Loan your dogs to a buddy?

M

matto

Well-known member
Bob's story raised an interesting topic in my mind. Have you loaned your dog(s)? Would you loan your dog(s)? Have you borrowed dog(s)?

I borrowed a dog once--from my dad when I was in high school. It was a lab and he was getting on in years, probably 10ish. I'd grown up with Jake and occasionally "handled" him when my dad was taking his turn blocking. One day a buddy and I took Jake with us, with my dad's permission. All went well but I'm not sure I have the trust in both my sons and my dogs to let that happen.

With my 21 year-old son, I think the dogs would respond to him, but I'm not sure he'd be attentive enough to them. I'd worry about things like keeping track of them while hunting, making sure they get water, appropriate calling to them, etc.

My 23 year-old son doesn't have enough time in the field or at home with the dogs I have now. To them, he's just a house guest who used to stay for a couple weeks once in a while, but now only for a couple days at a time.
 
My dog won't hunt with anyone else. She would simply be looking for me the whole time if I wasn't there.

Beyond that, I would be very skeptical of allowing someone else to "borrow" her in the field, even a trusted friend or my own Father. Vice versa too, I would not even consider asking someone else to borrow their hunting dog because I would feel terrible if anything happened under my watch. If something catastrophic occurred, I'd never forgive myself.

A family dog may be a different story, as multiple individuals are often present in the house to raise and train the dog.
 
I have had someone insinuate that they would like to borrow my dogs, but not directly ask.

Ummm, no.
The right way to ask for someone's dogs is to invite the owner to come along on the hunt!

There are a couple of friends that I would trust but they would never ask. And I would never ask them.
 
I have rented my dog to groups that were here. The groups needed a dog, I had a great dog so it worked well. I made one person be in charge of the dog, They all loved it and he loved it because he got to go hunting. He never left my property so if there was a problem he could just come home. I would not do it if he was going to be off my property.
 
When I was younger I would take my uncles dog hunting all the time. I never had a problem, that dog listened to me better then my uncle anyways.

My old dog was a great pheasant hunter and a mutt. I let my uncle use him whenever he wanted. I also let some good friends take him a few times when I couldn't go. He never had any issues, although he was a very mild mannered dog and he wasn't very sensitive.

My dads cousin had an old lab that had hip dysplasia. He hadn't hunted in a few years so he told my dad to take him for the MEA weekend when I was a kid. We had a blast and that dog was trained very well. He retrieved around 10 ducks and a couple geese for me that weekend. He couldn't do much pheasant hunting at that time but I was still able to flush a rooster on the walk to the duck slough and crippled it. He chased it down through the cattails and came out with it 5 minutes later.

We took a bunch of pictures of the dog hunting and gave them to his cousin. He couldn't have been happier. That was the last hunt that dog ever had.

With my current dog I would not borrow him to anyone, even my uncle. He's just too sensitive and I've had to work with him allot to get him over some early training mistakes. He's that type of dog that if you do one thing wrong you need to work with him for a month to correct it. He's a good hunter and listens very well, but I'd be concerned that someone would do something that would create problems. If my current dog was more like my last dog I would probably let my family or good friends hunt with it.
 
I would lend my dog to very few people under a few circumstances. I think bird contacts are very important. If the one or two people I fully trust with my dog were to take a multi-day South Dakota trip and for some reason I could not go, I would send my dog with them so that he can become a better hunter by getting on wild birds. I probably would not lend him to anyone for a one time short local hunt.

I have hunted with a dog that's not mine a few times before. They've all involved watching a friend/family members dog while that person is out of town. If I have to go check on their dog and let them burn some energy, it's a better use of my time and the dogs time to go hunt with them for a bit instead.
 
I loan a dog out to other people in my group when I’m blocking. Any of my dogs is ok with it. The only problems we’ve run into is when I’ve lent them the ecollar remote and they try to tone them back the dog runs around looking for me. Something cool I’ve down on a group hunt a couple times hunting corners or even on a narrow piece of grasswas leave my dog as a blocker. I’d sit her on the edge of the road about 50 yds from the end, and then walk down to the end and block the far corner. Where she was was where most of the birds would get up and she’d get to retrieve for the walkers
I’d be all right loaning them out to several friends.
One of my buddies loaned me a dog when my first one passed away young. That was a mistake he wouldn’t retrieve for me. I ended up picking up my own ducks.
 
NO.

I've met guys hunting who have disappeared for a year, then called and asked if I'd like to go hunting with them and could I bring my dog.

The answer is always no; I don't believe in once-a-year friends. If their only interest is going to my places with my dog to hunt, I'll have nothing to do with them.
 
Friends don't ask friends to borrow two things, dogs being one of them. Like other posts, I am not sure Ellie would hunt with anyone else. Attempts to have her go with even family members while I get the truck and maybe block led to her just running after the pickup. Much, much too loyal to me. Willow probably would but I would not even consider it. If my family who hunt with both on a regular basis went without me, I wouldn't have as big of a concern. They know my expectations.
 
Me giving my friends the run down on how to take care of my things when they borrow some hunting gear

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I usually run two dogs. I would love to send one dog with one of my hunting partners and I take the other one, but usually they only hunt for me. The biggest problem would be how to control them if they don't have a collar controller for the dog. I run both of my dogs off of one controller.
 
I think our dog-sitters can relate to this:
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I did once to a very close friend who had a brother to one of my dogs. I lent him a very well trained older dog that was a phenomenal hunter. In one day he shot a limit and ruined the dog for the rest of the season. I had to dig out her old ecollar and retrain basic commands. I still don’t know what he did, I suspect let the dog run wild and take long shots. Never ever again.
 
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