Preparing Your Dog For Traditional Hunting- By: Damian Cross

Description : Although hunting activity has been banned in several of its forms, some types of hunting activity is still legal in most countries. For centuries man has counted on the help of dogs for their hunting activity. It is a somewhat of a challenge to train a dog for such activity, but in the end most hunters feel its well worth it. Pet owners wishing to train their dog for hunting must be prepared to spend a great deal of time and effort at the task.

When teaching your dog to hunt, there are three basic instructions the trainer must teach. These instructions are “heel”, “whoa’ and “come”. Hunters in general feel that one of the most important commands to teach their dog for hunting activity is “whoa”. This tells your dog to literally freeze on the spot. This is especially important when hunting birds. This type of prey will get scared easily and fly off. It is crucial for the hunter to keep silent, and for the dog to stop whatever he’s doing instantaneously.

Teaching a dog how to behave during the hunt cannot be taught just by anyone. It must be performed by an experienced handler with some background on hunting activity. A lot of people ignore the kind of relationship hunters maintain with their dog. It’s actually a very close friendship, it is imperative that the hunter is affectionately close to their dog if they are going to work together as a team. Thus, a combination of tender, loving care and authority is required to carry out this task. Both being equally important. If you are yelling at your dog more often than not, in an attempt to prepare him for hunting activity, then we could say that your approach is most definitely wrong.

Professional hunters believe that once your dog has learned to stop at your command, most of the training is over and done with. Even though the other two voice commands carry some importance, and do have some use during the hunt, they are not so hard to teach and are not as important as stopping. The hunter might use the “come” command in order to prevent their dog from wandering off. He would use the “heel” command when he wishes to approach a prey on his own. However, using “whoa” means your dog has found something and you want him to stop until you arrive.

Every dog has the potential to become a hunting dog, although some breeds seem to be more successful at it than others. Agility and intelligence are much sought after traits on a good hunting dog. Some people have pet farms which they use specially for breeding hunting dogs. It requires so much effort to breed and train a dog for hunting; it becomes a full time job for some people who decide to make a living in this fashion. Hunting dogs turn out to be loyal and trustworthy friends who take their job seriously. A good hunter is most certainly proud of his dog.

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