hunting dogs

[charlie]

Just was wondering if it's a myth about keeping a dog used for hunting and tracking outside. Or is it alright to stay inside as long as it's not around strong fragrences?

[Woods Walker]

I raised and trained setters for many years. These weren't field trial type dogs, but just honest to God hunting companions. They all lived in the house. It seemed to me that when a dog lives with you and is not only your hunting dog but a pet as well, that the bond between you is even greater. These dogs, and one in particular, was so close to me that she could darn near read my thoughts. In the field she was constanty looking back at me to see what I was doing, and I could communicate with her via hand signals.....it was a beautiful thing!

The drawback to this is that when they get old and you have to put them down, it rips your heart out, and everyone one of them I buried, I buried a piece of myself along with them.

And fragrances? Not too worry. If a dog is born with a good nose, they will have a good nose, period. Just get them on birds. They will do the rest.

[Big Horse]

These two are spoiled rotten. The one on the left has lived in our house since 8 weeks old. The other one is her pup, lived in our since the day she was born.



A buddy of mine in Des Plains raises German Shorthairs and in 2000 or 2001, cant remeber exactly, he had the World Champion German Shorthair Pointer. She would hunt birds, track 4 day old blood trails, go in a hole and get a fox. Amazing dog! Biggest lap dog you ever saw. Always house kept.

[Ohio farms]

Keep them in the home with you if you can. I've had two springer spaniels that lived inside with the family and they became part of the family. You will enjoy them much more and they will be better hunters because of it.

[smitty]

I'm in the process of training my 5 year old black lab to find sheds and one of the things Ive learned is not to keep her collar in the bag I keep her training sheds in. If her collar smells like the sheds she will constantly get scent from the collar and have a harder time getting a good air scent. That was a tip we learned reading about how to train search and rescue dogs.

[Woods Walker]

Good point smitty!

[gatodoc]

I agree wholeheartedly with WW....The only drawback to having a hunting dog in the house is some family members creating unintended behavior problems.....I've dealt with a lot of those....

Nose is the same no matter where the dog lives...FYI- the average dog can smell 20,000 times better than the average human and hunting dogs can smell no better than other breeds. They just have an instinct to use the smells to track.