Adoption dog as blood tracker?

[Kamm1004]

Quick question to all the experts on here with blood trailing dogs. Do you think it's possible to adopt/rescue a dog or puppy and train it for blood trailing? I would probably adopt one of the breeds commonly used for blood trailing but was wondering if it really matters so much that they are pure bred and bred for the specific purpose? Or does it depend more on the individual dog and therefore any dog could be trained for this purpose? What are your thoughts guys.

[McDave]

I've hunted with an outfit that uses Jack Russell's extensively for blood trailing.  They have a champion tracker, and then all the rest.  They also have the view that dogs can learn from each other.  The last time I was there, a friend of the owner's dog was allowed to come along, as it has before, in the hope that some of the champion's skills would rub off on him.  Don't know whether any of them did or not.  Even offspring of the champion don't seem to all be chips off the old block; evidently some work into good trackers, and some don't.

I duck hunt a lot, and everyone uses labs, which have wonderful noses, but I've never heard of anyone using one for blood trailing.  Wonder why?

[Kamm1004]

Mcdave a quick Google search told me that labs can be trained for blood trackers. I bird hung a lot too and it seems as though the drahthaar hound aka the German wire hairs pointer has a better nose and is a better multi purpose dog but idk. I'm just not wanting to drop a grand on a "special" dog when plenty of other dogs need to be adopted and given a second shot at life.

[Jmatt1957]

I also have a lab and I agree they have great noses. mine has about a 10 second attention span then he is off on another mission.

[McDave]

I don't know if they're anything like herding dogs, but the only way you're going to know if a dog will be any good at herding is to try it out.  I have a border collie from championship lines, but when they tried her out for herding, all she wanted to do was to eat the sheep $hit.  There was another dog there that day, looked at least part border collie, from the shelter, and she had all the sheep crowded into a corner the first time out.  Rather than eating their $hit, she communicated to them in no uncertain terms that she wasn't going to take any of their $hit!  (I still love my border collie to death anyway)

[59Alaskan]

No reason you can't try.  That said there are different breeds for different purposes and there's lots of intentional genetics behind this.

As examples, trackers generally have their noses to the ground.  Flushers tend to have their noses in the air much more.  

Google NAVHDA and you will see folks dedicated to dogs and breeds that "do it all"

I knew a guy that hunted pheasants and rabbits with a Husky and he thought he had the best hunting companion ever. It all depends on the individual dog and trainer.

[Izzy]

This is Jackson or Zooce as my wife calls her baby among other things. He is a rescue pit bull something cross and is 2 and 0 on blood trailing bow shot deer. No specific training other than laying an occasional blood trail of defrosted venison blood in the yard and treat at the end of it. He trees the hell out of squirrels, barks at owls in the yard at 0300, is a guard dog supreme and the greatest companion a man can have.

   


     I know for certain that there are breeds of dogs that excel at blood trailing and would make Jack look silly in a field trial but I only shoot 2 or 3 deer a year and what my family gets out of him he makes up for his lack of a title and papers. I had a shepherd back in the day that also did her job as a blood trailer. Any dog has the potential, some will excel.

    There are a lot of good dogs in shelters that would do anything in exchange  for a good home. Not a lot of papered, champion dogs sitting in a kennel waiting to be put down.

[Bobby Urban]

Training, training, training if you want a specialist that can trail an old trail or a zero blood trail after a lot of rain, after a hunting party has done a grid search all day, etc. it may take a specialist breed but...

Most just want a dog that they can go home and return to help with a hot trail and a LOT of dogs can do that. A dogs nose knows - get some hound/terrier mix with prey drive and teach it the reward is at the end of the line.

Look at some of the past threads here with ALL the breeds that find deer - it doesn't take a specialist if you are tracking your own deer and trails that are not days old.

[Slasher]

I know customs used to use aka pond puppies for NDD...aka Narcotic Detector Dogs...

They looked for dogs with a huge "play" drive...

Any dog can be trained to blood trail... However, I think blood trailing dogs should have a high "food" drive!!!!        

I have a couple lacy dogs.. One is my blood trailer, the other is my daughters male....
   
It seems to just come natural for them... But I'd look for a dog from the hound, cur, or versatile breeds...

For me it was just easier to get a dog that does it naturally... Drive is a wierd thing...It's like pumping up a tire... It's much easier to let a lil out than to put a lil in....

[ChuckC]

I agree, almost ( almost) all dogs can scent well enough to follow a trail, especially if it is yours ( your kill) and not days old.   The drive to do that is an issue.  

Also, I am thinking labs would be fine trailers, but most bird dog guys do not want their dogs chasing deer or bunnies....

That may play a large part in why you don't see them in action.
ChuckC

[The Night Stalker]

I think it can be done with a adopted dog if you get it early and you get the right kind. Like mentioned above, some dogs track with the wind, others ground trafck. I have a wire haired dachshund that is 16 weeks old and we are working on lines that are 10-12 hours old.

[ksbowman]

Mcdave, we always have a couple of border collies around for stock work on the farm. We picked up a new one this year and she doesn't work the cattle well but, she trails things all over including following my trail one day when I went over to the neighbors. If I can shoot a deer this year I'm going to try her out. I think she can do it!

[McDave]

Maybe there's hope for my border collie yet, Ben.  Maybe she could trail bloodlines!  Sometimes when I go to the range and see a car or truck of a friend of mine that she knows, and I don't see him, I'll say, "go find Ken!" (or whoever), and she'll always head off in the right direction and find him.

[Thumper Dunker]

I had a Ausie mix that would out point and out retrieve my buddies pointers or retrievers. And the next day go coyote hunting. Most dogs have great noses but some use them in other ways. The one I have now only use his to find his cookies.

[Jakeemt]

Here is an exerpt from "Hunting With The Bow and Arrow" by Saxton Pope.

“But fearing to lose the deer, I decided to go down to the ranch house, a couple of miles away, and borrow Jasper and his dog, Splinters. Now Splinters was some sort of a mongrel fise, an insignificant-looking little beast that had come originally from the city and presumably was hopelessly civilized. Jasper, however, had recognized in him certain latent talents and had trained him to follow wounded deer.”

[DanielB89]

I got a dog a few months back that needed adopting, she is a lab and retriever mix as far as I can tell and she has NO prey drive.  I have introduced her to squirrels, coons, etc and she has no care to attack them.. lol.  But, at the end of the day, she is my baby!  Love that Dog.  

I do wish she had some more prey drive because she sure can track the mess out of a doggy treat.

[BWallace10327]

I picked up Gitzit at the *used dog lot when he was a baby.  He's a Bernese mountain dog/rottweiler mix.  He has grown up to be a tracking, hunting and fishing machine.  Not a breed I would associate with hunting, but he'll chase anything I teach him too (rabbits) , and he'll call off of it just as quickly (fox, deer).

[Jerry Russell]

My second best blood dog was half beagle and half something else. He was limited to hot lines of 10 hours or less.   As mentioned above, many breeds will make decent tracker on hot lines of up to 6 hours.  Those specialty breeds really do earn their keep on those really cold lines of 20-50 hours.  

If all you are looking for is a personal blood dog I would sure give him a go.  He could be a great one.

[7 Lakes]

If I wanted a dog for trailing only, my first consideration would be to get a small breed.  I have a German Shorthair Pointer and she does a great job but if you've seen the prison break movies where the big dogs are dragging some poor guy around on the other end of the leash remember that deer go under or through the briars and convicts go around. Big breeds will take you skiing through the briar patch in the dark.  I think most any dog has the nose but not all have the drive.  Breed doesn't always make the dog.  This isn't fool proof and certainly doesn't test the nose but if you're going to the pound I'd take the first small dog that jumped first after a tennis ball or kong toy.

[mlsthmpsn]

Many have hit on the most important part, drive. If you can figure out what that dog will do anything for...a tennis ball, a treat, or a simply belly scratch...well, then you can likely train them to darn near do anything for that reward.

If the dog just doesn't get excited about anything, then they are a poor candidate for trailing. They'll lose interest fast, because their reward just doesn't mean much to them.


To train, just take bottle or leak-proof bag of some kind, next time anyone you know is about to gut a deer. Cut it open slowly and hold the container under the incision and try your best to get all the blood you can. Then get home and freeze it in some small vials.

Then you can just pull out a little bit at a time to thaw out and train. Start by dripping some on the open ground...point to it and give some command, think "find it" or "deer" ore whatever. When they sniff it the very first time, and hopefully wag their tail some, give a lot of praise and immediately give them their most prized reward.

Slowly work up to them going from one drop to the next, to maybe a 30-50 feet, to a piece of deer hide or antlers...when they reach then end, they get their reward.

Before long, that dog will be on the trail before you can tell them, all to get some silly reward.


(It's the same process for shed hunting. My lab is crazy for antlers, never found a real shed but did find some dummy plants 2 days after I lost them in the deep snow last year....the bird work is way behind for her, she's just way to high strung!)