mossbergman11/OH

dog for doves/squirrel/rabbits/coons/and tracking?

what is a good kind of dog for this and how do you train them?
my primary ones for a dog is coons and squirrel and rabbit and tracking

bigalc

To be honest, I don't think there is any one breed of dog that will be really good at all of the types of hunting you have listed. There are too many differences between what is needed of a good coon dog and what is needed of a good bird dog.
With that said, I think you may be able to reach some compromises. Here goes nothing:
I know of some coon dog breeds that also make decent squirrel dogs. However, it takes a special dog to learn to use his eyes on squirrels, and his nose on coons. Too many coon dogs will follow a squirrel up a tree with their nose, and never watch the squirrel leap from tree to tree. When you get to the tree Mr. Bushytail will be 100 yards away. I like blueticks for coons, but for a dual-purpose dog you might look atTreeing Walkers or Plotts. You might also look at curs or feists. I know they are well regarded as dual-purpose tree hounds.
Beagles make good rabbit dogs,and some have been trained as tracking dogs. But for a dual-purpose dog in this area I would suggest a Basset hound. Their noses are the most sensitive of all the dog breeds, with the exception of the Bloodhound. And from personal experience I can tell you that Bassetsmake great family pets. (In regards to the bloodhound, they are the best trackers, but they are too gentle-natured to fight a big boar coon. And they are too big to go after rabbits in briar patches.)
As far as finding a dog that would also retrieve doves, I think you would have to really work a lot with any of these breeds to get them to retrieve consistently.
One other breed you might want to think about is Jack Russell terriers. They make pretty good squirrel dogs, and they will really run rabbits (although mostly by sight). I bet they could be trained to retrieve pretty well too. However, I do not think they would make good coon dogs, and I do not know how well they would do at tracking.
As far as training, the best thing is to find some hunters in your area that hunt what you want to, and train your dog with theirs. To find these guys look for old pick-up trucks with dog boxes in them, and then look for a guy with no money nearby!
Best of luck!

mossbergman11/OH

well i really like beagles and i would like to get a pure bred one or at least close to one. we have a lab/beagle mix now and she has treed coons before and is always chasing rabbits and also treed squirrels. i have never been rabbit hunting before but i would really like to. would a beagle be a good choice for me?

wheelie

LOL , I was under the understanding it is best to keep dog on one thing, mulity tasking is not the best for the dog

SWOSUMike

If you want a combo squirrel and coon dog, I'd get a cur or a feist. There is a guy who sometimes is on www.sqdog.com whose kemmer/omcba mountain cur gets some time in the dove fields as well and seems to do a fine job.

mossbergman11/OH

i want a beagle probably

mossbergman11/OH

but i want a rabbit and coon dog

bigalc

I completely understand your wanting a beagle. We have three grown ones and a puppy. They are wonderful family and companion dogs, as well as good hunting dogs. They are bred to be trail dogs, and I am sure you could train one to trail coons. The biggest downfall they would have is that they are not bred to have the treeing instinct, so they might follow the coon to the tree, and then go silent. You wouldn't know where they were unless you used a tracking collar. Youcould try training one with a coonhound, and this might help one learn to bark on the tree.
As to what Wheelie said, it is best to train a dog to specialize on one type of game. BUT, with a smart dog and a lot of patient training you can probably have a dog that is competent on more than one kind of animal.

mossbergman11/OH

could i bring the dog to a trainer? and does the beagle have to be purebred?

bigalc

You can absolutely take your dog to a trainer. If you don't have a good bit of hunting experience this might be the way to go. And no, the dog would not have to be purebred. Actually, for a multi-purpose dog a mixed-breed might be preferred. If the trainer acts like a snob about training a mutt, then hang up the phone. It's your money after all.

Taking a dog to a trainer brings up a whole set of other concerns though. For one thing most trainers will only train on one type of game. So if you want a multi-purpose dog you would have to go to multiple trainers.
If you take your dog to a trainer make sure to ask for references first, and then call every one of them. Ask lots of questions.
When you talk to the trainer ask lots of questions as well. Ask what happens if your dogs gets sick or hurt, or if it dies. Ask what type of food he feeds. Ask if you can come to observe during training. Ask what age he prefers the dogs to be when they start training.