When you buy a working dog who will be able to assist you when you go hunting you know on forehand that there will be some specialized training involved. It all start with the more regular training when the puppy is 7 weeks old. You start with te regular obedience training which will lay the foundation of the trust and respect between you and the dog and will teach the puppy slowly and in a plesant manner the basic commands. This is an essential part in training a hunting dog because they are usually left loose during hunting and they must learn to obey each command immediately.

Dog Training Reminders

There are some things that you should consider and remember when training hunting dogs. These are mainly for your safety and also that of your dog’s well being. In the course of the training, you might be tempted to use an electric collar to help you teach your dog to obey you. This method uses small electric shocks to rebuke your dog if you think that it is doing something wrong. There are advocates who swear that this way of training hunting dogs is humane and has no side effects while there are others who protest this method citing that it is similar to punishing the dog for wrongdoing. We advise you never to use these kind of collars in any circumstance because it does not help the dog in any way to trust you, your commands and his own intuition.

Your dog needs to learn to listen to you and your commands, because he wants to otherwise it will go on its own to hunt and no care if you are calling or not. Instilling this kind of obedience in your dog needs a lot of patience in your part.

The breed you are choosing is a big thing to consider. Not all dog breeds are suitable as hunting dogs. You must consider what kind of hunting you primarily do and which breed is most suitable for this. Training a hunting dog which is not suitable or the kind of hunting you do will be frustrating for you and the dog. There are water hunting dogs, tracking dogs and dogs that can dig after prey.

Training hunting dogs is a time consuming activity and it can take several months before you see some results of the training. You need to have a lot of patience and certainly do not push te dog to much this will only work against you in the long run.