You can allow the pup to run, track, chase and investigate the rabbit on its own, but keep watch in order to prevent injuries to either the puppy or rabbit. Next, practice with a frozen dead duck and rabbit. Gradually train your dog to tolerate gunfire. If unable to get a tame rabbit, rabbit fur or bottled rabbit scent could be used to train your pup to track scents. $8 dollars a day/$35 a week. Trial and error will be required to discover what works for an older dog you did not raise. https://www.petful.com/behaviors/how-to-teach-a-dog-to-fetch/ We have a 20 week old male beagle dog. 1.2 Introducing Your Dog to Rabbits; 1.3 Preparing Your Dog for the Hunt; 1.4 Hunting with your Dog; 2 Tips; 3 Warnings; 4 Sources and Citations; Steps Training Your Dog to Track . © 2020 Wag Labs, Inc. All rights reserved. Also try tying up your puppy with a leash and having it watch you chase the rabbit around the enclosure. Begin training when the puppy is between 4 and 6 weeks old. Dragging a dead rabbit through the grass will also familiarize the puppy with its scent and prepare it to track live rabbits. In addition, the dog should be obedient and fit. It is important to have cover in the pen that the rabbit can hide behind, as you want to train your puppy to use its nose to track, rather than "sight chase.". There are numerous proven methods to train a Beagle to rabbit hunt. Too many dogs can be distracting, and the rabbit's scent will be weaker to the dogs' noses. Training an older dog to hunt rabbits, which requires a lot of communication and a close relationship to be successful, can be challenging with an older dog that you did not raise. With the proper training your dog will not only be able to help you successfully hunt waterfowl, it will also serve as an obedient, loving, lifelong friend. If you want to fill your hunting bags with birds and your heart with love, follow these simple steps to choose, train, and develop a first class waterfowl hunting dog. Make sure to not allow your dog to harm the rabbit. If the rabbit puts enough distance between itself and the dogs, it will pause to look back. Let the dogs out. Release your dog and encourage him to the scent trail. Different dogs have different attention spans, (just as human personalities differ so do dogs). Your puppy should become excited and chase the rabbit. Do not allow the dog to harm the rabbit – strict supervision will be required. Running pens can vary widely in size, from 5 acres all the way up to 100 acres or more. Aim to run your young dog with a trained, but slower, female. 3.3 out of 5 stars 17. Do not suddenly fire a gun near your dog if it has never heard the sound before. Continuous training is key to keep your Terrier’s skills up to scratch. To teach your dog the “stop barking” command, start by teaching it how to “speak” so you can control when it’s allowed to … When shooting make sure your dog is at least 2 meters away from the rabbit. Prior to training to hunt with an older dog, try different commands and establish obedience. It is recommended to only train up to 3 puppies at a time in the starting pen. Can rabbits and dogs be friends? Puppies will not usually harm a tame rabbit, but you should keep a close eye on the pup and the rabbit in order to prevent injury to either animal. An older dog may have already developed his own notion of how to hunt and may have developed his own habits around responding to commands. ), http://www.beaglesunlimited.com/training/starting-pen-design-part-1, http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/gun-dogs/2013/03/hunting-dogs-best-dog-breeds-every-game-species, http://www.gundogmag.com/training/first-year-tips-for-training-a-hunting-puppy/, http://www.beaglesunlimited.com/training/starting-beagle-pups-rabbits, http://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/hunting/2007/09/small-game-training-beagles, http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/gun-dogs/2014/03/dog-training-turn-your-beagle-rabbit-hunting-machine, http://www.huntinghoundsmen.com/starting-a-new-pup-the-rabbit-hunter-magazine/, https://www.purinaproclub.com/resource-library/todays-breeder/issue-79/the-mechanics-of-starting-spo-pups, http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/gun-dogs/2013/05/gun-dog-training-introducing-your-pup-water-game-and-gunfire, http://www.ducks.org/hunting/retriever-training/overcoming-a-fear-of-gunfire/page2, http://www.how-to-hunt-rabbit.com/finding-rabbits.html, http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2014/01/cottontail-hunting-rabbit-tips-techniques, http://www.beaglesunlimited.com/rabbit-hunting/rabbit-hunting-beagles-circular-pursuit, http://www.beaglesunlimited.com/rabbit-hunting/tips-hunting-rabbits-or-without-dogs, Train or Help a Puppy Stop Crying when Locked up or Outside, Train Your Service Dog Without a Professional Trainer, https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Train_a_Dog_for_Rabbit_Hunting&oldid=72957, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Do not begin training in an open area. Mike "Seven Lakes Longbows" whiskerdog1. Does anyone have a game plan on teaching a dog to point and hold on rabbits ? The trick, however, is that your dog learns to hunt rabbits as part of a team, with you or with other dogs, and does not go off on his own or mangle prey beyond recognition! It can take up to a year to teach your dog to hunt rabbits successfully, work as a team, and respond to your commands. Breeder Rod Place recommended that four pups with one older dog is the perfect ratio to optimize training speed and quality. Crate training is one of those doggy details that you’ll find a lot of mixed opinions about. Let your puppy run with older, trained dogs. First of all, a few things about the Beagle: it is a medium-sized dog, member of the hound group with some resemblances with the Foxhound (but the Beagle is a little smaller … Scatter pieces of treats through the yard and allow your pup to sniff around to find them. If your puppy eagerly follows the rabbit, it may only need a few times in the starting pen before it can move on. Next, have a friend release live ducks from a cage and shoot them, and have pup retrieve those. With speed and agility on their side, Whippets make a best friend to poachers. If you only have one puppy (or puppies), you will have to run it with a friend or neighbour's dogs, or visit the local gundog club. Hold the dog and the rabbit, do not allow the dog to harm the rabbit, but he should get excited about the rabbit and pull on the leash trying to approach the rabbit. The best method is the one that you use and stick with. Jan 10, 2018. Move your puppy to a running pen. The dog needs to see one, get to know what you want him to hunt.All this is new to him. We begin by allowing the puppy to play with a rabbit skin or a foot of a wild rabbit we killed previously. Also let the dog loose, to chase the tame rabbit. Crate Training Your Older Dog This post contains affiliate links. Two critical elements are necessary for training your dog to get along with your rabbit. By. We have been hunting rabbits this way for over 15 years. A "brace," or two-dog pack, is often created by pairing your puppy with an older dog. Email. Do not use a wild rabbit for training, as a wild rabbit could injure your puppy. You don’t need a dog to hunt rabbits, as long as you’re willing to bust some brush and jump on some blowdowns. You may choose to take your puppy to a private running pen, where you will pay for each dog that is trained. During this playtime, the puppy learns the smell of rabbit and wants to chase the fur. In particular, the "recall" command--teaching your dog to come back to you when you call him-- is the most important part of any dog training, and you should begin training your pup to follow this command early on. I would start with the basics of obedience like Come and Sit, and practice teaching pup to retrieve "dummy's" and "bumpers" first. Basset Hounds … When you shoot your quarry, you do not want your dog to startle or become scared and associate flushing the rabbit with a negative experience. Next, tie your dog up and drag the skin away, creating a scent trail. Encourage your dog to vocalize its successful tracking. Find an elevated spot or clearing from which you can follow the chase. Also, if you are using an older dog, you will need to make sure the dog is in good enough physical shape to hunt. treats, saying "good boy!"). When hunting rabbits with Basset hounds, the goal is for your dog to chase the rabbit so it loops back in a circle towards to waiting hunters. Most rabbits will be found on dry, soft land near dense brush and other cover (thickets, briars, etc. … “So, I talk about the work I put in to hunting these animals and my belief in only eating meat when I know where it has come from. Your pup should learn basic commands like "sit" and "stay" before being introduced to rabbit hunting. Your pup will learn more advanced tracking skills from the older dog, in particular how to behave during a "check," or temporary loss of a rabbit's trail. We dont know anyone around who trains them so we have to do it ourselves. When hunting in packs, a dog that picks up the scent of a rabbit will begin barking, signalling the other dogs to join the chase. As dogs age, they can develop orthopedic problems that can be aggravated by strenuous physical activity, especially that which occurs during hunting. Facebook. Release the rabbit. The book I would most recommend is American … Remember, this is supposed to be fun for you and your dog! It works best with … Allow the rabbit loose, and with the dog on leash, allow the dog to locate the rabbit. The smallish farms I hunt would have her crossing roads on a chase.