Adoption dog as blood tracker?

[Brock]

just any dog MIGHT turn into an average blood trailer on average track jobs....but takes more than that to be good at it.  intelligence, confidence and prey drive are needed as well...  Intelligence so they can learn and then filter out the live deer and other scents they come across and be able to single out the wounded animal with or without blood evident...and keep on track.  Confidence in going into thick areas, blowdowns, across water and if the animal is not done when found it may charge and the dog needs the herewithall to stay out of harms way but stay on the task at hand.  Prey Drive to really have that burning desire to find the prey...and knowing through TRAINING and EXPOSURE that if they persist no matter how hard or grueling they will get a bite and a sniff of the good stuff at the end of the trail.

If I was going to have a tracking dog ONLY and not do anything else other than companionship afield and home I would seriously check out the wirehaired dachsund the guy at BORN TO TRACK breeds....or maybe a Bavarian Mountain Hound.

I used my Kurzhaar before and will use my Drahthaar puppy as well when not chasing small game, dove, quail, ducks, etc.

I have seen or have friends that use Boykins, Jack Russels, Labs and mutts.  Really comes down to what the dog is wired to do and exposure/training.

There is an excellent book out there called Tracking Dogs for Finding Wounded Deer by John Jeahnenney (sp)...it is in 2nd Edition now and can be purchased direct from their website.

He also gives great insight on different things to look for depending on what type of wound it is and how the deer may react.

Spends a lot of time on bowhunting hits...what is fatal and what is just an injury....just a wealth of information from his experience in New York.

I bought the book for a friend of mine that lets me hunt his property near here....and after learning more about the guy, his dogs and this book...bought myself a copy as well.  

He has a great blog, a FB page and the website mentioned earlier....well worth the money for the book and his experience.

If you already have a dog that shows interest...give it a try before you spend money on a new dog.

If the dog has the desire and the intelligence to single out the wounded animal and stay on it...then you have half the battle won in my opinion.  I have seen where 12 week old puppies follow a blood trail 200 yds.

[Slasher]

Originally posted by 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.

Mine drags me right through the it all..
And she's only 42#
Also I can say the permatack lead and collar helps me go around....

[Kamm1004]

Oh trust me, I had two German short hairs as bird dogs when I was younger. They were too much dog for us. We sold them to a guy who used them to run Cougars in Wyoming. His words were "this is my favorite breed for big cats. They'll run until their lungs burst and won't ever give up"