The first lessons must be managed with the utmost patience, without yelling and expecting the dog to learn everything quickly. The peculiar characteristics of training involving a hunting breed are not very different from all the other breeds involved in hunting.
How to do hunting dog training
The training of the hunting dog substantially reflects all the characteristics of the classics trainings which are essentially based on certain verbal commands. The main and most used are six and are: call, behind, go, sit, ground and door.
Let's see what each recall corresponds to.
Calling: is the main command that the owner must give to the dog. The main action is to make it stop at your feet.
Terra: serves to make the dog respond to commands even from a distance. This way the hound will stop at any time by crouching on the ground with its muzzle facing its target.
Va: with this command the dog resumes the action that was stopped with the ground command. Once the order has been received, the animal will have to run following the direction indicated by the hand of the owner.
Behind: this order is used to call the dog to his feet. The hound will be ready to abandon everything he is doing.
Sitting: in this way the dog will have the task of sitting on its hind legs.
Port: this command is used by the dog to bring back the prey to its master without damaging it or letting it escape.
Being able to make the dog understand these actions well is essential to have a prolific hunt. By giving the right commands through the voice, a whistle or a nod, the dog will be able to behave correctly and therefore to catch the prey then bring it back to the hunter.
Those just seen are i most common gestures when you have to bite a dog. In some cases, even if they can be customized, at the beginning it is better to stick to the basic ones so as not to confuse the hound.
How to progress with training
For maximum results, the only thing to do in the first months of training of the search dog, is that of follow it carefully.
The most important thing is check it in every activity respecting his times and his needs. Better don't force or punish him when he is wrong, but you have to reward him when he does positive things or caress him and give him small bonuses. And if your four-legged friend is still not ready, it is better to continue with simple and easy controls to be performed for limit stress.
If the dog managed to reach the first level of training, better bring it closer to hunting a little at a time. The dog can be brought to the hunt, but it is better not to let him actively participate. The hound it must be approached to hunting a little at a time by routing it and making it accustomed to the terrain during an outing in fields where the presence of game is constant.
One of the fundamental characteristics of this type of hunting, also valid for the hunting from the point of view, is basically making it constantly change surface and place, among the most suitable are the woods, swamps, hills and plains. Furthermore, it is better to repeat the exercise several times with always different game. In this way the hound it will get used to different smells and will be ready to go to meet the prey without causing damage even to itself.
The next stage of training
Most commands It is given orally, so this becomes a fundamental option. To this must be added the sound of the shot.
To ensure that our friend does not get scared, we need to get used to him little by little. Initially, better subject it to blanks from afar and then little by little closer and closer.
The hunting dog owes much of its success to the sense of smell, teaching it to use it correctly must be done gradually. Better turn it into a game especially if the dogs are puppies. The sense well developed from an early age, is refined with the progress of time. Have a stuffed toy impregnated with the typical smells of dogs, it is the ideal solution. There will be an element of play accompanied by that of teaching.
With the help of a good trainer and with a little patience, every dog can become a skilled hound, ready to dive into every hunting outing to give the best of himself, in full respect of our four-legged friend.