Hunting dog training: Hunting dog Training and much more!

By Roland Berger

Already centuries ago the hunters of that time found out that a hunt together with a hunting helper is much easier than if only humans participate in this hunt. They found out that especially dogs show a sense of detection indispensable on the hunt, which a human alone could never imitate or copy in such a way. Especially for this purpose, dog breeds have been bred over the years to make a hunter's life easier. So how do I find out which dog breed best suits me as a hunter? What kind of hunting can he do with me and what exactly do I have to do once I have acquired a dog?

After all, not just any dog is allowed to come along on a hunt. Instead, this is regulated by the state, which is why there are also some guidelines to follow that the hunter should place great importance on. This can clearly confuse a prospective dog handler or hunter.

Basically, any family dog can become a hunting dog. Nevertheless, there are some requirements that a dog must meet in order to be admitted to or pass the usefulness test for hunting dogs. Suitable dog breeds are presented in the book.

In this book you will find many important contents about the training of hunting dogs:
- Hunting
- Dog breeds
- Training your own dog
- Dummy training
- Anti-hunting training
- The equipment

This guidebook is intended to help a hunter to get his hunting companion through the serviceability test for hunting dogs without any problems, so that said hunting helper can also become a full-fledged member of the hunt.

This book will give you an insight into the training of a hunting dog and not only that. It is a glimpse into a bond between man and animal that does not often exist on such a high and extreme level between an owner and their pet. The hunting dog is not just a tool, but a family member and also someone who enjoys just being petted and played with. We wish you a lot of fun with your hunting dog.

• Language: English
• Publisher: XinXii
• Release date: Apr 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9783986469788

Book preview

List of Figures

Figure 1: Small selection of hunting dogs

Figure 2: Hunting has a long history.

Figure 3: Stalking hunt

Figure 4: The beagle

Figure 5: The dachshund

Figure 6: The fox terrier

Figure 7: The Labrador

Figure 8: Find suitable dog breed for hunting.

Figure 9: Sit visual signal

Figure 10: Place visual signal

Figure 11: Visual signal "Off

Figure 12: Hunting dog helps in the water.

Figure 13: Dummies can be used for training.

Figure 14: Hunting dog during retrieval

Introduction

A hunter without a dog is a stupid dog, or, Hunting without a dog is trash, it is said among the old hunters hares not without good reason. Already in proud court the dogs of the castle were used as hunting assistants in addition to the actual hunters, because people have found out very quickly in their history that certain animals and especially dogs have some advantages over humans, which help to achieve great success in hunting.

Figure 2: Hunting has a long history .

Even today, exactly these advantages continue to be used, and always when man reaches his limits, for example, when an injured animal must be found. The sense of smell of trained hunting dogs is once again many times stronger than the tracking ability of normal dogs, which themselves do not exactly show a bad sense of smell. Nevertheless, a trained hunting dog is to be used in special scenarios, such as when an animal has been injured by a gunshot or even in a traffic accident. People have quickly realized that hunting without the help of their four-legged companions is a lot more difficult and sometimes even downright impossible. An injured wild boar, for example, which has not died as a result of a shot but is now hurrying through the forest injured, will in most cases not be found again without an animal helper. It would eventually perish, but not under the guidelines and rules of hunting, which state that a game animal must still be hunted humanely despite everything, without suffering unnecessary pain. This is partly impossible without an animal hunting assistant.

Thus, a well-bred and responsibly trained hunting dog on a well-executed hunt is equivalent to a flawless weapon that has been checked, cleaned and inspected before the hunt begins. It would be irresponsible to go hunting with a weapon that is not one hundred percent perfect or has defects. The federal hunting law could no longer be followed, so animals would suffer unnecessarily. And what's even worse, other people as well as animals alike could be injured by a defective hunting weapon. So if a hunting dog is equated with a hunting weapon, then a dog that has not been properly trained has as little business on a hunt as a defective weapon. This also means, among other things, that a hunter must become as familiar with his hunting dog as he is with his own weapon, which he carries regularly and which must be handled in such a way that other people are not injured. This requires immense training, as ultimately the safety of other hunters is at stake if a hunting dog has not been properly trained. Proper training is therefore incredibly important for all those who want to take their four-legged family companion hunting.

Nevertheless, not just any dog may be taken hunting. Instead, in Germany, the individual federal states specify which requirements said dog must have before it can call itself a hunting dog. For example, a dog must be sociable and also family friendly. After all, it often happens that a hunting dog does not always come into contact with only one hunter and thus one owner. Instead, the dog will receive instructions from many hunters and drivers, especially if the hunting dog has to run far ahead during a drive hunt, for example, and accordingly comes into eye contact with the other hunters or drivers. It is also not uncommon for hunting dogs to stray from their path every now and then, or to stray too far from their actual owner. At some point, the hunting dog no longer hears the calls of its handler at a certain distance. When a hunter finds a strange hunting dog and the hunt is finished, it also often happens that this dog is brought back to the collection point in a strange car. Therefore, he must be sociable and must react anything but aggressive towards people. In addition, he must not only listen to his name, but also to universal commands and instructions. He must not be aggressive towards other dogs either, as there are often many dogs participating in a hunt and a single hunter sometimes leads more than one hunting dog. Therefore, he needs a balanced and peaceful nature to get the license as a hunting dog at all, accordingly, it is not exactly far that not every dog and therefore not every dog breed can be trained to a hunting dog just like that. It is possible, but there are very specific rules for each dog and for each breed, about which a hunter who wants to train his dog, can lose the overview from time to time.

In this book, therefore, dog breeds will be presented that are particularly well suited for hunting and that learn particularly quickly. However, it must also be clarified that there is not only one hunting dog, because within this spectrum there are many different applications in which a hunting dog can specialize. It would therefore be nonsensical to make a small dachshund with short legs into a driving red deer hunting dog, since he can hardly get after a fox. He might try, but a red deer will be a lot faster. A large Weimaraner, for example, can do much better with a deer. So different breeds of dogs can be used for different tasks within hunting. In addition it must be clarified however also, which different hunt types there are at all. A hunt is not equal to a hunt and not every dog may go everywhere.

In the following, we will therefore first explain which different types of hunting there are. It is also about which tasks the animal helper takes over in the hunting types in each case.

The different types of hunting

This book is mainly about how you can train your own dog to be a hunting dog, what the requirements are and what tests the dog must pass in order to be admitted to a hunt. Before that, however, it must be explained what a hunt is in general and which different types of hunts there are. After all, the entire process of training for a hunting dog is based on these types. There are many different types, all of which are taught differently and this is not only specifically regulated for each dog breed, which will be talked about in more detail in another chapter, but a hunting dog is also always trained for a specific type of hunt.

After all, not all hunts are the same. There are many differences and similarly as it is the case, for example, with different sports, so it is with hunts. In soccer, for example, a striker can't just take over the goalkeeper's position and a passive player has a hard time getting into the attack. In order to shoot a game or to kill it in another way, different positions are needed, because in the end there are just much more methods than most non-hunters think. At the latest, when not hunting alone, all these methods become quite complicated, which is why they are clearly subdivided and explained here. The different