Hunting Dog Training Reviews
Having a hunting dog with you during your hunting trips can be very helpful. In fact, it even makes the hunting experience more fun.
Before you decide to have a hunting dog, you should know that hunting dog training will take time. It’s always best to start training a hunting dog as a puppy. The only problem is that it would be hard if you would want the puppy to be a family pet and at the same time, a hunting dog.
At first, the basic commands of sit, stay, come, and down should be taught. Make sure that the dog learns to respect the owner at a young age. To do this, you should be kind and gentle in treating the dog.
You also have to be prepared for longer distances command. When hunting, there are times when the hunting dog is quite far from the owner. That’s why you shouldn’t purely rely on verbal commands. You can make use of other cues such as a whistle or specific hand signals.
The command to retrieve something is also important in hunting dog training. This should be done as early as you can. Start teaching retrieve as a puppy. To attract him to do the command, you should make him retrieve something that he likes, let’s say a ball.
Let’s admit that it’s really hard sometimes to train a hunting dog to listen to commands. Electric collars are designed to help you in that process. It’s a collar that you let your dog wear. Every time that the dog is not following your commands, you can press the remote of the collar to give the dog a little shock. You might think that this is a cruel approach but don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe. There’s no actual harm being done to the dog. Besides, an electric collar would also be useful when you’re out hunting and your dog suddenly chases something you that don’t want him to chase.
A sign of a well trained hunting dog should be always aware of the whereabouts of his owner. Also, a good hunting dog hunts through scent and not by sight.
When the hunting season is over, you should make sure that your hunting dog will still get regular exercise. This is important if you want him to stay fit and able to hunt. Control his meals as well. If you feed him too much, he might get obese. This will make him slow.
These are just some things to consider when you decide to have a hunting dog. Training won’t be easy, but if you really give it your best shot, you’ll have a great partner in your hunting trips.
Training Your Hunting Dog Not To Jump
Fortunately, this is not an article that most hunters will ever need. Most of us don’t have dogs that routinely run over and jump at us, putting their feet on our chest. A well-trained hunting dog, trained by an experienced trainer, has already been taught that you NEVER jump up and put your feet on people.
Unfortunately, there are dogs out there whose owners or trainers seem to think that this uncontrolled behavior is “cute” or “cool”. They obviously haven’t stopped to consider what could happen when a hunting dog jumps up on someone who is holding a loaded gun. Best case scenario, the hunter absorbs the shock without dropping the gun, reprimands the dog and the hunt goes on. Worst case scenario, the hunter drops the gun, the gun hits the ground and discharges – hurting or possibly killing the dog, the owner or anyone standing within range. This scenario takes jumping up from being cute, cool or simply a bad habit to being one of the most dangerous habits a hunting dog can have.
Let’s start with your new puppy … the bad news is that it is natural for puppies to jump. They have an abundance of extra energy and they to run, play and jump – in the air, on their toys, on each other. They will also jump on you if you allow them to. The good news is that it is easy to teach a puppy not to jump on people. Puppies naturally want to please their trainer. The trick is to break the puppy of jumping on people early.
When your enthusiastic pup jumps up and put those adorable paws in your lap or on your legs in a bid for attention, don’t laugh or make excuses for his behavior. Instead, don’t speak to him or look at him – turn your back on him. If he comes around in front of you and tries to jump on you again, turn around. Try to watch him out of the corner of your eye or get someone to spot for you and as soon as he steps back or sits down, turn and praise him for it, “Oh – good sit,” or “Sit, good dog.” Kneel down and ruffle the fur between his ears or scratch under his chin. Anything that will show him you approve of him NOT jumping.
“The idea is to let him know that jumping gets him nothing, but sitting or standing back from you will get him your attention and a possible reward.”
If turning your back on him doesn’t work, try grabbing his front feet when he jumps up. Put them back down on the ground and say “no”. Speak softly, but firmly. Don’t yell or make a big deal of it, just physically correct the behavior and say “no.” If, after a few times, the pup doesn’t seem to have gotten the message, gently squeeze his paws when you grab them. The objective is to cause the pup just enough discomfort that he realizes he doesn’t like it, but not enough to hurt him. Squeeze the puppy’s feet until he whines, yips or tries to pulls them away from your grasp. Then make eye contact, frown and say “no”. Immediately let go of the pup’s feet and when he steps back or sits down, tell him “good dog” and scratch him on the top of the head. It may take a day or two (more if the pup is extremely stubborn), but this method will help most puppies learn what is expected of them.
But what if your dog is one of the dogs that are slow-learners or just flat stubborn. If turning your back on him or squeezing his front paws don’t work, try stepping on one of his hind feet while you are holding onto his front feet. Do not step down hard – again the idea to show him your disapproval of his behavior, not to hurt him. Grab his front feet, step gently on one of his hind feet, shake your head and firmly say “no”. When he pulls back or sits, then say “good dog” and scratch the top of his head.
If you’ve got one of the really stubborn pups or an older dog who has been jumping on people for years and gotten by with it, he can probably still be made to keep his feet off of you. If you’ve already tried all of the above ideas and your hunting dog is still jumping on you, it is time to move on to a more direct method of dealing with the problem. As the dog jumps at you, bring your knee up and knee him in the chest. Again, say “no” in a calm, low and firm tone of voice. You don’t have to bring your knee up hard – the dog’s momentum will do most of the work. Remember, you don’t want to hurt the dog, just make him aware that this is an undesirable behavior. You do, however, need to use enough force that the dog is knocked off-balance. Nearly all dogs will get the idea pretty quickly.
To make sure that the dog understands that jumping on ANYONE (not just you) is bad, it is necessary for everyone that works or plays with the dog to react to his jumping the same way. If even one person lets the dog jump, it can become his habit to try it on any new person that comes his way.
But what do you do if you’re out with a friend and find that his hunting dog exhibits this dangerous behavior? This is a whole different scenario. First of all, crate the dog for the rest of the hunt or offer to put the guns away and spend the rest of the afternoon making your friend’s dog into a safe hunting companion. If your friend doesn’t want to crate the animal or try to correct its behavior, excuse yourself from the hunt. There is no sense endangering yourself or your dog because of someone else’s stupidity.
A well-trained hunting dog is an asset in the field, however a dog that jumps is just bad news – no matter how well trained he is. Knowing how to break a dog from this potentially life-threatening behavior of jumping on people could keep someone from being hurt or killed. Think about it … The life you save could be your own.
Make Hunting Dog Training Easier With Electronic Dog Collars – Review
Using an electric shock collar to train your dog might seem a little extreme but their effectiveness in dog training really cannot be disputed. Giving dog handlers the power to administer a small electric shock makes it easy for anybody to train their dog to a professional level in a very short space of time. Because of their recent popularity, a huge number of dog training collars have exploded onto the market, some aimed at professional dog trainers and handlers, others with the domestic market in mind, but all with the same M.O. Here are three of the most popular dog training collars currently available.
SportDOG Field Trainer
Sport Dog – Electronic Dog Training – Hunting The SD-400 is ideal for field training or hunting with close-working dogs. It is effective up to a range of 400 yards. It offers 16 levels of continuous shock and 8 power settings for the momentary shock setting. This gives you much more power to control large or particularly unruly dogs over a much greater distance than other shock collars. Amazingly you can even use it to train your dog underwater to a depth of 25 feet as both the controller and collar are waterproofed to that depth. The batteries are easy and convenient to recharge and hold their charge much longer than those of other products, making this ideal for those long walks in the country or for long training sessions in the park.
Tritronics Sports Basic G3
Tri Tronics – Electronic Dog Training – HuntingThis training collar offers similar abilities as the SportDOG Field Trainer but with the benefit of increased range, up to half a mile, making it ideal for working or hunting dogs in the open country. Shocks can be administered at 10 levels for both the continuous and instant shock functions, making it’s continuous shock slightly more limited than the SportDOG Field Trainer but increasing your control over the power of instant shocks. Like it’s counterpart this collar is also waterproof and holds it’s charge over long periods of time.
SportDOG 100 Yard Trainer
sportDog – Electronic Dog Training – HuntingThe SportDOG 100 Yard Trainer, or SD-105 is the backyard equivalent of the more expensive SD-400 Field Trainer. It offers all of the features of the SD-400, including a long battery life but it’s range is limited to approximately 100 yards, a quarter of that of it’s bigger brother and considerably less than the Tritronics Sports Basic (although some have reported that it works at a much longer range than advertised). Another reported limitation is that it is not powerful enough to train larger dogs, but for smaller dogs in a domestic setting this product is ideal.
Which product you chose really does depend on it’s intended use and range. The prices of these three training collars are appropriate to exactly that. The most expensive is the Tritronics Sport Basic, at $239, followed by the SportDOG Field Trainer at $159.95, the difference in price greatly outweighing the difference in range between them. The best value for money is the $90 SportDOG 100 Yard Trainer, although there are obvious limitations to consider. Make sure you don’t regret choosing the least expensive product at the expense of range and usability.
In short, if you want to train a smaller, domestic dog there really is no need to buy anything but the SD-100, but for larger dogs you’ll find the SD-400 to be of better value.