Anonymous

My husband has put me up to this because he is a hunter.

He is curious how to get a basset interested in hunting. Our 1st basset Maggie(6yr) has absolutely no interest in hunting what so ever. He took her a couple times rabbit hunting and she sat under his truck while he walked. Once he had gotten a couple of bunnies she just licked them.(I know she is older now, but during her younger days she wasn't interested I would think it has only gotten worse now)

We've gotten a puppy basset(7 months old) who I really think would hunt. The reason I say that is we have a pet bunny and she is really interested in the bunny. One day they were all out in the back yard and Mollie started sniffing out Daisy(the bunny) she eventually found her and the race was on. Maggie has never even thought of chasing Daisy while they have been outside. She just likes to lick her when they bump into each other laying around in the yard. Daisy dosen't go out in the yard unless supervised though.

So my husband thinks he might have an acutal hunting dog now with Mollie. What can he do to train her and work with her to get her interested in actually hunting? And how not to scare them when the gun goes off?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[ November 29, 2005, 03:37 PM: Message edited by: Mollie and Maggie ]

pinehawk

if your husband has hunted b/4 he will know what to do.wait until the dog is in active pursuit of game b/4 shooting...if the dog is working a check and not barking don't shoot the gun this may cause some dogs to be startled.just take them to a place were there is rabbits and let them track them...she may not be that great at it at first,but with time in the field they will come along.get a good shock collar you will need one if their is deer in your area and you will need this to discourge her from chasing them...unless you want her for deer hunting also which i think they allow the use of dogs in NC.

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Anonymous

Thank you so much for your help!

bonnieNtucker

Just curious, why some places allow hunting a deer with a dog some don't. Even here in Canada ( if i understand correctly) some provinces allow it and some don't. My husband as well would like to train Tucker for hunting pheasents and such but he is more of a deer hunter (and would prefer to use Tucker for deer) and can't understand the different rules. Any ideas?

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bonnieNtucker
'Failing to plan is planning to fail'
http://www.dogster.com/?125837

Milly and Lily

I'm not a hunter personally although I have thought about it in the past. I thought teaching Lily to hunt rabbits would be interesting as that is what they are for, but I have no idea what I would do with the rabbits so I decided to stick with performance events.
Anyway to answer your question at least in virginia I believe it is considered unfair, for lack of a better term, for the deer. Perhaps unsporting is a better word. My dad hunted deer a little when I was young and he had his friends would say that but I don't know if it is the whole story or not. I know you can use dogs for some hunting in Virginia including fox hunting. They haven't taken that away yet like in England.

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Milissa
My dog can heal and heel: therapy dogs rock!
members.cavtel.net/mlwstory

dean wickwire

First -- bassets do not catch or kill rabbits. The job of a scent hound is to track and keep the critters moving. Rabbits are territorial critters and will go in a circle back to almost the exact location where the hound first jumped them. Which happens to be where you are waiting with a gun. At our hunts, we just watch the rabbit run past and let the dogs keep on running. Very few states permit deer hunting with dogs. I teach my hounds not to run deer, because deer can take the houndies out of the county or across roads.

Milly and Lily

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I didn't think the dogs killed the rabbits, I figured it was like fox hunting where the dogs just ran the fox to ground or something.

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Milissa
My dog can heal and heel: therapy dogs rock!
members.cavtel.net/mlwstory

bonnieNtucker

So the reason is the dogs my follow the deer for miles, that is why they are not allowed.
I found a book called training your dog to follow a blood trail. That is what he was thinking of using the dog for....to find a wounded deer fast....just curious!

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bonnieNtucker
'Failing to plan is planning to fail'
http://www.dogster.com/?125837

dean wickwire

Some states allow the use of dogs for tracking wounded game, but require permits. Check with your local authorities.