Hunting with a non-hunting breed?

[Dr. Sandman]

Does anybody have any good stories about using non-hunting dogs for hunting?

 

[TimSr]

Chucky is one of those squirrel dogs you hope nobody sees you taking into the woods.

 

[Fremmer]

Yeah. Tried hunting with boxer dogs. The second they got out of the truck they ran off. Blew the whole day walking miles to try and find them. Finally found them asleep under a tree. Never even saw a game animal. Boxer dogs.....

(Just kidding.)

 

[ironworkerwill]

"Chucky"....ferocious, look at him licking those chops I wouldn't be ashamed to hunt with him. He can't help the way he looks.

 

[Panfisher]

Except for a few beagles I have never had a "hunting dog", however I have had some German Shepards and Border Collies that would happily tree squirrels, and if given the opportunity chase rabbits, birds, deer etc. unless called off.

 

[627PCFan]

Let me tell you how many times Ive gone goose and duck hunting only to have people go thats a wegman calendar dog. shell never retreive or she wont point, or she wont track....

 

[Malamute]

All my malamutes have loved grouse hunting and squirrel hunting. Grouse hunting here is wandering around in the woods waiting to see a grouse on the ground or hear the dogs flush one from the ground to a tree, then getting there and seeing the dog(s) looking at the grouse, (pointing, if you will) and me shooting it (head/neck shot) with a 22 pistol or a rifle with extra-light loads approximating 22 loads. They LOVE the part when the bird falls out of the tree thrashing around.

Squirrel hunting is seeing them, telling the dog to go around the tree to push the squirrel to my side, and shooting it with a 22.

 

[mokin]

"Chucky"....ferocious, look at him licking those chops I wouldn't be ashamed to hunt with him. He can't help the way he looks.

I wouldn't be ashamed to be seen with him either. For all he knows, he's a wolf. I've got a Border Collie/German Shepard mix who's afraid of gunfire, and a Border Collie who can't hear. I'd love a non-hunting breed I could go chase rabbits with.

 

[Sheepdog1968]

Chucky is a poodle which is one of the top three most intelligent breeds out there. Heck, it can probably shoot better than most of us. I dated someone who owned two standard sizes poodles. I was blown away by how quickly they learned. I taught the male who was food motivated to fetch in literally three tries. It had it down pat. Not only that, when you started to work the poodles with commands, it really wanted me to continue to wrk it. Those sissy French cuts for them have origins with hunters keeping the dogs joints warm in the water and field. Yes, I got funny looks with the poodles from other men. But, they were just ignorant.

 

[CaptHank]

Yeah. Tried hunting with boxer dogs. The second they got out of the truck they ran off. Blew the whole day walking miles to try and find them. Finally found them asleep under a tree. Never even saw a game animal. Boxer dogs.....

(Just kidding.)

Fremmer, I just lost a mouthful of wine, reading about your boxers. The sleeping under a tree, got me. LOL!!!!

 

[jmorris]

A friend of mine had a miniature Doberman that would find and fetch dove. Would take him awhile and some times he would take one for himself...

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Tim, that is fantastic! I had a lab, English spaniel mix that should have been a good hunting dog but was terrified of black bear and we had black bear out our wazoo in Pa.
That dog spent more time behind my legs looking through between them then he did hunting.
Poodles are fearless and my poodle Twinkie would take off after anything, it didn't matter what he winded where my Lab/Spaniel mix, Ripper, would hide behind my legs looking out between them when he would wind a bear.

But Ripper was fearless around rabbits and squirrels. Twinkie treed a small black bear in our yard one night, it was hilarious!

And also very frustrating.

 

[savetheclaypigeons]

I had a Yorkie as a kid who loved chasing squirrels. I always meant to make him an orange vest (so he wouldn't be mistaken for a rabbit) and get him out hunting with me. He was a goofy lap dog, but I do miss him.

 

[rcmodel]

My old Boxer probably could have been a hunting dog.
He loved to fetch a Retriever dummy.

He was deathly afraid of thunder, but you get a gun out and he was wiggling all over & jumping up and down ready to go shooting!

Only problem was, if you let him loose, he liked to stand down range 10 yards and jump 5' off the ground flat footed trying to catch the bullets!!

So he spent his shooting sessions tied to the truck trailer hitch!!

I think he would have hunted.
But by the time he was old enough, I was too old and had to give up hunting.

One of his favorite games was 'Search'.
You point, say search, and he got all business with his nose to the ground where you gave him hand signals to 'search'.

No doubt in my mind he could and would find downed birds.

Water retrieving was out though.
He weighed 80 pounds, of solid muscle, and had no buoyancy at all.
(Floated like a rock!)

So, He couldn't swim worth a darn!

PS: My buddy has a Cairn Terrier that thinks he's a wolf.

He likes to go out in the back pasture and fight Coyotes.
So far, he hasn't lost a fight in 7 years!!

rc

 

[zb338]

When I was a kid we had a long haired Spitz mixed mutt. He would
go into the thickest brush or bushes and kick out whatever was in
there and I would shoot at it.

Zeke

 

[Fremmer]

Yeah RC, those big chests weigh them down; mine don't care for the water.

The small female boxer is fast enough to catch squirrels and birds. I guess all breeds have some hunting instinct. But the boxer-goofiness doesn't help for hunting.

 

[Patocazador]

I had an abandoned pup dropped off in my driveway. Leela was smart as could be but crazy too. She would bite when she got overwhelmed with commotion. She loved to chase and kill squirrels and coons.
I trained her to retrieve even though she hated it and she eventually hunted snipe too.
I just got her trained good when the neighbor ran her over.

 

[Bowhunter57]

I have a female Maltese that will hunt squirrels until she has to be carried home. Sight spots them, chases them to the tree and watches them in the tree, until they're shot out. If she looses them by sight, she will go to the ground sniffing till she finds their scent and follows them to the next tree.

Cute little lap dog, at the house. Squirrel killer, outside the house.





Carrie likes to fish too, but she doesn't understand that I'm catching the fish. She thinks the fish is trying to get in the boat and tries to bite them as I'm bringing them in the kayak.

 

[buck460XVR]

Like humans, all dogs have hunting in the ancestry and their genes. Like humans some take to it like fish to water and some never have a clue. All cows give milk, it's just that man has bred some to give more than others. This is the same as what we have done to the Sporting/Hunting breeds. Most dogs are eager to please their master and respond well to any form of training, intentional or not. While using a breed that cannot smell well to find wounded game or a short legged breed like a Basset to run down much faster game that is used to using their long legs to escape is not smart, for the most part, any dog will hunt, even if it's only mice or butterflies.

 

[dogrunner]

Well, Buck, one of the most sure fire deer dogs I ever saw was a bassett!

Two old fella's owned that dog, brothers, they'd simply take a stand a couple of hundred yards apart and turn him loose....he'd jump a deer.......more like nudge it I think!....and slow trail that deer till one or the other old guy got a shot...

Mostly, when dog hunting, it's a matter of knowing just HOW to use your animal, and what to expect of him....sure that bassett wasn't in any fashion gonna move a deer like a Walker would, but no deer will move a lick faster than he has to....that bassett fit those two old and slow moving hunters to a T....and they always got several deer every year. One really great plus factor was that they did not have to spend all day and half the night recovering that dog too!!!

 

[savetheclaypigeons]

Like humans, all dogs have hunting in the ancestry and their genes. Like humans some take to it like fish to water and some never have a clue. All cows give milk, it's just that man has bred some to give more than others. This is the same as what we have done to the Sporting/Hunting breeds. Most dogs are eager to please their master and respond well to any form of training, intentional or not. While using a breed that cannot smell well to find wounded game or a short legged breed like a Basset to run down much faster game that is used to using their long legs to escape is not smart, for the most part, any dog will hunt, even if it's only mice or butterflies.

I can't remember where I heard the story, but you're right:

Someone lost a dog while on a leash and was petrified the dog would get caught up and starve in the woods. He called a tracker who said not to worry. Give the dog a day or two and she'll return to her natural instincts and chew through the leash.

Whether true or not, it makes sense to me. After hearing that, I had an urge to spend the weekend in the brush by myself.

 

[witchhunter]

When I was a kid, I had a Dachshund pug mix. Looked like a wienie dog with a pug nose.....I would hunt doves by a railroad siding. When I shot one, she would fetch it, but she had to drop it and then hop over and pick it up again over every train track as she could not jump them with the dove in her mouth. She would find and retrieve quail too, but she would just sit by the pheasant when she found it...

 

[RT.45]

This is a non hunting breed - non hunter.[emoji57] [emoji2]

 

[TimSr]

I have a female Maltese that will hunt squirrels until she has to be carried home.

She's a little cutie! I'm sure you have to carry through the fields with high weeds too. Does her fur catch every clinging weed and burr known to man, like Chucky's does?

 

[Rembrandt]

Marriage is full of compromise.....wife wanted house dogs, I wanted hunting dogs. Miniature Schnauzers don't know the difference, they love to hunt Pheasants.