Can old dogs learn new bird tricks??

[grendlesgirl]

I have a great dog, never been trained for falconry, but very obedient and loves being out in the great outdoors. I'm wondering what the chances are of turning this dog into some sort of helper. He isn't a hunting breed dog. Has anyone ever done this with a dog, and if you did, how?

He probably won't point, but if he would find and chase rabbits, I'm thinking that would be helpful . . . .

[Bob Dale]

I'm in the process of doing that right now. My Schnauzer is a varmit sniffing aficionado. He goes nuts when he sees a squirrel, rabbit, mouse, cat, racoon, opossum or what ever! He's never hunted, formally that is, but he's brought home tons of rabbits and squirrels. I'm in the process of getting him to focus on rabbits and squirrels. That's going to be quite a chore b/c he is 12 years old and has ran after anything and everything all that time. It just recently hit me that i might be able to make a hawking dog out of him.
I've given him some CT skins to play with and i've let him flush a few bunnies in a nearby field with lots of praise when he jumps one. He runs around the trunk of tress when he spots a squirrel. He'll go to a tree when i point to it (if he doesn't beat me to it). It's getting easier to call him off of other critters.
The biggest problem is getting him and the hawk used to each other. When i fly Buzz in the yard, i make sure Wolfgang is there in an wire crate. The crate is to keep the dog in one place i.e right by the birds perch. Buzz is starting to get used to him. After she quits eyeing the dog like it's some kind of mongaloid squirrel, i'll take them into the field together to see how they'll do.
It's a gradual process, so time will tell the story.
I'm bracing myself for the laughter headed my way when the other hawkers see my Schnauzer jump out of it's kennel. But, if it hunts, what's the difference?

[grendlesgirl]

Ha! Birna (the hawk) ignored Grendle (the dog) until one day when he snuck up and ate her beefheart while I was feeding her. Ever since then she has been a tongue out wing spread furious glaring woman which he, like the insensible man he is, ignores. Maybe she'll have some respect for him if he finds rabbits?

[BubbaGum]

When I started had a great dog and very obedient. So I had to figure out how to get the bird to accept the dog. so for bout a week I had the dog bring the bird food. I would walk him in the weathering area with a dove or somethin and "drop it". Soon the bird was eatin under him. I carry a bag with golf balls. I throw the golf ball in the bushes the dog goes and gets them. If he flushes a rabbit I scream Ho Ho Ho which for the bird means Go! but for the dog it means STOP. when I get to the bird I call the dog

[Bob Dale]

My sponsor's HH doesn't follow him, it follows his dogs. She knows who flushes the game! He's flown this bird over these dogs for several years and they have formed a partnership. Teddy Moritz says the same about her hawks and her dachshunds.

[Weasel]

A local female falconer here does that too. Dogs work so well with the birds. ;D

[Bob Dale]

Yes, but she calls you "honey" when you get back home ;D

[Falcon Boy]

BobDale said:

My sponsor's HH doesn't follow him, it follows his dogs. She knows who flushes the game! He's flown this bird over these dogs for several years and they have formed a partnership. Teddy Moritz says the same about her hawks and her dachshunds.

I have seen Teddy's bird fly over her dogs, it is amazing to watch them work together.

[Beibhan]

Matt M. flew his Kestrels with his Whippet. He said that worked fine. The Whippet helped flush birds while it looked for ground prey. My Whippet is turning 12 so I'm hoping he'll do the same. He is fine with the imprint Kestrel. He's come up and sniffed the bird, touching him with his nose. The Kes didn't seem to mind and my dogs have always been trained to leave my own animals alone.

Hawking with a Whippet would be difficult as the Whippets like to kill the rabbit on their own. If/when I get a new dog I'll have to decide how I'm going to train.

[Beibhan]

Oh and I meant to add, dogs can learn new things at any age. It may take an older dog longer but they also tend to have longer attention spans. I've housebroken a 5yr. old dog that had never been in a house. I've also obedience trained a 3yr. old Rhodesian Ridgeback that wanted to kill any dog in sight and also hated men. She was fun. I've also worked with older dogs.

Bob as far as your Schnauzer goes, I'm guessing it's a miniature?, remember to bring a brush with you if you are keeping any feathers on the dog. It's much easier to groom a dog as soon as you are done hunting than to spend hours trying to work things out when they've gotten into the coat really tight.

I would throw my Borzoi onto my tailgate and brush him and check him for ticks after every outing. It took just a few minutes and I got ticks before they got a chance to bite sometimes. Even my shorthaired Whippets got checked for weeds and ticks. Prevention is good.

[sparrowhawk13]

I have a young German Shepard/Border Collie that knows nothing whatsoever(she was a stray) and would like to teach her to flush rabbits can anyone help?

[Ooby]

sparrowhawk13 said:

I have a young German Shepard/Border Collie that knows nothing whatsoever(she was a stray) and would like to teach her to flush rabbits can anyone help?

Thats like saying, I have a mazda that i want to haul lumber with, can anyone help? The dog is a sheppard, not a hunting dog. While it can be taught to flush rabbits, it wont have the instinctual traits that hunting dogs have.

I suggest you read some books on the subject.

I will never understand why people come here and ask questions they think there is a simple answer to.


You asked a simple question, the simple answer is, no. No one can help you, you have to help yourself.

[sparrowhawk13]

Sorry about the stupid question, but I had read about sheppards strangely flushing rabbits and being exteremely effective. Sorry again.

[Ooby]

I didn't say they couldn't. I just said that that is not what they were bred for. Any dog will chase rabbits, its a moving object the size of a dog toy. But that doesn't make em a good rabbit dog. You need to read. The info you want to know isn't short or simple, but long and somewhat complicated.

[Brittanica]

[glow=blue,2,300]I don't know about ur dogs but mine goes after ANYTHING!!! (not thinking of hunting him) How do u know that the first time he/she sees the bird, it won't think of it as food/prey/ funny thing to drag around the yard?[/glow]