Picking up and deer dog

AHN

Member
Can you have a dog that Picks up on a shoot day and come stalking and find deer?
The reason I ask is that I have a 10 month old Golden Retriever that has been picking up already . A few days at the end of the season. He also comes stalking and is as keen as mustard. He just sitts and does not move when you are taking the shot.Walking up to the beast he will find it before I do .I have not taught him a thing.
Can you ask a dog to do both or will he just get in a muddle. :confused:

Ali
 
Yes you can.

He will soon get to know that both are different games. ;)

My old ESS and my GWP are used for both, they know when to walk at heel and when to get on and hunt, so being a peg dog will not be a problem.

Best rgds

Thar
 
I agree with Thar, one of my stalking pals has a GSP and does both with it , it is a pleasure stalking with it , very steady, very quiet and a hell of a nose.
 
Thanks Thar and Tony.
So how does one go about training a dog for deer??
Have been training gundogs for pheasants and Grouse for some time, but never a dog for deer.
Do the same princaples apply ?
Ali
 
The basic obedience is the same, but you need to get your dog to work to hand signals, tap your leg for heel/come to you, raised hand for sit that’s just for the start. You can teach dog to crawl with you as well. But a lot of the training is tracking deer, one thing you need to get right is the “reporting” how a dog tells you it has found a deer and leads you to it.

I will not go into specifics as it could make for a long post. ;) :eek:

There are a couple of good books:-
Guy Wallace does a book called “Training dogs for woodland stalking” but the one I now think that is best is Niels Sondergaard “Working with dogs for deer” buy it, it is a worth while investment.

Personally I would rather work my dog on wounded deer than shot one myself. :lol:

Best rgds

Thar
 
hi AHN
i hav just started training on a black lab for deer work and was told train her for deer first then introduce her to game after but all the displines are the same as for sit ,stay, heel but just use a dummy for retrieves untill the deer work is installed
but another book on top of what thar has said is ' john jennehay tracking dogs for deer' all these books are good , you may be thinking these books may cost a few quid but you could hav a deer dog for 12 years may aswell get it some where near or right as get it wrong , 12 years is a long time to suffer
stone
 
I agree with Thar, I have both those books, and they are good. However if you are training a dog for deer work, you are better keeping it and training it for just that job, and not mixing it with picking up.

My dog is a Bavarian Mountain Hound, bloodline is Polish Field Trail Champion, and quite honestly they are only good for trailing wounded deer, that is what the breed was designed for, so it would be useless to expect it to pick up, same with Teckles.

If you are thinking of a dog for deer work then train it for that.
 
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