MudderChuck

How is he with other dogs? This can be an issue with many Terriers or Terrier mixes. It would likely be a good idea to socialize him well. Start with females.

If he socializes well, work him with other dogs. Been my experience, Dogs tend to learn quicker from another Dog than they do from humans. Just be careful which Dogs you choose, they learn the bad habits and the good habits.

All of my Terriers think they are Mastiffs and take no crap from anybody. Which can cause issues with other dog owners. One of my Terriers I have to muzzle when he is working with other Dogs. If another Dog so much as gives him the bad eye, he is on him in a flash.

He killed the neighbors Sheperd dog. The neighbors dog had bitten me before, came after me one day when I had Zach with me. Zach latched onto his throat and refused to let go. I had to pry his jaws open with a stick. Some kind of gland in the Sheperds neck got infected and killed him in about ten days. It isn't the size of the dog in the fight, it is the size of the fight in the Dog that counts.

My daughters German Shorthair sniffed my Female Plummers rear end and has a bite sized notch gone from his ear.

Terriers can be ferocious and hard to socialize well.

Jdecountryboy

He hunted with another dog once. It had been around three months since my dogs first tree. The other dog was bigger and was terrible acted like he knew nothing. It was i think it was some breed of cur. I think my dog (Jack) actually hunted somewhat harder. Only problem is not many people own squirrel dogs around my area.

MudderChuck

Just an idea, but maybe take him ratting. My Dogs go wild over rodents. My Dogs spend hours looking for Mice in my Garden. I have a Walnut tree. fruit trees and a lot of Berry bushes to draw Rodents. I have no doubt if mine learned Rats lived in trees, they'd be looking in every tree around. Show them a Rat and they go nuts. Once he gets hot on Ratting, it should be easy to get him really interested in tree Rats. Just an idea.

Jdecountryboy

Another question when im hands on training with him like teaching sit and such like that he has a tendency to roll on his back like he thinks im about to pet him. He does this pretty much everytime. Is there a way to break him from this?

MudderChuck

I don't really know what works for other people, I usually wear them down a little, playtime or whatever and then work.

Work him on a leash, teach him to heal (to your non gun side). Some people prefer them to heal facing backwards, but you don't see that much anymore. If you keep his head up a little, he is unlikely to lay down. I use a combination of the leash to keep his head up a little and/or hand signals (If there eyes are looking up they are unlikely to lay down). Mine seem to pick up the necessities with a combination of hand signals and voice commands. Later you can use either one. Knowing when to stop training is the hard one and varies from dog to dog, it's hard to get just right. I usually try to stop on a high note.

I also train mine to a two tone whistle, one is a steady whistle, the other a trill, like a Policemans whistle. The steady tone means recover and heal. The trill whistle means drop in place and freeze. We have a couple of group hunts a year, and there may be thirty dogs along. Most all of them are trained to drop and freeze when somebody blows the policemans whistle. I don't know if you will need this or not, but it may be helpful sometime somewhere and gets them used to following commands.

A million books and videos out there, I've had both my daughters give me dog training books. Probably because I just let my dogs be dogs a bit too much. But heck it is supposed to be fun.

I'm sure some dog expert will be along soon to tell me I'm doing it all wrong.

Uncle Nicky

Just another thought, I have a pointer/setter mix pup that I'm training for fall turkey. She's fast as lightning, and ranges big. Her nose seems to be fine, but she prefers relying on her eyes to hunt. A trainer suggested I drag a chukar through the brush, keep her on the leash, and try to keep her on the scent trail instead of letting her hunt, and praising her when she manages to finish tracking and finds the dead bird. Make it fun for her, with a reward when she tracks by nose. Might be a little hard finding squirrels to work with though.

Oldtimr

Uncle Nicky, pointers and setters hunt with their heads up they are suposed to, they are still using their noses to find the scent cone. Hounds hunt with their nose down. You don't want a pointing breed trailing nose down like a hound, at least I don't.

Uncle Nicky

If we were talking about hunting a crop field or thicket for grouse, pheasants, or chukars, I'd agree. But I'm talking about a dog that's been bred for generations to specifically target turkeys in the fall. She has great eyesight hunting ability already, I'm mostly concerned with her picking up a trail of birds that may be a few hours old and following it, instinct will kick in once she spots the flock. Anyway, that's what I am concentrating on with her right now.

Oldtimr

Draging a chuskar will still put a scent trail (scent cone) in the air, there is no reason a pointing breed should hunt with its nose to the ground when there is scent in the air. There is a chance what what you think is the dog using its eyes is the dog using its nose. A bird that stinks as much as a turkey does leaves scent molecules in the air that stay for a long time, you need to understand how certain breeds follow scent. You can train your dog any way you want but a turkey dog surely doesn't need to hunt like a hound and training a dog to go against its breeding ( head up) just may be counter productive.

Uncle Nicky

(Sigh)....why do I waste my time and money talking to turkey doggers and working with reputable trainers, when all I have to do is come on this website and wait for pearls of wisdom like this???

John Byrne, who is considered the "father" of the turkey dog breeders, intentionally bred Plott hounds into his line of dogs, for scent tracking abilities. http://blog.havalon.com/fall-turkey-hunting-with-dogs/

Jdecountryboy- sorry for hijacking your thread.