Hunting Habits?

[GoodOlBoy]

Ok to put this odd my non-hunting dog has developed some rather strange hunting like habits.

Tanner is a Mutt, pure and simple. His mother was supposedly a Austrailian Shepard, and I am pretty sure his father was the result of decades of hasty unplanned dog sex. . . . . ANYWAY.

He has begun chasing and flushing game all on his own. I have lost track of the number of rabbits, deer, and squirrel he has chased right up to my back door.

He has also developed several new games he seems to enjoy emminsley. These include (but are not limited to)

Cold nose the chicken. . . . Yes thats right cold nose the chicken. He does not bite at them, he does not chase them (Other than he has learned to work with my wife to herd them back to the pen when they get out) But he seems to find it endlessly ammusing to sneak up on a chicken and cold nose it. This produces an airborne (albeit straight up) very fussy foul. . .

Toss the Mole. . . . . In this game variant he will be happily bouncing along and will suddenly attack the ground digging faster than a ditch witch. I have seen him turn flat ground into a two foot hole in under 30 seconds. Nearly every single time he pulls out a live mole and happily trots around the yard tossing him straight up in the air and watching him bounce. This continues until the mole decides to stop playing the game (ie its dead)

Outrun the shadow. . . . Yes in this odd behavior he suddenly decides his shadow akin to a land bareing jaws and runs full tilt until he tires (which usually takes about four hours) or until he finds opportunity to play Toss the mole, or Cold nose the chicken. . . .

Any ideas what to do with him? IE I wonder if he would even be trainable (He did not seem inclined to be trained as a young pup, and will run from the mear site of a gun)

GoodOlBoy

[Lilred]

Well..I would say that if first depended on how old that dog is..he sounds like a hoot to be around!
My opinion..and it is just that..is that he's got some cattle dog in him fer sure...sneakin & roundin things up..and you might could put those 2 together to git him huntin somethin.

Squirrel would probaly be my first thought..it seems as tho he's playin alot..you say he runs game up to yer backyard..how exactly does he do that? I mean..does he try to round em up there, or does he stumble upon them and chase em? Yer best bet would be to take him out in the woods and watch him closely. Take him out alot..you caint judge him the first few times you take him out. See what interests him..see how often he's trailin anythin, iffin at all. See what his reaction is to game.
There's a diff tween huntin and playin..and you dont want to waste yer time trainin a dog that aint really huntin. IMHO, a huntin dog..er a good one anyway..takes his/her responsibilities very seriously.

On the other side of the coin, I have taken dogs that folks have called werthless...and had em run like they had tin cans tied to their tail..and held their weight very well in the pack. A few of those even took it upon themselves to run just as hard w/o any other dog with em. If the instinct is in em..all you gotta do is find it. Sometimes, the dogs find it themselves. Once that light comes on tho..all it takes is some refinin and some schoolin..and you'll have a good dog.

[gspsonny03]

GOB; All dogs without exception can and will hunt. Whether or not you can bring out the particular trait that you desire from your dog is yet to be seen. Lilred gave you good advice, you just have to take him out and see if and what he has a talent for. He may just be having fun and will have no desire to hunt for YOU. I would for sure take him out and see what he could do if I was you. But don't be upset with your dog if he doesn't understand what you expect from him. He has taught himself how to hunt and have fun at the same time and that may be as far as he wants to go. And I agree with Lilred, he sounds like he would be a hoot to be around.

[GoodOlBoy]

Sorry it took me so long to get back to this.

Tanner is a hoot alright. He actually goes off and finds game and runs it up to the house, the acts like he is irritated with me when it gets away. I can very easily distinguish his serious barks from his playful ones now, although he has a bark he only uses with armadillos that is a little odd. I have some newer pics of him I will try to post if I ever remember to bring the CD to work.

GoodOlBoy

[drummer]

I agree with everything that's been said GOB.Take that boy hunting and see what he can do.A dog is a great companion and it's a real treat to watch him learn what he's supposed to do.:D
Just like a kid,start him out on squirrels.

[myEspringr]

yeah give it a shot with huntin'. i'm guessin' you don't get much television in . who needs tv when you have that much comedy in the backyard.