Choosing the Right Hunting Dog Breeds before Training

Hunting dogs pertains to any type of dog assisting humans when hunting. Hunting refers to the practice of chasing animals to kill or capture them for recreation, food, or trade products. Today, the term deals with the legal and regulated hunting distinguished from poaching or the capture, trapping, or killing of animals forbidden by law. Hunted animals that are protected by the law include game animals usually migratory birds and medium sized mammals.

There are numerous breeds of hunting dogs trained for different tasks required by the hunters to fulfill. The hunting dogs belonging to major categories are terriers, hounds, gun dogs, and curs type dogs. There are further divisions in these categories where in the skills of the dogs are being set.

- Hounds are utilized for tracking and killing game. It leads the hunters for long chases which usually end in quarry. Hounds are good for hunting coyote, raccoon, and huge predators. Hounds are divided into other types.

• Sighthounds are generally extreme fast dogs.

• Scenthounds primarily uses scent for hunting rather than their sight. They are regarded generally as canines having the most sensitive noses. They have a deeply booming voice using them actively when running or following a scent trail.

• Lurchers are a cross bred of Sighthounds with a working breed of dog.

- Gun dogs are utilized by hunter in small game using shotguns. They come in three main classes according to their main set of skills.

• Retrievers are classified before as water spaniels. Its main role is finding and returning shot games on the hunter. They are considered as unsurpassed water dogs. They could stand long hours in duck blinds or after a gun was fired at multiple geese or ducks where they could spot visually and remember the downed birds location. They could dive on icy waters to retrieve the birds one at a time. They are also remarkable in following verbal, whistle, and hand commands over a great distance where a downed bird has been directed to them by the hunter. They are equipped with large and gentle muzzles mitigating potential damage brought by the game.

• Setters compared to upland gun dogs also have a long history. They possess native ability in discovering and pointing upland game birds. By the hunter’s command, they will distract the birds so that the hunter can shoot them.

• Spaniels have been used for more than a hundred years in hunting. Selective breeding leads to the refinement of skills of several flushing breeds of spaniels providing small game and upland bird hunter an option of capacities unique to all breeds and are excellent for becoming a family or companion dogs.

• Pointers are trained to point and locate small game for the hunter. The same tasks of the spaniels are also done by pointers however in a different manner basically on the techniques being applied.

• Water dogs are the retriever’s subclass.

- Terriers are exclusively used for hunting mammals. They are used for locating the living space, set, or animals den before bolting, capturing, or killing them using their force.

- Curs are used similar to terriers however in a larger game. It often hunts cougars, hogs, raccoon, and other large mammals.

There is an excitement when hunting especially if the dogs exhibit good performance. It is important to choose the appropriate dog breeds for hunting so that the risks of training them are minimized.