Bloodtrail dogs

psychmonky · January 13, 2011, 02:56:00 PM

We are going to get my 3 year old son a puppy and I would like a bit of practical application.

Any one have any experience bloodtrailing with the aid of a dog? Which breed would be best for the chore and for my son?

Scott

Limey Chris · January 13, 2011, 03:16:00 PM

beagle

chopx2 · January 13, 2011, 03:31:00 PM

I know Larry Surtees has had great success with his wire-hair Daschund. I'd ask him

lpcjon2 · January 13, 2011, 03:34:00 PM

There are a lot of breeds that will do the job. I would consider other things like the size of your house and the dog size the disposition of the breed. If you can accommodate a large breed in your environment(work,children,finances for food/vet bills and space) and who will ultimately be caring for the dog.Those things thought of first and then train the dog to trail. JMHO

J-dog · January 13, 2011, 03:36:00 PM

There is a website with good info on blood trailing breeds. I have my lab which is an excellent bird retriever to secind as a blood trailer though I only got him on two this season, one of which he made me look the fool for distrusting him.

The man who made snuffers son, Ryan Rothaar (coorect I hope??) has great info on this topic as well.

Jason

J-dog · January 13, 2011, 03:37:00 PM

Depending on what you want the pup to do though, if blood trailing is all I would get a Dachsund or beagle.

Jason

BlacktailBowhunter · January 13, 2011, 04:17:00 PM

I bought a couple of Jagd Terriers for blood trailing and hunting other critters in the off season.

Bad mistake on my part. Jagds are not a good dog for the suburbs as they need a lot of excercise and need to hunt at least twice a week all year long.

I raised and breed dogs for years, and from my personal experience, I don't like having ANY dog around kids under 6.

Dogs are a pack animal. If you are going to get a dog for tracking blood. I recomend getting a breed that is known to be good family pets from a reputable breeder that has references for disposition.

Just about any breed can be trained to trail blood. I would focus on disposition as the dog will be 99% pet and 1% blood tracker.

Just my honest opinion.

Best of luck,

Paul

meathead · January 13, 2011, 04:46:00 PM

Blacktail has that right. Jagds are not pets for kids. They are hunting dogs. They need to have a lot of field time. They are not a house dog by any means.

Izzy · January 13, 2011, 04:50:00 PM

Adopt a pitbull. They can do anything any other dog can do except for maybe pointing.I have raised both of my sons with pitbulls and never had to worry about aggression issues. They are "The American Dog" they just caught a bad rap.

adeeden · January 13, 2011, 04:53:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by Izzy:
Adopt a pitbull. They can do anything any other dog can do except for maybe pointing.I have raised both of my sons with pitbulls and never had to worry about aggression issues. They are "The American Dog" they just caught a bad rap.

I'm withh you 100% on this one. I put my pit pup on 2 trails this year and he had no trouble with either. he was only 3 months old at the time and the trails were short and pretty heavy.

The APBT is without a doubt the smartest misunderstood breed out there.

nc recurveman · January 13, 2011, 05:39:00 PM

I have a fair amount of exp. on this one. Any dog will blood track, I prefer labs becuase I think they are easier to train to do it. Labs are smart and just want to please the boss once they figure out what ur looking for BINGO it clicks for them what the job is. The very best blood dog I've ever been around was a argetine breed "dogos argetine" or some such. He was a bear dog dropout but was one helluva blood dog. he was also the family pet.

TxAg · January 13, 2011, 05:49:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by adeeden:

QuoteOriginally posted by Izzy:
Adopt a pitbull. They can do anything any other dog can do except for maybe pointing.I have raised both of my sons with pitbulls and never had to worry about aggression issues. They are "The American Dog" they just caught a bad rap.
I'm withh you 100% on this one. I put my pit pup on 2 trails this year and he had no trouble with either. he was only 3 months old at the time and the trails were short and pretty heavy.

The APBT is without a doubt the smartest misunderstood breed out there. [/b]

Mine doesn't blood trail, but she loves the ranch. We've yet to meet anyone who doesn't love her. I adopted her about a year ago.

Ryan Rothhaar · January 13, 2011, 06:17:00 PM

Lots of breeds CAN do it. The nose is one of the less important parts - virtually any dog has enough nose. Focus, intelligence, willingness to please, trainability are factors. PREY DRIVE, that is controlled prey drive, is probably one of the most important parts.

There are some dogs bred specifically for blood tracking. They are rare and very hard to come by in the US (ie Hanoverian Bloodhound). There are also versatile breeds that work very well for developing into a blood tracker. Probably the most used in the US are European bloodline Dachshunds and Deutsche Drathaars (sorry if I missed the spelling). Coat type in Dachshunds is meaningless for hunting/prey drive (regardless of what some folks in the US think). The bloodline is what matters - and the prey drive and intelligence of the dog. Search the word "Oskar" in PowWow and you'll get some posts I've made about our standard sized European dachshund. He is the BEST dog possible for what WE (the wife and I) want. Your mileage may vary. Just don't assume you can buy a weiner dog from the breeder in the newspaper and develop a hunting dog. US type Dachshunds are VERY different dogs than European ones (Teckels).

Ryan

Ryan Rothhaar · January 13, 2011, 06:52:00 PM

Something I wanted to mention - think about what you want to do with the dog and let this help drive your decision. There are compromises with any dog breed, including working dogs, and anyone that tells you otherwise is blowing smoke. If you want to do a couple easy blood tracks a year - easy for the dog, not necessarily easy for you - then you probably don't need a high powered dog. I know of several guys that are way over dog-powered for what they do. They go out and buy a $2000 dog, from what they consider to be top bloodlines, then do 2 easy tracks a year with him. Heck, its a free country, but this seems like buying a Maserati to commute 10 miles to work, to me.

My wife and I tend to go overboard with things, but I know we put around 150 hours of tracking work into our dog his first year (training him from 8 weeks old) - and made a dedicated effort and got him on 13 real wounded deer tracks by the time he was 6 months old. We DID NOT need to do this for him, but for US - the key to successful tracking is the dog/handler relationship. You aren't a dope on a rope behind the dog, but a team. Poorly developed teams will find the easy deer - but the 40 hour tracks with no visible blood that go for a mile take a dedicated team effort.

We really love tracking, and it is something my wife has gotten into whole hog. Even so, I feel that we NEED to put in more time with him to honor the effort that went into his breeding and to help him develop his abilities fully.

Ryan

Cocklebur · January 13, 2011, 07:00:00 PM

I have a yellow lab that has found several deer for me. She is a family pet and just took to the blood trailing on her own. She is 14 years old now and can't get around to do it anymore but she would still try.

sweeney3 · January 13, 2011, 07:06:00 PM

I have a pup who has a supurb nose and is a great family dog. He kinda sorta sniffed a trial earlier this fall. He found the next blood when we were at a tough spot. Catahoula. Got the breeders name if you are interested. Great all around dog.

free2bow · January 13, 2011, 07:09:00 PM

I had a German sheperd mix which took up finding a deer for me without any training "except" I raised a doe and Brute was very fond of it. Brutus would find the deer and when I caught up be licking it to encourage play.

psychmonky · January 13, 2011, 08:06:00 PM

Good info guys. I usually end up with 3-4 trails of my own to follow (although with my recent switch to traditional equipment that may go down.) I also have a number of friends and family who hunt so I usually end up on 10-15 trails per year.

You are right that the dog will be a pet first and a hunter second.

fujimo · January 13, 2011, 08:28:00 PM

who has good info on traing to blood trail?
thanks
wayne

claysmokin · January 13, 2011, 09:24:00 PM

I have a Jack Russell pup. His mother and father are owned by seperate well known bowyers. I can fully recommend the breed for tracking-mine went 4 for 4 this season on trails. I just wish I shot as well as he tracks!

As was mentioned by others, terriers are very high energy. Mine calms down quickly, but still exhibits the jumping, etc that the breed is known for. Best of luck with your search.