Can some of you that hunt with squirrel dogs give me some tips for getting one started? I've got a young Jack Russes Terrier I'd like to get started this year.

I've trained bird dogs before but don't know how to begin training a squirrel dog other than to just take them in the woods and hope for the best.

Any tips you can provide will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
firstshot

Its best to start with dogs bred to hunt squirrels. You live in Arkansas, definetly no shortage of squirrel dog power there. check out www.sqdog.com The chat gets most users after 8 and before 10.

Good site TREEDOG .

I just started my Rat Terrier on squirrels earlier this year. Let me know if you find some good info., since I'm in the same boat as you. Anyone else huntin' with Rat Terriers?

I have two Rat Terriers. The female would rather be carried around but Bud the male seems to be a natural. I started him fetching my socks out of the sock drawer and then started asking him to "fetch" different things in the house. I now take him out on a leash for Squirrels. He sits beside me (Sometimes I have to put my foot on the leash to keep him still.) until I shoot and then I let him go. At first he was reluctant to grab the squirrel and bring it back. He now will pick it up and bring it right to me. Hes only been out a few times. The season for this year starts today and I will take him out. The next part will be to teach him how to locate them and maybe move around the tree when asked. Its alot of fun!
Tim

The best way to start a young squirrel dog is to find a woods/forest with plenty of squirrels and get your dog out there ALOT!
Don't ever shoot a squirrel out that your dog didn't tree.
When he trees, tie/leash him under the tree until you shoot the squirrel out.
This will teach the dog that you won't shoot a squirrel out until he has tree it and stayed-put under the tree.

Jumpshootin that is one good looking feist you have you there, how is he/she bred?

That's great advice jumpshootin', I appreciate it. My rat is "fetch obsessed". I've hunted with a lot of friends dogs and have never run across a dog that is so occupied with the idea of fetching things. I have to put all of his toys away or he'll drive us crazy all night long bringing 'em to us and whining for someone to throw them. I''m taking him with me dove hunting on Saturday morning, so I'll post on the sporting dogs forum and let y'all know how he did.

Treedog - This little Feist dog is now 4.5 years old. There is some RiverRun blood a few generations back, but he is mostly out of a long line of dogs from here in Michigan.
There were a couple of fellas who came up here from the south after WWII to work in the auto plants. With them they brought some Feist dogs. Apparently these dogs had been with their families for generations before that time. These fellas crossed their dogs, and also out-crossed some. The only recognizable out-cross to me is a RiverRun dog.
This dog is as game as they get. Has great eyes, ears, & nose. Trees hard. Timbers very well. And most days will tree every squirrel in the woods.
This past spring I entered him in his first UKC squirrel hunt. He was the only Feist up against a bunch of Curs, with several squirrel champions entered. He placed third in the squirrel hunt, beating out the champion dogs. Then won Grand Bench Show Champion.
I have trained Beagles and Labs all my life and got this Feist to hunt with something 'different'. He has turned out to be the best hunting dog that I have ever had. I like him more than any dog that I have been around.

Ah Riverrun blood ive heard about but I dont know much about there background. From what Ive heard riverrun feist hunt hard and far, definetly sounds like good qualities to me. To bad you dont live more central in the US, we have lots of NKC hunts down here and PKC hunts.