How to get my dog to break scent?

B

Big Joe NJ

New member
I have been hunting with an unusual dog breed to most hunters. I hunt with a Morkie (Maltese/Yorkie mix), The dog weighs a total of 12-15 pounds. This is the second season I have hunted with him with the first season had him find about 8 birds and this season hes put up over 40. Not a flusher he strictly works off scent trails. Once he finds a live scent there is no controlling him and he runs at full pace sniffing all over the place till he locates the pheasant and due to his size and the terrain where I hunt I have a hard time keeping up with him.

The last few hunts he has developed an undesirable trait as this season has progressed which has caused me to lose a couple of downed birds that were injured and still able to run. The last couple of trips he has put up birds that I shot and need to locate as he is not a retriever by any means, I shoot the bird it goes down and then he wont break scent to follow me to locate the downed bird. I go to start in the direction of the bird and he continues on the scent trail of the bird that was just flushed. The one time I was looking in the swamp area for the cock bird I just shot and turned around as I no longer heard his bell. Lost the dog for 10-15 minutes but fortunately where I hunt everybody know the short stocky guy with the little dog so they pointed me in his direction. They were able to direct me to the trail he was in about 400-500 yards away. I didnt find the cock bird I shot but he was on somebodies injured hen bird just pinning it down so at least I got to keep that bird. My biggest concern with this is him running one direction when I go the other direction and having to go home to my 4 year old son with no dog. Not only that when he gets stuck he just stops moving, plus due to his size any coyote, fox, hawk or raccoon could put an end to his day if im not around. Anybody have a suggestion, I have an electric stimulation collar I was going to use the next time but scared that might make him not want to find birds anymore if I zap him while hes technically doing what I want him to do which is track birds?
 
Has he been trained with the e-collar? If not, don't even put it on him because he will have no idea what the stimulation is or why it is happening. He won't know what he is supposed to do and will likely put a negative association to whatever he is doing, which in this case is following bird scent.

If you are serious about continuing to hunt with this dog, you may have to accept some shortcomings, just because you are having him perform a task that he just wasn't bred for. My suggestion, just assuming that he isn't getting too far out in front of you, is to put a 20' check cord on him and when he is on the wrong scent, pull him off and towards the area you want him to work scent.
 
He was trained with it last year for his basic obedience but have not used it in a while bc hes been trained to where I need him. I was just paranoid about the collar as it dealt with hunting. The dog has his limitations in the field but he finds alot of birds and sure the hell beats hunting without a dog. Only came home empty twice the season with most days getting my limit.
 
I believe that you can't train on basic obedience enough and I think that may be an issue here. My dog must do what he is told when he is told. If I say here, he needs to stop what he is doing come to me NOW! If I say sit or blow the whistle, his butt better hit dirt. I know to some people this may sound over the top and too demanding on the dog but it is a safety concern. If he is chasing scent or a wounded/down bird that may have sailed across a barbed wire fence that he can't see or across a road with a truck coming, I need to know I can handle that dog. My pup is 4 years old and will be going for his master and grand mater title this spring. I still drill sit, here and heal several times a week and I keep my standards high.
 
Garmin just came out with a new gps/training collar, the Alpha. Lots of guys are selling their astro tracking collars. You may be able to buy a used astro for a good price. Sell the collar that comes with it and buy a new micro collar. Then you can enjoy hunting without losing your dog. Sounds like you enjoy hunting with the dog.
 
Yeah hes a good dog, and will have to put some additional work in. Due to his size I have to be careful as sticks and things will get caught in his vest and he will just stop moving and if he takes off on me and he stops moving due to something like that happening, it becomes an issue as they do not make many dog devices for his size. Even the vest he uses I had to sew it to make it smaller just to make it fit him. I think next season I will work with some quail to try to break this habit and hopefully find a beeper that fits him or a GPS tracker instead of his current bell. The dog is little but he finds birds that other hunting dogs walk right by. Last day of the season I got my limit on Pheasant and should of had my limit on Quail he put up 8 I only got three of them (but hes not a pointer and sometimes he flushes the quail a little farther then I need him to).
 
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