New to scent dogs, looking for advice.

[ethan9392]

My wife recently got me a hunting dog, I was very surprised and it was so very nice of her. I’m very interested in getting him started the right way. I’m not sure where to go. He is 11 weeks now. What should I be doing? Is there somewhere to send him for training.

Want him to run bobcat/bear. Any information would be great. I have been reading as much as I can. Just lookin for options and advice.

Should I be trying to socialize him like some of my other dogs?

I have someone to run dogs with when my pup is old enough also. Just need some advice on what to do now while he is young.


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[dswish]

Basic obedience, walks in the woods, crossing creeks and yes you can socialize with other dogs. Don’t expect too much too soon. If you have sombody with good hounds to run with when he’s older I wouldn’t bother sending him off anywhere

[ethan9392]

Good to know. And thank you for the reply.


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[Beebout-it]

My wife and son really enjoy doing drags with hot dogs when they are little eventually we add a bit of cat scent.

[ethan9392]

Have any of you guys tried the double u cat scent? I have read it’s similar to the grawes. I will try the hotdog. Hopefully it does give him diarrhea.


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[Beastmode]

If you have any bobcat and/or bear chunks of hide in the freezer pull them out a few times a week and pull it with a rope letting the pup chase it. Praise him a lot when they chase it and let them catch it a chew on it every few chases. As soon as they lose interest put it away. Don’t force them to play with it. The older a pup gets you can start doing drags and let them track it out. Start short working your way up to longer distances the more they progress. I have a couple pups I’m training right now and this is what I’m doing.

Be very careful not to ask too much out of a young dog. This can be very difficult especially if the pup is showing tons of potential. A young gritty dog that gets hurt from a bear will most likely ruin them.


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[ethan9392]

Also good to know. I unfortunately do not have any of those hides. I have been using a soft toy with some scent on it. I have had him trail it already and he does well. But is still very much a puppy with the attention span of a nat.


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[Rustyshaklferd]

You read the article on Cat training on the Home Page? Its a pretty decent article. What state are you in?

[Rustyshaklferd]

Get the book Hunting Dogs by Hartley Oliver, had to look it up, I bought it a while back and cant find it now, it was written decades ago but has awesome advice and goes into a lot of detail about how the dog thinks and why you train him this way etc. I think I bought it from the back of fur fish game mag but I bet its on amazon too. It was less than 10 dollars I think.

[ethan9392]

Ok I will look into this. I live in northeast Michigan and that’s where I will be training and running. My plan is to get this guy trained and hopefully hit the trail running next season.


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[ethan9392]

Also I will look into that book.


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[graham]

Ethan i live in central michigan give me a shout we can talk training. Thanks Graham. 989 620 5023

[rockytrails]

Vickie Lamb has had couple good books and DVD. Also John Wick books. Vickie's has it broke down easier by pups ages for me. Haven't seen her DVD.

[cfanno01]

im from mi also. sent pm