Training hunting dogs - features, methods.

Raising and training a dog is a very responsible activity. The pet's behavior depends entirely on how seriously its owner approaches training. Insufficient dedication of the owner to raising his pet will lead to the fact that the animal will not obey basic commands, which is extremely important for the dog. This is especially important for hunters, since during a hunt a dog is not just a pet, but also an active assistant in the task.

Introducing the puppy to its new home

As soon as the puppy enters the threshold of his new home, you need to give him time to get comfortable. You cannot immediately forbid him to do something, this will only frighten him. You need to understand that the puppy has just separated from his mother, which has already caused him incredible stress. Therefore, you cannot immediately shout at him, put pressure on him, and especially leave him alone on the street.

The first thing you need to do for a new pet is to allocate a personal place for it. It should be of a semi-closed type, so that the puppy, on the one hand, can rest from everything around him, and on the other, be in close proximity to the owners and can observe what is happening.

It is extremely important for a hunter that his pet can understand him perfectly. To achieve this, from the first days the puppy appears in the house, you need to devote as much time as possible to him, communicate, and teach him your rules. The longer a pet communicates with its owner, the closer the bond they develop. It doesn’t matter what kind of dog it is - purebred or backyard, any dog can be taught to hunt. Outbred puppies have the same chance of becoming successful in hunting game as puppies of hunting breeds. It is only important to fully devote yourself to this matter, and then the result will not take long to arrive.

SobakinoAbout dogs for people

Training hunting dogs (hounds, greyhounds, terriers, pointers) is a long process that requires tact, patience, and love for their pet from the owner.

From the first days of life, only one owner should become the main owner of a hunting dog. And this is the one who will go hunting with her in the future. If you do not achieve contact with the animal, then the dog, having rushed off after the prey, may not find the way back. The owner should not allow family members to handle the pet. After all, you want to raise a hunting dog.

Old hunters always adhered to the “one master rule”. This is the key to a successful hunt. A poorly trained dog will never become an excellent hunting dog. And improper upbringing will make her a cowardly dog. The following stages of training can be defined: preparation, obedience and special training. Let's get acquainted with each of them.

The preparatory stage is that the puppy, from about two months old, after being weaned from its mother, should be accustomed to walks in the field and forest. The dog gets acquainted with sounds and smells that are new to him. Don't let them run far from you. Get your dog used to the collar. The puppy must get used to people, not be afraid of them, become more resilient and courageous. It should be taken into account that the puppy still has a weak nervous system. Over time, he will get used to the terrain and will be confident. Your pet needs to be praised and encouraged more often for its friendly attitude towards the surrounding nature, animals, and people. Your dog should get used to the name and accept it. A timid pet should be stroked and encouraged. When rewarding a dog, it is better to stroke its face, scratch on its chest or under its jaw.

The period of obedience stipulates that the dog must clearly learn, with the help of certain commands, the concepts: permission and prohibition. By this time, full contact between the dog and the owner has been established. Basic commands can be taught as early as six months. A hunting dog must become accustomed to discipline and unconditional obedience from its owner.

We start controlling the dog with the commands: “fetch”, “lie down”, “sit”, “near”, “quiet”, “come to me”, “give”, “that’s enough”, “stop”, “throw it”, “no” . Give the command in one word, without duplicating it several times. Don't yell at your pet. He shouldn't be afraid of you. Give commands in a calm tone. Do not feed your dog before training. She must be hungry. In order for a dog to acquire certain skills, it must be trained in any weather: both in bad weather and in hot weather. Then you bring it closer to real environmental conditions. One of the main points is the mood of the owner. You should not train your dog if you are angry or upset. A negative mood will be transmitted to the dog, and the training will not be of high quality.

The final stage is training. You should switch to it only when your dog clearly, automatically, follows commands and obeys. This is age: 8-10 months. This stage is quite difficult. We teach the dog to chase and search for prey, and to carry prey to the owner. You should be persistent, patient with the dog, confident in the dog and in your abilities as a trainer.

Treat your dog firmly but gently. When the commands have been mastered, move on to practicing their execution at speed. Only daily and persistent training can lead to excellent results. Hitting or intimidating a dog is strictly prohibited. Your reliable companions should be kindness, affection, patience, and praise. During this period, you can treat your dog with his favorite treat. Namely: cheese, pieces of liver, pork ears. Let the pieces be small. A dog can never let you down if all the techniques have been practiced a sufficient number of times in the field, forest, steppe, and so on. The dog accumulates experience. But understand what is acceptable to ask of a dog and what is not. In order for your dog to become a truly hunting dog and to perform its function conscientiously, you cannot do without a specialist trainer. It is he who will develop the dog’s intelligence and obedience. Remember: your hopes and dreams will be rewarded and fulfilled because any breed of dog can fulfill it.

Then comes the period of baiting, chasing the animal. The decoy animal should have its mouth tied so that it does not frighten or bite the dog. It could be a carcass. It takes about 5-10 minutes to learn a new command. In this case, the dog’s attention will not weaken. Do not reward your pet if it does not follow the learned commands. Then repeat the old commands, and return to the new ones later. Training should be done frequently, but not for long. By following these recommendations, you will achieve success in your studies.

Upbringing

The educational process should begin when the puppy is 1.5-2 months old, regardless of its breed. It is important to understand in time the basic principles and rules of education. For completing the task, the pet must be treated. There is no need to show aggression, since at this age it can only form a fear of its own owner.

You need to devote as much time as possible to walks in the fresh air, in the forest, to force the puppy to run, which will develop qualities such as endurance and strength.

ELECTRONIC LIBRARY ModernLib.Net

Initial training of a dog

All sports writers who have compiled training manuals agree that a young dog must be physically and spiritually developed before it is subjected to training. If this position is correct in relation to a one-sided dog, then even more so the presence of these qualities is necessary in relation to a varied gun dog, the training of which poses extraordinary tasks for the teacher. Therefore, most authors are of the absolutely correct opinion that a dog reaches maturity - the age suitable for training - on average after reaching 12 months of age.

Given this correct view, it is extremely strange that most works on training and training treat that period of a young dog’s life that precedes its entry into maturity suitable for training, with brevity worthy of the unimportance or insignificance of this period.

In contrast to my predecessors, I am full of the conviction that the first year of a dog’s life and the circumstances in which it occurs are not only of great importance, but even much more important for the formation of the positive qualities of the animal than all other periods. To clarify this issue, it is enough to remember that in the first year of life, the development of the bone skeleton ends, and the dog reaches its full height. Therefore, the most important part of bodily development belongs to the first year of life.

One of the elementary requirements for the natural healthy development of a young animal's body is sufficient movement in the wild. Nature never knows peace, even within a living organism there is never stagnation; no, there is constantly living movement, formal evolution, perhaps everything there moves, makes noise and pulsates. And the animal’s body moves and pulsates most strongly during its growth period; his heart produces contractions one third more than the heart of a mature animal; his lungs equally develop great activity.

These superficial observations are enough to come to the conviction that if the lack of movement in itself is already a sin in relation to the activities occurring inside the organism, then the sin is flagrant and even more dangerous in its consequences when it comes to a young organism during the period his height... The body of a young dog, which is subsequently born to show speed and endurance in running, needs very special care to provide it with sufficient, strong and correct movement. Every hour when a dog is given the opportunity to run freely across a field, like a bird of heaven, there is already a gain, plus in its future performance.

More than one concern for physical development recommends taking a growing dog into the field. The question of equal importance is whether the dog is also gifted with the inclinations that are necessary for a dog being prepared for versatile work. A versatile gun dog must have intelligence, passion, endurance, speed, as well as the ability to follow a scent; First of all, the dog must be gifted with a good sense of smell, with the help of which it must perceive not only the smell of game at the greatest possible distance, but also be able to pursue with confidence the cold tracks, even if they were made a few hours ago.

If flair can only be tested in the field, that is, over game, then it is even more necessary to test passion, endurance and speed. Correct, impeccable structure can provide a certain confidence when judging bodily performance, but this judgment will not be unconditional. Confidence in performance is only possible if the dog has been observed for a long, fast run in a field and has seen how the limbs, shoulder, back and hindquarters function together. Anyone who thinks that they can judge the performance of a dog standing or walking on a leash risks making a mistake, since a whole series of defects, just like in horses, are noticeable in a dog only during work.

Regarding how a practical hunter can most accurately determine whether his young dog has flair, intelligence, passion, endurance and speed, as well as the inclinations to search for a scent, in a word, whether he has the makings of a versatile gun dog, I will try to give rules in the following chapters which will present not only a guide to testing, but mainly to the systematic development and raising of these elementary properties.

Handling and guiding a young dog before training is also important from another point of view. Namely: as a result of numerous observations, I came to the conviction that most dogs are spoiled not by improper training and training on the hunt, but even before training and by precisely the most incorrigible, important defects - such dogs are due to the improper treatment of a person with an untrained dog.

One of the most important and most common vices is the fear of beatings, which can degenerate into real running away home, disobedience to calls, just to avoid the expected punishment. This vice in most cases develops from the fact that a young, untrained dog, which does not recognize the authority of the owner and has no idea of obedience and responsibilities in general, is punished for the offense committed. The dog chases chickens, ducks, etc., and on occasion strangled one of them; she tears carpets and boots; she craps in the rooms, as happens with all young dogs.

Now all it takes is an unsuccessful attempt to catch the dog and the vicious dog is there! The dog learned that it had no reason to be so stupid - to expose its back to the blows of its owner. Subsequently, she will forever apply this strategic position and thus fall into the class of incorrigibles before reaching an age suitable for training.

And how many dogs are completely spoiled by just this pursuit of uncleanness in their rooms! One great dog handler once told me what an unmistakable method he used to get his young dogs to respect the cleanliness of their rooms: they grab the criminal by the collar, drag him to the traces of the crime, and here they literally poke their nose into these sometimes quite significant traces; then, with constant blows from the arapnik, the criminal is driven out the door.

Many dogs are also spoiled by the attempt to prepare them at an immature age for the now so fashionable “derby” and to show them in the most favorable light of full field training. The trainer naturally strives first of all to suppress the dog’s passion for the hare by force, since it interferes with this kind of hunting; usually excited, in a nervous mood, in view of the approaching test, he imposes punishment after punishment on the dog, which he has subdued, and cannot subdue due to the lack of proper training. The consequence of this is that most dogs subjected to this training are either afraid of beatings or are completely beaten.

The trainer who does not want to make it impossible to solve his already difficult task must proceed from the position that his power over the raw dog has nothing to do with the circumstances under which he will subsequently dispose and control the trained dog at will. After all, parforce training is precisely aimed at educating the dog in the belief that its master has at his disposal a number of means to force him to absolute obedience. But before this consciousness matures, it is necessary not only for the pupil to learn to know and fear these means through experience, but also for him to become convinced that any attempt to evade the will of his master is useless. During indoor training, which seems to make demands only on physical abilities, the dog actually goes through a whole mental process - a process the result of which should be an unconditional recognition of the authority of the trainer. An inexperienced dog knows nothing about all this; she does not know how to evaluate either the meaning or the correctness of any punishment. Therefore, this requires a whole system of indoor training, months of daily exposure. A raw dog is tied to its master by nothing other than a bond of inclination and friendship, as is usually the case between any systematically untrained dog and its owner.

In view of this, the trainer will do the right thing by adhering to the principle that a raw dog should not be beaten at all. If a dog misbehaves, for example, starts chasing chickens, ducks, geese in the village, then you should take it on a leash and, after tugging it several times, sternly say: “What is this?” As a punishment, the dog should not be let off the leash on this day. But the very first of all rules should be that the dog must go to the call itself and under no circumstances should the trainer go to meet it, even if a whole hour has passed. Before the dog is punished or only reprimanded, it must be put on a leash in order to prevent any thought of escape in advance.

If the dog is so uncontrollable that at every new opportunity he again rushes at the poultry - a passion that only increases with each successful attempt - I cannot give the trainer any other advice on how to take the dog on a leash every time he has the opportunity, when passing through, for example, villages to play their pranks. If he decides to punish it with blows, in nine cases out of ten he will make it timid, but nevertheless timidity will not prevent the dog from chasing and strangling the bird. Otherwise, such dogs are far from the worst, and I personally prefer to see a six-month-old dog grab and strangle a hissing goose than to see it tuck its tail between its legs and run away.

Most dogs get spoiled on walks taken by the owner with a stick in his hands, accompanied by his semi-mature pupil. The dog begins to act out in the manner described above; She doesn’t hear either a call or a whistle, the owner begins to get overly angry, grabs her by the collar and begins to treat the worthless dog with blows of a stick. Usually one such punishment is enough to make the dog distrustful for a long time and cause a tendency towards fearfulness in it.

Many trainers expect that a raw dog will listen to calls and whistles, in a word, show intelligence, and are extremely upset when the dog instead, as if deaf, runs its own way. Usually the owner tries to make it clear to the dog by means of punishment what is required of it by calling or whistling. But this training of an immature animal is completely pointless and, instead of understanding the owner’s orders, causes dullness, a tight urge, mistrust and, finally, timidity. Let it be said once and for all that nothing can be achieved through coercion and punishment with a raw dog, and that the trainer, diplomatically taking advantage of circumstances and friendly treatment, can achieve much more than punishment and shouting. Many young dogs show good understanding and obey orders; This happens most often with females. They need to be caressed, praised for their obedience and try to strengthen it with gentle treatment. Other dogs show no trace of understanding and listen to calls to approach with proud contempt, especially if they are convinced that they are being called only to be put on a leash. The question of whether a raw dog is obedient or not is much less important than many people think. On the contrary, I personally liked the stern ones, prone to disobedience, much more attractive than those who constantly wag their behinds and crawl on their bellies every minute.

By friendly treatment, frequent calling without tying her to a leash, and mainly by daily handling of her, a certain degree of obedience is achieved, which is completely sufficient for the purposes of preliminary training. There is no need to demand that a young dog, like a trained one, respond to every sign and whistle, since this would already be a high degree of training. The trainer should always have one goal in front of him; the raw dog must be guided through the pitfalls of the pre-training period so as to enter the realm of parfors training unspoiled.

The latter circumstance requires, first of all, that the young dog should not be released into the wild, on the street without supervision, left to its own devices. On the field, the dog must be accompanied by its owner at all times. Dogs that run around the streets without supervision completely deteriorate within a short time, and this happens not only to young dogs, but also to older ones whose training is completely completed. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to keep dogs, not only young ones, but in general all those that are intended to serve the purposes of hunting, which requires intelligence and moral purity - to keep these dogs in such a way that they do not become strays, homeless animals.

A growing gun dog should be kept away from such influences. She needs to be brought up with a certain amount of severity from a young age. While she is healthy, she should not know a heated room, but in summer and winter, day and night, live in free air. Communication with its owner, who, as will later be indicated, will take it with him into the wild, to hunt - this communication is quite enough for a dog. The more closely the young dog will become attached to its owner, with whom it is the only one provided with communication and whose appearance every time foreshadows its release from imprisonment. The more distrustful she will be when she meets every stranger and thus stands at the height of the further demands that we place on a gun dog. She should not be the friend of humanity who greets everyone with a wagging tail; she can have only one friend among all people - this is her master; she must subsequently grab anyone else by order by the collar, since this is required by the circumstances in which the gun dog stands. That such a character cannot be brought up in a nursery, I think, is beyond any doubt.

Here I must mention one simple tool that provides an important service when you need to bring back to life a dog locked in a kennel and endlessly complaining about its fate. This is the most ordinary slingshot.

Like all punishments, which, like a shot, act at a distance, so a slingshot inspires unspeakable respect in a dog. This type of punishment has the enormous advantage that it will never lead the dog to become timid, which is a necessary consequence of hitting. Therefore, the sling can be successfully used not only at home, but also on the water, precisely in those cases when it is possible to catch the dog at the very moment of committing a prank: then you need to treat it with a good shot. This simple instrument has the great advantage of being carried in your coat pocket and always ready to fire. It goes without saying that the slingshot, like all other punishments, should be used only in cases of extreme necessity, and the dog should not be showered with shots at every opportunity. The less often a certain measure of punishment is used, the more effective it is. If a dog becomes resistant to the urge from constant calling and whistling, then it accepts any punishment with complete stoicism, and here the trainer has to throw up his hands.

I only have a few words left to say regarding the nutrition of a growing dog. Nutrition, together with sufficient exercise, careful skin care and a spartan lifestyle in freedom, has a significant impact on the development of the growing body. The introduction of food into the growing body is the supply of material for the structure of the latter. It has the task of not only restoring what was consumed, thanks to metabolism, but also delivering material for new formations - for growth. The growing body has to cope with ever-increasing consumption in its economy, and therefore it needs an increased supply of nutrition to restore balance. This clearly establishes the position that insufficient nutrition during the first year of life, and precisely during the first six months, can have a harmful effect on the animal’s body, and subsequently this harm cannot be erased by anything.

Regarding what the food should be, it is best to follow natural conditions. The dog belongs to the category of predatory animals, and therefore its best food, at least for the first ten months, is meat, best of all fresh raw beef. Any deficiency in the quality or quantity of food - a consequence of poorly applied frugality - will bitterly respond during the first year of life to the poor development of the body, which can best be compared to a poorly laid foundation of a house.

A young dog should receive plenty of nutrition from meat, milk, bread and other plant foods (peas, beans, lentils); Until the fourth month, the young dog receives food three times a day, from the fourth to the eighth month - twice, starting from the eighth month it needs to be fed once a day, preferably at lunchtime. It is necessary to strictly prohibit the dog from getting any roots that are always found in kitchen leftovers; Instead, it can be recommended to add a small amount of salt to food.

Basic command training

Outdoor training should be preceded by training dog commands at home. Of course, first of all, the puppy is taught his name. Together with her, you can start training the “Come to me!” command. To do this, you need to affectionately call the nickname, say “Come to me!” and show with your hands that you are waiting for him. As soon as the pet approaches, you need to treat it and praise it. All commands are pronounced in a calm tone, without increasing intonation. Otherwise, the puppy may get scared and in the future constantly doubt his actions.

It is very important in raising a pet that he knows where his place is. If the puppy follows the command, but then suddenly jumps off and tries to run away, you need to show your persistence and stop him with your hand. It is persistence, not importunity, that is important in education. If you exclude treats, praise and games from the training process, the puppy will lose all interest and stop doing anything.

Team "Ugh!" (or “You can’t!”) should also be familiar to the pet from the first days. Completion should also be followed by a treat. These examples clearly give an idea of how to train a dog at home.

At about 3 months, the puppy is put on a collar and leash. At first he will try to remove the collar, but over time he will get used to it. On a leash, you should try to keep the puppy close to your leg and stop his attempts to escape. From 6 months, the puppy learns to walk strictly next to him, always on the left side of the owner. It is important to control your pet and not let him play with the leash. He must understand that this is not a toy. After your pet has learned this command, you can let him off the leash and train without it.

Primary commands when training hunting dogs

Before teaching your puppy outdoors the specialized commands typical of hunting dogs, it is necessary to begin house training.

Even before entering complex training, the dog must know the command “Come to me!” Also, it is necessary to teach the puppy the command “Place”, “Fu!” or "You can't."

The puppy must perceive all commands instantly, and the owner must give them in a calm and even tone.

At 3 months, the puppy begins to be accustomed to a collar and leash. This is also paramount at the beginning of the training process.

At 6 months you need to start practicing the skill of running and walking side by side.

IMPORTANT: the puppy must strictly master the above skills, since otherwise it is useless to complicate the training.

General training of hunting dogs

Hunting team training

Whistle

For training, it is advisable to choose ultrasonic whistles for hunting dogs, which are audible to the animal, but not audible to others.

Any command to dogs while hunting can be reinforced with a whistle, then the pet will get used to it faster. It is important not to use the whistle after punishing the animal. Otherwise, the pet will associate whistling with the threat of being punished.

Importation

This command can also be taught in apartment conditions.

First you need to let your pet get used to the action that he can carry something in his mouth. After a while, you should call the puppy over and ask him to give the item back. If he does not give the item, you can pick it up yourself. After this, be sure to treat your four-legged friend. If training a hunting dog takes place on the street, then from time to time you need to throw an object into the water so that it brings it back from there. It is necessary to accustom the animal to water; this is very important for four-legged hunters. This command will be much more useful to dogs when hunting than others.

Search in the grounds

Search in the grounds is directly carried out by the hunting team. The main thing here is to teach your pet to move correctly and look for game.

It is important that the dog has a developed sense and can look for the animal against the wind, otherwise it will only be able to track the animal, but not find it. So, moving with the owner, the pet must cross his path from left to right. In this case, the hunter must stop the movement of the pet with a whistle and show with his hand the direction for further movement. When the whistle is heard, the animal turns around and continues searching for game. The ideal place for training is a wide swampy area.

Game work

To do this, you need to release your pet to places where there is a lot of game. The dog must understand this by smell and stand in a stance. When the bird takes off, the pet will most likely rush at it. Here it is important to prevent the young hunter from reaching the game; you need to say “Hush!” and stop him. Hunting dogs are often trained using parfors.

At the final stage, you can introduce your pet to the weapon and the actual shot. To begin with, you need to use an incomplete charge. After the shot, the pet needs to be laid down and allowed to sniff the game. Subsequently, you can shoot at full power, the pet will not be afraid of the gun.

You can take dogs for training that already have experience in hunting. As a rule, puppies of hunting breeds tend to learn commands faster if they see them performed by the example of their older brother.

When to start training a hunting dog

You need to raise and train a hunting breed dog immediately after it appears in the house. The first 7 months of a puppy’s life are called “the time of deep memory.” During this period, conditioned reflexes are developed as quickly as possible; the dog remembers the commands learned at this time for a long time.

The first days of a puppy in a new home

The first day after the puppy leaves the breeder is a lot of stress for the dog. To smooth out the puppy’s hysterical state a little, it is recommended to bring him to his new home in the morning. The baby's day will be full of new smells, people, surroundings, he will get used to the place a little, and will stop being afraid. This will exhaust the puppy, in the evening he will fall asleep soundly until the morning, and will not howl from boredom and fear at night.

A day after the move, you can begin the first training session - accustoming him to his nickname. The dog must know its own name and react to it in any situation. To do this, you need to associate the nickname with a positive - you cannot scold the pet by calling it by name. Communicating positively with the dog, treating it with treats, stroking it, establishes a connection between the owner and the pet, which will have a beneficial effect on training and obedience.

The main task of the owner at the initial stage is to teach the puppy to listen and understand the intonation of the voice and gestures. This is the only way to prepare for fishing will be successful.

Upbringing

Initial education begins at home, while the puppy is in quarantine. All classes should be conducted in a playful way; negative reinforcement is not recommended at this stage. The dog may become nervous and intimidated.

Training doesn't have to be boring for a young dog. No more than 15 minutes are allocated to practice the exercises. Classes are held 2 to 4 times a day, before meals. It is better to finish the training while the dog still wants to exercise, so the dog will not “burn out” and will look forward to each training session.

After complete immunization, veterinarians allow pets to be taken outside. When the puppy gets comfortable in the yard, you can begin preparing for hunting - introducing him to hunting grounds, forests, and marshy areas. Move obedience classes to unfamiliar places.

You cannot scold a puppy if it is frightened by noise, new smells of the street - it refuses to carry out a learned command. This will only aggravate the situation; until the animal is fully socialized, you should not demand strict execution of the order. Even well-trained dogs, in a stressful situation for them, may refuse to obey their owner.

Features of training different breeds

Dogs, like people, differ from each other in character traits and temperament, hearing, vision, smell, as well as the ability to correctly and clearly carry out commands. Therefore, each breed had its own approach to training.

Greyhound baiting

They hunt with greyhounds, as a rule, in the steppes. The main prey is the brown hare and fox. For greyhounds, terrain plays an important role. You need to choose the most convenient place for the greyhound to jump. The main characteristics are agility and vigilance.

The greyhound is taught to carry game gradually, starting with a simple light stick and ending with the carcass of a hare, when the puppy reaches the age of 8 months. When a pet catches up with an animal, you need to teach it to give a voice to make it easier to find them. After several trainings, you can take the greyhound to the steppe for training.

Training of huskies

Laikas are very popular hunting dogs because they are versatile in their field. They can be taken for any game.

Training should begin when the husky reaches six months of age. All initial commands (“Come to me!” and fetch) must be practiced until they become automatic. Training of hunting dogs of this breed should take place in different areas. From time to time you should move away from your pet, which will help him develop independence.

Direct training begins at 8 months. It is common for huskies to lead game and bark at it until the owner arrives. As for the bird (duck), the huskies are scared out and then brought to the hunter.

Racing the hounds

The training of hounds begins at 10 months, preferably in the fall. The hunter takes the hound into the forest, where it becomes familiar with the smell of game.

While walking together, the owner must talk to the pet from time to time and encourage it, otherwise it will be afraid of getting lost and the search area will be reduced to the owner’s location. As soon as the pet has found the animal, it begins to guide it by barking. If you lose the trail, you need to help the hound find it and continue the hunt. Otherwise, the search skill will not be formed in the future.

Baiting of burrowing dogs

Training of burrowing dogs should begin at 6 months of age. Such dogs must be quite angry and have the ability to pull game out of a hole.

Hunting dog training usually takes place on rats that are locked in a cage. First the pet must bark at her and then strangle her. Over time, the cage is covered so that the dog learns to work in the dark. Sometimes baiting is done on foxes. It is not recommended to use cats as bait, as in the future this can lead to attacks on other people's pets.

Training of cops

The training of cops begins at the age of 7-8 months. The pet must clearly know all the basic commands.

Hunting dogs are trained in the field, developing one specific trait (for example, either scent or search). The search must be developed over a large area, against the wind, using a hunting whistle and regularly changing location. When training cops, a whistle, parfox, rope, collar, and leash are used. Fake game may be used.

Spaniel training

It is very good to go bird hunting with a spaniel. One of the universal breeds.

Particular attention in training is paid to searching and presenting things. Field training begins at 5 months. When a bird takes off, the spaniel should not continue to chase it; after the shot, it remains in place and brings the game only after the command “Give!” He treats game quite carefully.

Training dogs of various breeds for hunting

A special training for burrows, greyhounds and huskies is called baiting. For hounds, training is performed, for pointers and spaniels, training takes place.

Different dogs are used for different types of hunting. Types of hunting dogs:

The Greyhound is a breed of dog for hunting without additional weapons. The animal independently catches and catches prey. Hunting is carried out in open areas. Often a greyhound can accelerate to 70 km/h. Hunting is mainly carried out by a pack of dogs.
Laika - used to search for birds and animals living in trees. Barks at prey, holding it in place until the hunter arrives. The dog strangles prey found on the ground; if the animal is large, it holds it in place until the owner arrives. Laika is capable of protecting against large animals.
Hound - searches for prey, chases after it with barking, driving towards the hunter with a loaded gun. Breeders have created a group of hounds that search for blood trails when they need to find an animal that has already been shot.
Cops - used for bird hunting. Sensing prey, the animal takes a stance and, at the owner’s command, scares away the prey, exposing it to a bullet. After a successful hit, the dog will go in search of the object of the hunt or find a new target.
Spaniels are like pointers and are used to hunt flying prey. The breed is known for its diligence: the animal will carefully search possible places where the bird can hide.
Burrows - used for underground work, searching in fox and badger burrows. This breed can independently strangle prey and bring it to the surface. Can be used to scare away game. Some terriers are trained to fetch small prey.

When living in a city, a hunter often chooses a “universal” animal, trained for hunting in the forest, field and water. Certain breeds of cops are allowed to undergo comprehensive training; they are capable of standing in a field or swampy area and bringing back a hunted animal. In the forest, the dog will be able to catch up with a small animal, catch a shot ungulate and enter into battle with a predator.

The cop breed is unpretentious and is quite capable of living in an apartment. Keeping a husky or a greyhound will be more difficult; the dogs require a lot of physical activity, and in addition, the former make a lot of noise.

Hunting Dog Test

Testing of hunting dogs is carried out to identify both their innate and acquired qualities necessary in hunting game, and also demonstrates the results of teaching the dog commands.

They are carried out in specially designated and equipped areas by member organizations of the Rosohotrybolovsoyuz and the Federation of Hunting Dog Breeding. For each breed, a specific set of rules has been developed, according to which tests are carried out. It is forbidden to test a pet according to the rules developed for another breed. At the end of the tests, the commission members make a decision on each dog, and if the results are positive, they issue a certificate of completion of the tests with the number of points scored.

G. Oberländer – Training and training of hunting dogs

G. Oberlander

Training and training of hunting dogs (field, forest, pond)

Initial training of a dog

Teaching a dog to understand the meaning of game is the art of training.

1. General basic provisions.

Many trainers who know how to train a dog well in indoor training, at the same time, are not able to correctly train the dog for hunting. By training here I mean not only the dog’s work on partridges, but the development of a hunting dog for versatile activities in the field, in the forest and on the water.

Taking upon himself the task of developing a young dog for hunting, “training” it, the hunter must consider as his main position that hunting is only a means, that is, a secondary matter. And the goal, that is, the main thing, is to properly train the dog.

Many hunters hold the strange belief that, after the painful period of parforce training has ended, the time has finally come to reap the rewards of hard work in the form of the unlimited pleasures of hunting. They are fed up with “dry work” and are finally thinking of “enjoying something nice in peace.”

Consequently, it goes without saying that the so-called “shooters” who cannot see the game without shooting at it are not at all suitable for training. He who is not trained himself is not able to train a dog.

A further condition for the development of a dog is an appropriate place populated with sufficient game. Without the opportunity to hunt, the best dog in the hands of a knowledgeable trainer will never have the proper experience. Only constant exercise creates a master who knows his business; only by the fact that the dog is the inseparable companion of his master throughout the whole year, under the most varied hunting conditions, does he achieve that confidence, experience and versatility, which are covered by one general term “hunting dog”.

When training in the forest, the hunter should not entertain the illusion that his dog, on the development of which he has put so much patience and work, will be as obedient as when trained indoors or when exercising in freedom.

The passion of the dog will carry it away, it will break the shackles of discipline, the dog will make mistakes and the more often, faster, and further it will deviate from the narrow path of virtue, the more passion and enthusiasm it has, the more its abilities meet the requirements that we place on a hunting dog.

A lot has already been achieved, if the leader considers this course of development natural, he will believe that the attempt at game is a direct continuation of parfors training, in which only stuffed animals are replaced by living creatures. On the contrary, the dog enters a completely new world for it, the impressions of which, when combined with the influence of deadly weapons, affect it in a completely different way than innocent fun in the training hall.

Training has the meaning of directing the dog's inherent passion along the right path in order to benefit from it for hunting. Therefore, under no circumstances should the dog’s passion be suppressed, which is what most managers are prone to do, being in constant fear that the dog may reform and degenerate.

Before asking a young dog to subordinate his passion to the goals of the hunter, he must first understand the goal and mood of the hunter, and this understanding cannot be taught if for every mistake you burn him with shot or wash the whip on his back, and, on the contrary, this can be achieved by dispassionate, reasonable training over a long period of time, with increasing understanding and growing experience.

Of course, it is necessary to punish a young dog if it does not obey; and the main thing lies in the form and degree of punishment, and it is necessary to take into account the individuality of the dog. It is much more accurate to pay attention to this during training than during indoor training.

Since spring puppies have various advantages, regarding the sequence of training time, I can say that a one-year-old dog that has undergone par force training during the months of February - May will already be ripe for training in July.

The introduction to training a hunting dog is sniffer hunting in the field and primarily for partridges, which are sufficiently adapted to make the dog suitable for hunting and prepare it for further more serious tasks.

Partridge hunting is even more important because it develops in the dog the qualities necessary for standing; a hunting dog must stand well, despite the fact that it will subsequently be accustomed to various other types of hunting. Water hunting can begin before the field hunt, teaching the dog to make a diarrhea from the water and search through the swamps. Water work is so different from all others that here it is necessary to establish completely different basic rules than in other types of hunting. It would be proof of the lack of any practical experience if we did not begin to accustom the dog to water on the sole basis of saving the principle that a young dog must first of all be taught to look for and make a stance. I trained all my young dogs, without exception, to do any kind of work before even a single partridge was killed in their presence.

I take a different view regarding vilification on the bloody trail and generally working on the bloody trail. Before a dog can learn to use its nose to detect tracks on the ground, it must learn to detect the presence of game in the wind. Otherwise, it may happen that the dog will search poorly and get confused in the tracks of game birds.

It is very important that a young dog is trained alone all the time. Never, especially during the first months, should you take her hunting in the company of other dogs, much less go hunting with her in the company of other hunters, where she can meet the most impossible dogs. The old adage that “bad examples spoil good morals” also applies to dogs.

2. Sniffer hunt in the field.

By training partridges in the field, we pursue two goals. First of all, the dog must be trained to stand correctly; at the same time, we prepare it for other later tasks, teaching it to obey quiet orders in the presence of game and developing in it an understanding of the purpose of the hunt in general. For this, partridge hunting is the most suitable.

To introduce us to field hunting, we do not wait for time to hunt partridges, but begin training young herds of partridges from the end of July to the beginning of August, as soon as the end of field work allows. Those who have large meadows for hunting can start even earlier.

We attach the leash to a coral parforce and leave it to drag behind the dog. We measure the length of the leash with the temperament and strength of the dog from 10 to 20 m. If the hunter cannot use large meadows, which he should prefer to any other place for training a young dog, then he should choose spaces that are not too covered with vegetation.

Turning their face into the wind, they send the dog with the command: “look there!” look to your right or left. She will begin to search more animatedly as soon as she gets used to the leash trailing behind her. Soft dogs require more work; In this case, I advise you to remove the parforce and simply attach the leash to the collar until the dog gets used to it.

If the dog is too fearful, then it is allowed to search without a leash, and only if the dog does not obey or makes mistakes is the leash put on it again. As soon as the dog decides to run directly against the wind, he is called back and given the command: “look there!” point with your hand in the direction that crosses the wind. The dog must learn to run through the field to the right and left of the hunter at 200-400 steps, carefully exploring it, and run past the hunter ahead of him at a distance of 50 to 80 steps. Many hunters hinder the dog’s independent development because instead of letting it run properly, they, for fear that the dog will get out of their influence, call it to them every minute and correct its every jump.

I advise every hunter to let his young dog run freely and only then correct him if he makes mistakes and, for example, runs into the wind when he should be crossing it. It is necessary to strengthen the dog in such a search for birds that the hunter himself follows a broken line. With continued repetition, the dog's work improves greatly. In general, dogs are very diverse in terms of performance - while some from the very beginning show the ability to cross-work, others, with all efforts, cannot be raised above mediocrity.

Occasionally force the dog to do “down” by raising his hand. If she immediately does not obey, then they continue the same lesson with her, keeping her on a leash, and do not forget to use a whip. The dog should finally lie down at a distance of 300 steps and, without raising his head, lie quietly until he is raised with a quiet whistle.

It is necessary to teach the dog to consider a quiet whistle as a condition for returning to the owner, and a loud, sharp whistle as an order to turn around or take a different direction. They give a sharp whistle and indicate to the dog the direction with their hand that it should follow.

After a few minutes they blow a quiet whistle and beckon the dog towards you with your hand. In general, the dog should be taught to pay attention to hand signals and often turn around and look at the hunter. We achieve the latter, according to the previous instructions, in a very simple way, namely, by occasionally hiding here and there. In places where there is a lot of game, the dog will very soon find partridges. You cannot assume that the dog will do the stance well the first time; it is more likely that she will get too close, spook the herd and rush after it. As soon as the hunter notices this, he must shout to her in warning: “look!” and approach the dog slowly, so as not to anger it. If the dog scares the herd, then you should approach it without excitement, grab it by the leash and address it sternly: “Ugh - shame on you!” and lead them away, pulling the leash in the wind to the original place... Here they command: “down - forward!”, take the leash with your left hand about two meters from the collar, take the whip with your right hand and force the dog to crawl to the place where it scared the partridges. If she decides to stand up, she is forced to do so with a coral parforce. They leave her lying so that she can smell the game, and they walk around her several times, menacingly saying: “Look!” Then they stand at the end of the leash, call the dog and tug strongly on the rope. When the dog approaches, they command: “down - forward!” and make her crawl 50 steps.

If the dog scares the game a few more times, then this corrective exercise, which dogs are afraid of, is strengthened again. The dog is forced to crawl two, three, four and even more times to the place where the partridges were, and the exercise is further accelerated by interrupting the crawling on the way back with the command: “down!”, then they whistle and hold the leash; if the dog does not approach quickly enough, the approach is stopped again with the command: “down!” etc.

Any beating and senseless tugging at the coral parforce is completely pointless, and therefore should be avoided.

The dog finally comes to his senses and makes a stance. Then they carefully sneak up to the dog and praise it with the words: “That’s good, doggy!” Then they take the leash tightly in their hands and, having surrounded the dog several times so that the partridges are in the middle, they flush them away after the dog has done a good stand for two or three minutes. As soon as the herd takes off, they loudly command: “down!” and raise their hand up. But in this case, the dog is not punished, even if it was inattentive. They stand behind the dog, whistle it and praise it for its good stance. Under no circumstances is it allowed for a dog to go to the place where the partridge lay and wander around there. She is led about a hundred paces on a leash and there she is forced to search again.

As soon as the dog makes a stand again, the partridges are not scared away, but, having stepped on the leash, they quietly whistle the dog towards them and pull it up while shouting: “okay!” to yourself to praise. Then they command: “look again! - Look!" and again they carefully let her do a stance. Now the herd is flushed according to the above instructions. Often recalling the dog while it is making a stance, not only greatly strengthens it in it, but also prepares it at the same time for future activity - calling the hunter to the found game, which has much in common with indicating by barking a killed animal and is very easily learned by an intelligent dog.

Here I would like to warn trainers not to bring young dogs often near pheasants. The pheasant has such a strong smell and is so attractive to the dog that, with frequent encounters with it, it loses its fine sense of smell for partridges. Partridges and quails are the most suitable game for training a young dog.

With frequent training using this method in places abounding in partridges, a dog that has even little inclination to stand will show three times the hardness for feathered game.

Hunters of the old school were in the habit of having the dog, standing, rush into the herd and pick up the game; This is a completely perverted understanding of the matter and generally makes no sense. In modern times, this custom has been completely abandoned and for the following reasons: a dog trained in this way will never do a good stand.

During this training for game birds, it is often possible to wean a dog trained using this method from baiting healthy hares and, on the contrary, to teach it to stand at them. We systematically developed a young dog into a good hare hound by giving it complete freedom to express its innate qualities, so that later, during more important tasks, for example, when chasing shot game, we could take advantage of this. Now, while the dog still does not know the meaning of a bloody trail and in general the difference between healthy and shot game, the point is to explain to it in general that without the order or command of the hunter it does not dare to pursue any game.

If a young dog is accustomed to obeying the will of the trainer when he was required to have an active attitude towards foul-smelling predators, then he will, of course, obey when he is required to have a passive attitude towards the hare, that is, when he is required to be able to overcome his passions.

The method of education proposed by me was reproached that it accustoms the dog to “mistakes”, from which it subsequently often and in vain has to be weaned. Practical hunters and trainers who have carefully followed the contents of this book will agree with me that this view is completely false.

Baiting a hare is a “mistake” in a very limited sense, as far as a healthy hare is concerned; prolonged baiting of a shot hare and four-legged game in general is one of the most precious qualities of a hunting dog. The hunter's task is to explain to the dog the difference between healthy and shot game; but since this is only possible later, with the continuation of the training, then for now we limit ourselves to the impossibility of her going after the game without an order. We did not encourage her to chase the hares either with a word or a sign, but we simply did not see how she did it. Now only we notice that she is poisoning hares; we forbid her to do this with the command: “down! - ugh, hare! and punish for disobedience.

As soon as the dog rushes after the hare, we must shout: “down - hare!”, but in no case resort to prolonged calling or whistling, which is what most trainers are inclined to do in the belief that this can hold the dog, while only dullness is achieved hearing The dog cannot be misled by either whistling or calling: it will poison the hare, following its old passion. The trainer should expect her return to the old place, immediately take possession of the end of the lace, shout: “down!”, blow a light whistle, punish the dog with several twitches on the parforce, shout threateningly: “down!” and at the same time release the leather whip hidden there from under the jacket. There is no need for further punishment. During the baiting, we had already noticed the hare lying down and marked its place with a stick. Then we force the dog, forcing it with parforce and a whip, to crawl about forty steps. When it is under the wind at a distance of one meter from the bed, “down!” follows again. Continuously repeating “take care,” we walk around eight to ten times, step on the end of the lace and call the dog back with a whistle.

In advance, we have already found the hare lying down or entrusted this to an experienced assistant. There we lead the dog under the wind and force it to move carefully towards the hare lying in the grass or in potato tops. About three steps from the bed we hold the dog by the lace and say threateningly: “Take care.” When we are convinced, carefully releasing the lace, that the dog is not rushing forward, but has sensed and understands what is needed, then we begin, continuously repeating “take care,” to move in an arc to the side. The lace is secured in the ring of the harness, the whip is hidden under the jacket. Having moved eight to ten steps away from the dog, they stop and, repeating “take care,” threaten the floor with a raised hand. Leave the rack in this position for up to five minutes. Then they shout “take care” and drive out the hare. If at the same time the dog shows even a weak intention to rush after the hare, a thunderous “down!” immediately follows. and hit him with all his might with a leather whip. If, despite this, the dog rushes after the hare, then it is allowed to run calmly and only when the lace is already at the end, it must be pulled several times in the opposite direction so that the dog runs into the thorns of the parfors with all its might. Then they call her back with a whistle, order “down” and force her to crawl towards her using the parforce.

As soon as the dog has learned to maintain a stance and, instead of rushing after the hare, does “down”, it, of course, needs to be praised in the most affectionate manner: pat on the back, etc.

It may also happen that the dog catches a half-grown hare and, with signs of complete satisfaction, brings it to you. If she caught him at a distance from the hunter, then the incident is of no small importance for the trainer. If he decides to punish the dog, then he risks that, no matter what, the dog will strangle the hare next time, but will not bring it back, but will leave it lying where it strangled it, or, worse, turning into a typical “gravedigger”, will bury it.

Therefore, you cannot punish a dog; in a stern tone, when she approached, she needs to say: “sit down, quit”, take the hare from her and take her on a leash, without saying a single word to her. To show her their displeasure, they do not let her off the leash and severely punish her for the slightest intention to break the rules of training.

If the dog catches a hare near the trainer, then you should act differently. The dog is put on a leash and, as the beginning of punishment, is given several blows to the back of the body. Then they take the parfors cord in their hands and, holding the whip in their right hand, force them to crawl six to eight circles around the hare at a distance of 5-10 steps from it, all the time using the parfors and suppressing with strong blows of the whip any attempt to stand up. Now they force the offending animal to crawl one meter towards its victim, they throw a thunderous “down - take care” to the dog. and give her a strong blow. Then they let you go ten steps, grab the cord firmly, call loudly “here” and at the same time pull the parfors strongly. This punishment lesson must be repeated until the dog is completely exhausted (6-8 times.

The next morning, the dog should be taken into the training room and the techniques just described should be repeated with the bunny lying on the floor in mind. The same must be repeated within 3-4 days. Then the dog will be in awe of young hares all his life.

In general, it should be noted that an intelligent dog in areas rich in hares becomes gradually more and more indifferent to healthy hares. And if the intelligent ones are also called away from the hare and forced to do the punishment-lesson described above, then two or three weeks is enough to get them to rush a few steps after the hare, or even calmly let it pass. If the trainer has to deal with such a dog obsessed with the desire to bait, then he needs to adhere (especially during the first field) to the rules described above. Very often such a dog is corrected completely unexpectedly when he becomes familiar with the meaning of the bloody trail and, thanks to the baiting of a large number of wounded hares, his passion takes a certain direction.

If the dog shows a certain persistence in this regard, it should be let off the cord, but it should be immediately used along with the parforce if it shows a tendency to break the rules.

3. Bird hunting.

In the past, the hunter usually beat the bird from under the same dogs that worked with him all year round on every hunt: this achieved not only the establishment of the correct standards for training the dog, but also interest and understanding of the importance of developing its versatile abilities. They killed less game, but were more involved in training and training dogs suitable for versatile hunting.

This point of view must also be taken up by the modern hunter who is going to introduce a young gun dog into hunting practice and, above all, make it suitable for bird hunting. The dog is taken into the field (they are given nothing but milk soup beforehand), put on a parfors and begin to work. The dog should not suspect that today is a special day. But most hunters are so excited and nervous on the opening day of the season that dogs with finely developed sensitivity suffer great damage from this. Very often, the opening day of the season, thanks to this interaction, turns into a day of anger and disappointment.

First of all, we recommend finding a secluded place where nothing could interfere with the dog’s quiet work. A young dog needs to be trained completely alone. You cannot take a more experienced dog with her, nor hunt near someone whose shots could distract her attention. If a dog decides to poison a hare in honor of the opening day of the season, the trainer must remain calm and deal with the returning dog as stated above - that is, teach it a lesson in cold blood. Having finished the punishment, she is put on a leash for a quarter of an hour. A dog punished for any offense should not be allowed to continue working: it must understand that it has committed an offense.

The young dog will soon notice that he is always in danger of the damned leash whenever he misbehaves, and he begins to consider it, after several repetitions, a real punishment. The handler must, if the dog decides to whine or howl, stop it by twitching the parforce or hitting the leather whip.

If the hunter has meadows at his disposal, then we can recommend starting training from them, and only because the bird leaves the fields in the morning and evening hours to the adjacent meadows. The dog is given freedom of search and only make sure that it searches towards the wind, but always with a shuttle. Excessively frequent calling and whistling have the disadvantage that with them the dog will never achieve independence in searching. Many hunters have the habit of interrupting the dog's work, often raising their hand with the usual "down!" No matter how useful this exercise is, applied to a place, which is to a certain extent a replacement for a leash, it has a harmful effect on the development of search. Such dogs eventually stop paying attention to the game, forget to use their scent, and only watch their owner without stopping, always ready to lie down on the ground at the slightest sign. The dog's attention should be directed to the game, all its spiritual activity is concentrated in the nose, and only from time to time it should pay attention to the trainer.

Let's assume that the hunter is a strict follower of the law and does not hunt hares in September. He has the advantage that his young dog, not embarrassed by extraneous tasks, will grasp the stance in a short time.

As soon as the dog has made a stance, you need to approach it with a calm step, but not from behind it, but in an arc from the side, and try, walking around the game, to approach 50-60 steps opposite the dog, so that the game is between the dog and the hunter. Any experienced hunter does not need to explain the benefits of this method. For beginners, I can note that there are three advantages to this method of approaching game: 1) the dog better maintains a stance facing the hunter, whereas, hearing noise behind it, it may tend to jump out prematurely; 2) the bird, being between the dog and the hunter, feels surrounded - it is less given the freedom to run and it tolerates the dog’s proximity more calmly; 3) there is often an opportunity to break up the brood and thus give the dog the opportunity to work on individual birds. When the hunter confronts the dog, he throws “take care” to it and gives it a certain time to make a stand. Then you need to cock the triggers and approach the dog, repeating “take care.” If the brood moves away, all attention should be turned not to the bird, but to the dog. If she decides to rush after her, you must not shoot under any circumstances, since this can lead not only to a repetition of the same offense in a similar case, but also to other much more serious consequences: a dog rushing after the brood and seeing a bird falling from the shot , may rush at her, roughly grab her without any order and begin to crush her, or even worse - she rushes after the shot bird, catches the game, and even then it will be difficult to wean the dog from the habit of rushing after the rising brood.

If the dog, face to face with the removed brood, obeys the cry “down”, they target one bird from the brood and kill it. When a shot is fired, a threatening “down” follows and the dog is left lying down, making several circles around it. Then “forward” and make her crawl closer to the place where the game lies; As soon as the dog smells game, they command “down” and force him to lie down again. Then “apport”, then they make sure that the dog quickly picks up the bird, they order him to sit down and with the word “let him go” they take the game from the dog. Then she is petted and removed from the arena, not allowing the dog to rush in the wake of the broken brood. If you notice places where individual birds have sunk, you need to immediately find these birds. Every hunter should follow this rule, simply because a shot bird is usually separated from the brood.

In order to quickly accustom the dog to a firm stance, many hunters, as soon as they notice that he has smelled it, demand “down”. This is a big mistake and leads to the dog getting used to falling to the ground every time he has to do a bird stand. In a field sown with potatoes, turnips, etc., it is very difficult for a dog to notice, which is why it is recommended not to accustom him to this and to be careful with the “down” command. To accustom her to a careful stance, just “take care.”

Many hunters fall into a further mistake, finding that it is never a bad idea to repeat the exercise in fetching, forcing each killed bird to be fetched away. In order to kill even the slightest inclination towards ardor in a dog after a shot, I recommend from time to time picking up the killed game yourself, and leaving the dog lying in the “down” position. With this maneuver we will make it especially clear to the dog that the shot has no meaning for it and only the “apport” command gives it permission to start retrieving.

It goes without saying that at the first opportunity we will send our young dog to search for the shot bird. The only question is how we do it!

Who has ever seen how people usually think of inducing a dog to search for shot game? Anyone who has watched a trainer yelling “apport” gallop after a fleeing bird, thus encouraging an already hot dog to rush uselessly here and there, is, of course, not surprised at the bad reputation that wounded animals have earned in hunting circles.

If we notice that a fallen bird is starting to run away, we will not set the dogs on it, but we will say “down”, allowing the game to quietly hide, because a hasty action can take away all the chances of success from the subsequent search. Anyone who is going to look for a shot bird must first of all know its habits. Very rarely does a shot bird run more than 50–60 steps in a straight direction. She then turns and runs in the other direction until she finds sufficient cover where she lies down. I have often observed that young birds show a desire to return in large arcs to the place where the brood originally lay. In the fields, shot birds rush into the distance, and they constantly run in a furrow, but at some distance they make a turn, while a hot dog, in the heat of pursuit, runs through this turn and runs to the end of the furrow, and at the edge of the field begins to rush from side to side in bewilderment. This is the usual result of a trail search. Old birds often behave with amazing prudence, and their frequent turns mislead even highly trained dogs.

The whole point is that before we put a young dog on the trail, we take it away from the place where the brood lay, since young dogs willingly linger on the tracks of the brood. They take the dog 30 steps in the direction where the bird was noticed to have entered, and encourage him with the words: “apport, look” to follow the trail. If the dog gets used to it, it must be praised; if it rushes on the trail, its ardor is tempered with the words “hush, hush”, and if this does not work, they say: “down”, then again they stimulate its work as before: “apport, look” . When the dog reaches the place where the bird has changed direction, it becomes unsure. You must give your dog complete freedom to follow his instincts and never give in to the temptation to point him in a certain direction. A dog almost never makes mistakes; all that remains is to follow her, moderating her jealousy, but being careful of strict treatment, which could embarrass her or deprive her of confidence. If the dog loses the trail, it is necessary to return to the place where it was still working confidently, which is why it is recommended to throw pieces of paper along the trail from time to time, in any case marking the beginning of the trail with a particularly noticeable piece of it. When the dog finally comes to the place where the bird is lying, there is almost no doubt that it will grab the game; If she makes a stand, then I would advise you to try to see her and take her with your hand. At the moment when the bird is taken, the dog is told “down”, the bird is thrown in front of the dog, after a short period of time they are ordered to retrieve the game and the dog is petted. If the dog catches a bird that is still fighting, they throw a threatening “down” to it and take away the game, strictly according to the rules, very carefully, in order to show that it is important to comply with the rules used in parforce training.

However, the search for wounded game is not always so smooth and simple. In hot weather, even very experienced dogs refuse to search in dry, burnt soil; many wounded animals escape from the hunter. From this consideration alone, it would be necessary to abandon hunting in the midday heat, when the best instinct is reduced to zero. There are just as many difficulties in searching for wounded animals in wet grass, pasture or potato tops, when the dog’s nose is completely filled with water.

If all efforts prove fruitless, then the last option is to give the dog complete freedom to search and carefully inspect the place where the bird is believed to be lying. If you have an older dog at hand, then it should also be put to work, since its experience will greatly facilitate the search for a wounded animal.

If a dog, after retrieving a shot and caught bird, gets to the brood, it will immediately show a tendency to follow the scent with its lower sense; if the bird is alone, the dog will want to catch it or drive it out. The trainer must remain completely calm when encountering an understandable misunderstanding of the dog and correct the shortcomings, as indicated above. Many people make the mistake of thinking that since a dog shows deficiencies in this, it does not need to be taught to fetch shot game. This allows the dog to learn the difference between a healthy and an injured bird too late. On the contrary, dogs should be forced to look for wounded birds as often as possible: after 10–12 lessons, they will be able to distinguish the track of a wounded bird from the track of a healthy bird, since the track of the former always has a noticeable distinctive smell.

It is necessary to pay special attention to tearing the dog off the stand, since in it, in its manner, lie the makings of two more serious tasks. A dog that has been trained according to the pattern described above will always listen to a call or whistle when it is standing.

As soon as we notice that the dog has pulled (by scent) along the furrow of the field after the game - this will happen very often in October and November - we call the dog away with a whistle, lead it along an arc of steps 100, 150 to where we suspect the location of the bird, and We let her search again. The bird usually lies down if it is not being pursued by a dog; if the pursuer appears on the other side of the field, from outside it, then they withstand the pursuit very well. It goes without saying that in this hiding of birds on circles, the direction of the wind is very important. Intelligent dogs quickly grasp the essence of the technique and rush to the whistle, then even without whistling, leaving a trail towards the game in order to capture it.

When the dog reaches sufficient purity in searching and standing, we begin to teach it to return to the hunter from the found game, i.e., to apport. This technique in most cases is considered to be the height of the art of training, whereas in essence it is very simple, since only the dog had previously been trained strictly according to the described rules.

As soon as the dog stands, the hunter needs to hide; intelligent dogs, who generally often look back at the owner while standing, will immediately abandon the game to find the owner. But if the dog does not give up his stance within five minutes, the hiding owner must call him back with a whistle. When the dog then approaches the owner, it must be caressed and forced to lead itself to the game. If the dog stands again, the hunter should try to kill as much game as possible, rewarding the dog with exceptional hunting success and even more exciting his jealousy for the search. Little by little you need to increase the period of time for recall more and more, up to 10 minutes, and after 10–15 exercises do not recall at all. After some time, the dog will leave the stand by itself, and then the notorious apport is completely within its power.

All I can do is draw the reader’s attention to the fact that the external circumstances under which the dog works are of great importance when searching in an open field. I have already said that the hot, dry time of day greatly affects the quality of the sense of smell. Moreover, the advice not to hunt during the heat of the day is also important with regard to the impact on health. No matter how true the opinion is about the need to harden a gun dog so that it can perform the same work both during heat and cold, it would still be extremely strange to subject a young dog, not yet fully developed, to such a test.

In conclusion, it is necessary to mention one curious circumstance.

When moving a dog to a new place, a strong influence of the soil (its properties) on the quality of its sense of smell is noticed. For example: a dog from an area with rich black soil is transferred to a sandy area, or vice versa; here it often takes several days of preliminary training until she gets used to using her instincts with the same confidence.