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Anyone have any experience training tracking dogs?

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Peyton_Brewer

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Joined
Sep 23, 2018
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Thinking about training a tracking dog but not sure how much time I can afford to spend training. Any tips or pointers are greatly appreciated


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Im training a Small Munsterlander right now. There's lots or books out there none of which I own lol. Used a piece of hide and liver from last years deer. He has tracked well with blood. But sometimes gets off track. So mixed results for my 10 month old. He has hit 2 tracks that were 8 hours old after a rainfall. So I know the ability is there.
 
I don't know "proper" methods but like CB, I used to drag a hide and gave little pieces of trimmings for a reward. The little miniature dachshund I trained from a puppy was as good as any I've seen. I'd stick her in my pack, take her to last blood and she'd work her magic. Sometimes I'd swear she had to be off the trail, seeing no sign for many yards sometimes but she always proved me wrong in the end. That little gal feared nothing and when she found the deer, it belonged to her. It's very rewarding using a tracking dog you trained yourself, good luck Peyton.
 
I think my German Shepherd has the ability. She can literally find anything I’ve touched and track me for miles. No teaching required lol. I don’t know if I’m going to be wasting my time with her or if she will work. She definitely has the capability but I’m not sure about the want to like maybe some other breeds. I figured I would at least try her before getting another dog


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Peyton_Brewer said:
I think my German Shepherd has the ability. She can literally find anything I’ve touched and track me for miles. No teaching required lol. I don’t know if I’m going to be wasting my time with her or if she will work. She definitely has the capability but I’m not sure about the want to like maybe some other breeds. I figured I would at least try her before getting another dog


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She will be fine. You just need to figure out how to make it a game. Play fetch with a deer leg in tall grass. Let her start using her nose to find it. Then start short drags. If you can put her on some short easy tracks to a known dead deer, I bet she will take off with it.
I started my first tracking dog last summer. I’m new to my area but tell everyone to call me even if they see the deer go down. But the only calls I get are when all other methods of finding it has been exhausted. Then here I come a day later, after rains, after search parties. Not a good way to start a dog. He found one deer with no blood only 50 yards away at night. Found an arrow 130 yards from shot. Found blood when we thought the trail had been lost. So I guess he does good for his lack of experience and confidence building short tracks.
I’d make my kids go hide in the woods and make them start at a specific spot. Then take my dog away while they went hide. Come back to that spot and tell him to find it and he will trail them every time.
 
Absolutely a shepherd would work. Less common but absolutely just as capable I would think. The fact he tracks you means he knows he can the smell of broken gas and disturbed dirt to get to what he wants. Upside there is if you are tracking a deer odds are there's not lots of blood and the dog needs to know how piece the track together with blood interdigital scent and the disturbed earth broken grass.

I have told everyone I know. If you see your deer drop call me. I want him to hit those short easy confidence builders as well. Season is young no calls yet.

Another thing I do inside is take a toy he loves and has a bit of scent to it and hide and tell him find it. He loves it! And always finds it.

Side note he has two I use inside for the find it game. One is pure rubber one is chicken flavoured plastic. The plastic one is not a challenge the rubber one definitely takes some more work. He still gets it but it takes longer.
 
Aweseom thread, good call, I've got an older lab/shepherd and I haven't done any training and took him out last year when a buddy lost blood, and he found more blood a good 150 yards away, but nothing after that, I think I screwed up a little and didn't have him on the leash and he got distracted and ran out of juice, lol.

I've definitely been thinking my next dog will get more training, not sure what I'll end up with I like to rescue dogs, not sure what kind of dog is best for tracking, have to look for a book, anyone has a recommendation?
 
cb750 said:
Absolutely a shepherd would work. Less common but absolutely just as capable I would think. The fact he tracks you means he knows he can the smell of broken gas and disturbed dirt to get to what he wants. Upside there is if you are tracking a deer odds are there's not lots of blood and the dog needs to know how piece the track together with blood interdigital scent and the disturbed earth broken grass.

I have told everyone I know. If you see your deer drop call me. I want him to hit those short easy confidence builders as well. Season is young no calls yet.

Another thing I do inside is take a toy he loves and has a bit of scent to it and hide and tell him find it. He loves it! And always finds it.

Side note he has two I use inside for the find it game. One is pure rubber one is chicken flavoured plastic. The plastic one is not a challenge the rubber one definitely takes some more work. He still gets it but it takes longer.
Click to expand...

We love the find it game! Lol I play it with deer trimmings quite a bit


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donnieballgame said:
Aweseom thread, good call, I've got an older lab/shepherd and I haven't done any training and took him out last year when a buddy lost blood, and he found more blood a good 150 yards away, but nothing after that, I think I screwed up a little and didn't have him on the leash and he got distracted and ran out of juice, lol.

I've definitely been thinking my next dog will get more training, not sure what I'll end up with I like to rescue dogs, not sure what kind of dog is best for tracking, have to look for a book, anyone has a recommendation?
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I've been wanting these books below. Author of the two deer specific books loves his wire haired teckels. Check the versatile breeds, it depends on what else you want in a dog. Mine is learning to retrieve waterfowl as well. He is energetic outside but seems to know when he's inside he needs to chill out a bit.
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donnieballgame said:
Aweseom thread, good call, I've got an older lab/shepherd and I haven't done any training and took him out last year when a buddy lost blood, and he found more blood a good 150 yards away, but nothing after that, I think I screwed up a little and didn't have him on the leash and he got distracted and ran out of juice, lol.

I've definitely been thinking my next dog will get more training, not sure what I'll end up with I like to rescue dogs, not sure what kind of dog is best for tracking, have to look for a book, anyone has a recommendation?
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https://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/
 
redsquirrel said:
https://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/
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I signed up with them. They put your name on a list for your area. I get more off the wall tracking job request than bloodtrailing.
My neighbor has been missing for 3 days, can your dog find him.
My dog ran away, Can you find him.
And the best, Our exotic African cat got out the house 2 days ago and ran into the woods. Do you think you can find him? I said what kind of cat. They said a Serval. I don't think so lady. Tell the neighbors to lock up their kids.

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I don't have any recommendations on how to train a tracking dog, BUT every year a handler (outdoorstom) on the HuntingNY forum creates a thread to chronicle each of the tracking jobs he goes out on with his dog, Luna. This is my favorite thread every year - some great stories and learnings for all of us hunters. Totally worth reading even if you don't have a dog.

I recall a similar question in one of the threads that was answered by outdoorstom with some good recommendations. Here are links to the last few years. Like I said, they're just plain old good reads even if you're not looking for training tips!

https://huntingny.com/forums/topic/35150-lunas-tracking-journal-2016/
https://huntingny.com/forums/topic/40184-lunas-tracking-journal-2017/
https://huntingny.com/forums/topic/47923-luna-and-kunoxs-tracking-journal-2018/

Enjoy. I am totally amazed by these dogs and find it fascinating.
 
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She did a swell job making up for my poor shot. The saddle is more deadly than any other stand ever thought about. Was almost up the tree when the deer came out. It happened fast but my partner helped me finish the job.


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I just saw this thread but this is my deer tracking dog Murphy. He's a silver lab. Deer tracking was a hobby I wanted for him to keep him stimulated and active. He's the first dog I've ever tried it with. Unfortunately he only sees action on private land but he tracked my buddies buck down during archery so the training approach I took worked I guess. More time will tell. What I did was bit the bullet and put him in a 3 week obedience camp after he was 8 months old. Then I trained him on methods learned off YouTube. Prolly not the best option but it worked and saved me a lot of money and it was something we did together. He's still only 1 year and two months old so he's still kind of a nutcase but enjoys tracking enough to stay on task.
 

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Peyton_Brewer said:
Thinking about training a tracking dog but not sure how much time I can afford to spend training. Any tips or pointers are greatly appreciated


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Click to expand...
Check out Callies Chronicles/Shane Simpson on youtube. He does a good job filming all his tracks. It will make you want to train your dog.
Jeremy Moore post some good videos about the training. I believe they have training kits you can buy. Sounds like any dog should be able to do it.
http://www.everythingsheddog.com/dog-...
 
My lab hates a deer with a passion. He’s NOT a trained tracker, but he will definitely find one.....

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And like was mentioned with another dog above, when he does it’s his. Not yours, his.....

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A good deer tracking dog doesnt track blood. It will track the interdigital gland.


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