell" and they can be stubborn as hell. If stubborn was stupid I'd be the dumbest person on the planet! But stubbornness in dogs quite often does get mistaken for stupidity. But trying to cross train certain breeds is just too far against their natural instincts. Bird dogs can be trained for different types of birds but try getting a well trained pointer for pheasants to point on a rabbit. The dog will look at you like you are the one that needs to be trained!
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Old 11-30-2015, 06:09 AM
  #7  
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Super Hunt is right, I used stupid in place of inflexible and stubborn. I've found generally that the females of most breeds to be easier to train and more eager to please.

Got to know the dog of a girlfriend of my youngest daughter over Thanksgiving. Half Ridgeback and half Beagle, interesting mix. She seemed eager to please and trainable. When I let her out in the large yard she worked it like a pro, her nose went to the ground and she investigated every corner of that yard. When somebody came late to the party, she would *advance* she is basically brave, not overly timid and she has a bark twice the size of her body. That Ridgeback guard dog thing is strong in her.

I had a Boxer Shepard mix, she was prone to be a herding dog, but I could train her to do anything. If I could communicate to her what I wanted she would do it.

The trouble with mixes is you never really know how the genes are going to present and which instincts are going to be dominant. With pure breeds you can largely predict which instincts are going to be dominant.

Talking about instincts, my last Weimaraner was nose dominant, a born pointer. But stuck way back in those genes someplace was a strong owner protection gene and guard dog gene. Twice he saved my bacon by coming out of the dark to threaten somebody who meant me harm. Pure instinct, I never trained him to it, he was generally kind of a bone head, but was a good gun dog and had his surprise uses.
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Old 12-03-2015, 12:48 AM
  #8  
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Hello everyone

According to my opinion Jack Russell Terrier is one of the good option. If you look at the features, they are very energetic and love to enjoy and play different games. They are very adorable and lovable breed.

Reference
http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/profiles
http://britishgrit.com/
https://iheartdogs.com/10-dog-breeds...utest-puppies/
http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/jack-russell-terrier
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Old 12-03-2015, 05:58 AM
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Originally Posted by richardhandsonn
Hello everyone

According to my opinion Jack Russell Terrier is one of the good option. If you look at the features, they are very energetic and love to enjoy and play different games. They are very adorable and lovable breed.

Reference
http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/profiles
http://britishgrit.com/
https://iheartdogs.com/10-dog-breeds...utest-puppies/
http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/jack-russell-terrier
I have three of them now, all three have a different talent. To be honest, one is a Jack Russel, one a Plummer Terrier and one a mix Russel/Plummer.

The Jack is ear dominant, I call her radar ears. She is really good at finding game.

The Plummer is nose dominant and is a born killer. He also has the pain threshold of a Pit Bull and some of the temperament. Rodents don't stand a chance with him around. In his mind he is a Mastiff, Mouse or Wild Hog he doesn't know the difference or care.

The Jack/Plummer mix is a born earth dog. She will go down any hole she can fit into and some she shouldn't, she seems to love tight places. She has a high pitched bark that will blow your eardrums out that seems to work really well for flushing Fox.
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