by Priscilla Babiolakis

Created on: August 11, 2008

GO HUNTING WITH YOUR FAITHFUL FOUR LEGGED FRIEND

Hunting is a serious hobby and you should carefully consider all the necessary tools required. This includes choosing the correct breed of dog. Popular breeds are Labradors, Golden Retrievers and Springer Spaniels.

The above-mentioned breeds all have a love of swimming in common and are even tempered and playful. Labradors love to play in water and have webbed feet to assist in swimming, whereas Springer Spaniels are skillful and intelligent. Your Golden Retriever is very easily trained, excels in obedience and competitions.

Remember dogs are animals and not humans and therefore it takes time, patience and positive corroboration to train your pet to hunt.

When choosing your pet, consider the amount of care you will need to spend on your dog. Long haired animals need grooming, whereas the larger breeds like Labradors and Golden Retrievers want space to exercise and run. You can either purchase a fully trained hunting dog from a hunting club, or start off with a new puppy. Make sure your puppy is purchased from a reputable breeder.

It is not easy to change the habits of an already trained dog and it will take time and patience to build up a loyal relationship. It is generally recommended to start from the beginning with a puppy for the simple reason that you will be able to train the animal to suit your specific needs allowing for loyalty and bonding together.

Begin training as early as possible. Introduce the puppy to water in a small pool, make the experience fun. Always remember to reward and use positive reinforcement, gradually move to open waters. At the same time, teach the basic dog commands like sit and stay. Do not be afraid to use food as a teaching tool. Giving your puppy a small treat when he understands your commands makes him eager to listen to and obey your commands very important traits in a successful gun dog. Later on in the field, once your dog is trained it is always a good idea to reward him for good work.

Once your puppy is comfortable in the water the next step is to introduce decoys and the scent of fowl into your dog's daily routine. The more training you carry out using the scent of fowls the better your dog will perform when he's finally working with you in the field. Well trained dogs will always catch the scent of game before they can see it. It is important to teach your puppy the difference between a decoy and the real fowl early in training, otherwise he will not know the difference.

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