Will Your Dog Hunt for Someone Else?

B

birddog456

Member
,My initial contact with pheasant hunting was with my uncle and his two shorthairs back in "87. Still remember my first rooster, all the points, the hits and the misses. I became addicted pretty quickly, wanted to go every chance I had. Unfortunately my uncle had the dogs, and he was working 12 hour days, six days a week. Only left one day open not thinking he had other responsibilities and could spend his only off day ALL the time in the field with his nephew chasing tail. After a few "no's", I couldn't take it, so I asked if I could take one his dogs out. Again the response "no". Why the heck not I thought, it was only a dog, I mean come on!
Now that I have dogs of my own, kids if you will, I understand now why my uncle would not let me take HIS dogs out. I don't know IF they would have hunted FOR me, respond to my voice, or if I would know HOW to handle them.
There is actually so much to consider, and so much that could turn out for the worse. In light of a man on this sight letting his son's dog go with a friend and still missing after a week, is only one scenario. I mention this not to be-little or judge this decision, but to use as a learning tool to help prevent this from happening to someone else.
I pose the questions:
Would you let someone else take your dog out hunting?
Would your dog listen to that person, and hunt for them?

Unless that person was there with me during all the training, knew my dog would respond to him, and he showed the same love and concern for my dog, my resonse would be the same as my uncle's...NO!
 
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Nope. My dogs would hunt just fine but not for anyone but me. I doubt anyone could handle them properly and they would probably just run out of control hunting for themselves. The only person I would trust with my dogs is my brother and he has his own so he would probably never ask.
 
I don't blame your uncle at all for not letting you take his dogs.

I'm sure my dog would hunt for others without a problem, but NO, I would not let someone else take him. I've too much emotional investment to trust things would go well with someone else. He's already seen one Vet for stitches after running into barbed wire, so I know things can happen. No way I'm letting him out of my sight. It's hard enough taking him to the kennel when we travel, where I know he'll be safe while we're gone.
 
I let a friend of mine take one of my dogs on a trip to Montana one time. He had just lost his best dog to old age and my workload was not going to allow me to hunt that season, so it helped all parties. She was an exceptional dog.

On the other hand, I had a dog who would only hunt for me. My Dad and I were hunting out in West Texas one afternoon, when I got sick. We decided he would take the dog and hunt up to the next windmill and I would take a break then go back and get the truck and meet him and the dog at the windmill. The minute the dog figured out I was missing she backtracked and found me and would not leave my side.

For most situations the answer is no but if the circumstances were right I could see myself giving it serious consideration.
 
No and no sbi! my response would be sorry get you own pup and put the time in its much more rewarding plus my GSP is just starting to become a bird dog :D can't let some other person shoot a bird off his stylish points he's giving now :p
 
Mick is an absolute hunting floozie. He'd hunt for anyone. Heck, once I had just come back to the car at the State property, and he started out with a group just leaving. :)

Would I let others take him? No. Never.
 
A few years back we had a black lab female that had been trained to a fairly high level. Even young children could work that dog on bumpers in the yard using voice and whistle commands and hand signals, the kids always thought it was neat that the dog would do what it they signaled. I frequently let my hunting partners that didn't have a dog hunt her. These were good friends that I knew well and trusted. If we had a big piece of cover, I could just drop them off on one end and I would work a different part of the field. She would hunt enthusiastically for all of them and was easily handled. I had another lab at the time, a male, but he could only be controlled by me.

This fall, a good friend and his 15-yr old son were hunting our property. After a day and a half of hard hunting their lab was pretty tired, but the youngster still had energy for another hunt. I had two fresh dogs in the kennel, so I thought I would try teaming our 6-yr old female lab with the youth, even though that dog had only hunted for either my wife or myself up to that time. I gave the boy a quick rundown of the voice and whistle commands and drove them to the field. I parked on a hill where I could observe them. At first the dog was confused and kept running back to the truck to "get me", but after the third try she got the notion that I wasn't going to hunt and ran after the boy and started working. It all went well and they put up six peasants (all hens) in about 20 minutes, the dog well within control. As long as I am in the same field and the dog is responding to the person handling it, I am glad to share my dog with good friends that are safe hunters.
 
He would, but I would never loan him out.
 
I have hunters that come here to hunt and I will let certain groups that I have known for years take him. I make sure that one person is in charge and responsible for him before I hand him the keys. If I am around he will only retrieve to me. If I am not there he will take the bird to the one in charge of him.
 
loan out my truck, sure.........loan out a spare shotgun, no problem.......borrow my dog to hunt?.....sorry, not a chance.
 
birddog456 said:
I pose the questions:
Would you let someone else take your dog out hunting?
Would your dog listen to that person, and hunt for them?
Click to expand...

Short Answer: NO & NO!!
 
My PUPS for sure:eek: Would NO WAY even take a walk (voluntarily) without me.
Go hunting without me NO way.
They would be gone in a second to be looking for their ME.
Nor would I hunt without my PUPS.:thumbsup:
 
I'm in agreement with most on this one, NO not even for my brothers. I'm the one who's spent the time working with him and we still have a ways to go as he's only two. He will listen to commands in the backyard from my 7 year old, but I don't think he'd even hunt for someone else, he's kind of a one man show.
 
I was going to say, "yes", I would loan out my dogs to the right person. Then I started thinking of everybody I know, and decided that I don't know the right person.:laugh:

Mostly it is a matter of handling style rather than anything else. Pretty much all my hunting buddies use a fair amount of electricity, and I use none. So it would probably be a trainwreck pretty fast if they tried to handle my dogs the way they handle their own (and that's what they would probably do). Lab guys, what can ya say...?;) I'm more like a coach, and they are more like drill sargeants.

I think Junie the young brit would hunt for anybody. She's as friendly as they come... Daisy would probably just be confused and anxious, even if she was with a person she knows. Daisy is definitely a one-man dog.

I guess the catch-22 is that anybody who is trustworthy and knowledgeable enough to handle your dog properly probably doesn't need your dog. But I guess if I knew somebody who handled their dogs the same way I do and cared for them the same way I do, I would loan them Junie in a second. She needs as much experience as possible.
 
I would let a few I know from trial clubs take em out. Safest guns on the plannet. I trust them with my dogs life every weekend, and mine. Yes the dogs will run for someone. I let a guy who never knew Odie take and run him in some trials, 1st one he got 2nd, 2nd one he got 3rd. 3rd he broke. Had him a week. Let him have him a few days before the National, and he got a CM. Did the same with River this fall. He never seen her, had her a short while and she placed in 2 out of 3 as well. They would hunt for any one.
 
other

Two of my Bretons will hunt for other people.
Only let one guy hunt them - my main hunting partner & only when we are on a trip together. We hunt sometimes separately but nearby in terms of locale.
The dogs know him from many - many hunts together. I don't know if they would hunt for anyone else & don't figure on knowing.
 
If I was not there my dogs would hunt for someone else. Its a short list but there is 4 guys that I would let take my dog. Its all about trust they own dogs and I train or hunt with them a lot.
 
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