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Started By
Message
Training a Feist to Squirrel Hunt
Posted on 4/1/25 at 4:31 pm
Posted on 4/1/25 at 4:31 pm
Anyone on the OB have experience with it or have a finished dog they take hunting ? I got a good price on a 3 month old pup that comes from great bloodlines. 10 year old son and I are taking him to the woods by the house daily and doing some minor training/obedience. I had a Jack Russell/Rat Terrier mut for over 15 years but I can already see this dog is going to be more intelligent in the woods and better with his nose, ears and eyes. The man who sold me the dog has hunted squirrels with curs his entire life and just recently changed over to Treeing Feists so he is a great source of info. Just curious if any of OB folks can be another avenue for advice if we hit any roadblocks or start to think the dog is backsliding.
This post was edited on 4/1/25 at 4:33 pm
14
Posted on 4/1/25 at 4:53 pm to reggierayreb
Some experience
To sum it up, all the “training” in the world is not going to substitute for time in the woods.
The more time in the woods you put in, the better the dog will be. He will either get it or he won’t but you have to give him the chance to figure it out himself.
To sum it up, all the “training” in the world is not going to substitute for time in the woods.
The more time in the woods you put in, the better the dog will be. He will either get it or he won’t but you have to give him the chance to figure it out himself.
Posted on 4/1/25 at 4:54 pm to reggierayreb
Best advice I was ever given concerning training squirrel dogs was to put miles on your boots. Also if you don’t make sure to get a gps collar. Got a BMC that will cover some ground. The collar was a game changer.
Posted on 4/1/25 at 4:56 pm to reggierayreb
With a treeing dog they either have it or they don't. If they have it you can make them better, about the only thing I can recommend is to NEVER praise them at the tree unless they start barking. If you praise a silent dog they will always be a silent dog.
Posted on 4/1/25 at 4:58 pm to reggierayreb
back in the day, a guy in Carencro/Sunset off I-49 Service rd. sold squirrel hunting dogs. Always remember his sign advertising dogs For Sale, not sure if he is still alive.
Posted on 4/1/25 at 5:04 pm to reggierayreb
Below is all IMHO, but I have trained and hunted behind some damn good dogs.
This is just cliffs.
As mentioned already.
1. Tracking collar...don't skimp, get a damn good one.
2. Time in the woods.
2A. Don't be looking up in the trees, don't pull vines if the dog hasn't treed, etc.
3. Have a leash to "leash" him to a tree and encourage him to keep barking and not leave the tree.
4. Careful taking him out and having him tree and not killing any game. I have seen this be discouraging to very young dogs.
5. Catch a squirrel in a life catch trap....tie a rope to the handle, throw rope over a tree limb and let the pup "tree" it. Hold on to the pup, turn the squirrel loose, wait a few seconds and turn the pup loose.
Have you shot a gun around the pup to make sure it's not gun shy? I suggest starting with a 22LR and move up to a 410 or 20 GA.
On and on
Is this a Mullins fiest?
This is just cliffs.
As mentioned already.
1. Tracking collar...don't skimp, get a damn good one.
2. Time in the woods.
2A. Don't be looking up in the trees, don't pull vines if the dog hasn't treed, etc.
3. Have a leash to "leash" him to a tree and encourage him to keep barking and not leave the tree.
4. Careful taking him out and having him tree and not killing any game. I have seen this be discouraging to very young dogs.
5. Catch a squirrel in a life catch trap....tie a rope to the handle, throw rope over a tree limb and let the pup "tree" it. Hold on to the pup, turn the squirrel loose, wait a few seconds and turn the pup loose.
Have you shot a gun around the pup to make sure it's not gun shy? I suggest starting with a 22LR and move up to a 410 or 20 GA.
On and on
Is this a Mullins fiest?
Posted on 4/1/25 at 5:28 pm to duckblind56
quote:
Is this a Mullins fiest
My neighbor has one, it is a squirrel hunting machine, lots of fun to take to the woods
do not shoot a squirrel the dog does not tree, you are there to work the dog not kill squirrels
you will wear out 2 pair of boots before you have a finished dog, but when you do it is awesome
Posted on 4/1/25 at 9:02 pm to duckblind56
He is UKC and NKC registered as a Treeing Feist.
He comes from World Sq Dog Ch/Sq Ch Drake’s Creek Dexter. 3 months old and we got him last weekend. He’s already looking forward to our afternoon hour to hour and a half daily afternoon walks through the woods. The wife and kids are already very attached. I’ll keep the board updated on his progress and will come back with questions in this thread
He comes from World Sq Dog Ch/Sq Ch Drake’s Creek Dexter. 3 months old and we got him last weekend. He’s already looking forward to our afternoon hour to hour and a half daily afternoon walks through the woods. The wife and kids are already very attached. I’ll keep the board updated on his progress and will come back with questions in this thread
Posted on 4/1/25 at 9:33 pm to reggierayreb
That dog will hunt Good looking pup.
Posted on 4/1/25 at 10:34 pm to reggierayreb
Short answer is expose him to squirrels and he will either do it or not. You can't teach him to tree nor should you want to have to.
Posted on 4/2/25 at 12:09 am to reggierayreb
My dad had some really good ones. All started with dragging tails to whatever trees they were feeding in at the time. After that, it was just time in the woods with them. They either picked it up, or he got another.
Posted on 4/2/25 at 5:31 am to reggierayreb
A got a puppy many years ago. He was just a natural. That little guy could hunt.
Now for some bad news…..
You couldn’t keep him in a fence. Even with the shock collar. He got out and knocked up every dog in 10 block radius.
He would fight any dog. Even 3 times his size. Held his own with most of them.
Dug up my entire back yard chasing moles. Not little holes. Just his tail sticking out deep holes.
Perhaps the worst dog I have ever had. Man, I loved that guy and he loved me.
We were padna’s.
Proceed with caution.
Now for some bad news…..
You couldn’t keep him in a fence. Even with the shock collar. He got out and knocked up every dog in 10 block radius.
He would fight any dog. Even 3 times his size. Held his own with most of them.
Dug up my entire back yard chasing moles. Not little holes. Just his tail sticking out deep holes.
Perhaps the worst dog I have ever had. Man, I loved that guy and he loved me.
We were padna’s.
Proceed with caution.
Posted on 4/2/25 at 6:00 am to Shut Up Mulllet
Good looking pup. Do you have anyone else with dogs that would let you tag along on a hunt or train together? Would be good to have him share the woods with other working dogs.
Posted on 4/2/25 at 6:27 am to spudz
The plan is for us to keep him for 5-6 months and get him in the woods daily. The gentleman I got the pup from is retired and has a fantastic dog that he hunts in ATFA competitions (sire of my dog). We’re going to send Gus back to him for 2-3 months where he’ll hunt every morning and afternoon and be finished. The entire family is already attached and we’re dreading sending him away for 10-12 weeks. I’m planning to drive over for some weekend visits and observe some of those training hunts and learn more.
Posted on 4/2/25 at 9:47 am to reggierayreb
Catch a squirrel in a live trap and get a noose around his leg/body with some trotline string. Tie other end of string to dog's collar. Open cage and watch your squirrel dog learn to hate squirrels.
Posted on 4/2/25 at 10:10 am to reggierayreb
quote:
We’re going to send Gus back to him for 2-3 months where he’ll hunt every morning and afternoon and be finished. The entire family is already attached and we’re dreading sending him away for 10-12 weeks.
I will give you one warning of this. My mom has a mountain feist that would make an excellent squirrel dog if I had the time to work with him. He trees on his own. However, he has got so bonded to my mom that he won't go more than 100 yards from her. I could start walking with him and my other dog and at a certain point he will leave and go back.
I grew up with squirrel dogs and they can be highly finicky as to who they hunt with. Ours would leave other hunters and come home if my dad or I weren't with them. Just make sure you put a whole bunch of time with it before you send it back to training so it remembers you are its hunting master
We had some great ones as a kid. We always had two. An older dog and a younger one. That way the younger would learn from the older and pass it along to the next generation.
We tried a black mouth cur once and she was a great squirrel dogs and would hold on a tree for a long time. The problem was she wouldn't bark while on a tree. So you always had to keep her in sight.
We also had a Jack Russel once. I never saw a dog that hated squirrels more than her. She acted like the Tasmanian devil if she ever got a hold of one. Her problem was if you didn't get the squirrel away from her quickly enough she would consider the hunt over and try to take it home.
Posted on 4/2/25 at 10:53 am to TigerDeacon
quote:
We had some great ones as a kid. We always had two. An older dog and a younger one. That way the younger would learn from the older and pass it along to the next generation.
If my son and I enjoy training this dog together as much as I think we are that's the future goal. I was going to wait until the kids were out of the house and start trying my hand at this but I got tired of coming home from work and finding him stretched out on the couch watching Youtube shorts and my daughter lying around her room watching her iPad. Our kids play sports and are active but the afternoon screen time sessions after homework is finished were becoming too much for me. Now they're at least outside more while walking this pup with me a couple days a week.
Posted on 4/2/25 at 10:58 am to duckblind56
Thats good advice
The most important thing is time in woods for a young puppy. I used to have a blackmouth and a red bone hound. Hunted totally different but needed time in woods
The most important thing is time in woods for a young puppy. I used to have a blackmouth and a red bone hound. Hunted totally different but needed time in woods
Posted on 4/2/25 at 11:12 am to MsandLa
Buy the book "tree dog" by John wick. Its good stuff.
That said, the best thing to do is have a good dog. Tree dogs kinda have it or they don't. Discipline and handling is where it's at.
That said, the best thing to do is have a good dog. Tree dogs kinda have it or they don't. Discipline and handling is where it's at.
Posted on 4/2/25 at 12:52 pm to reggierayreb
We used to keep a dog around who would chase and tree squirrels until we showed up and shot them. Never trained them to do it, if they weren't gun shy and they were the type of dog that would chase a squirrel (assuming there is such a type of dog) they would be very interested in chasing squirrels and waiting on you to come along and knock them out of the tree so they could get at them...I ain't sure they ever put the 2 together, so to speak, but when we had a gun and were in the woods they soon became very adapt and finding squirrels and chasing them up a tree. The squirrel pretty much did the rest....generally it would run up a tree until it thought it was out of reach of the dawg and usually stop and start chewing the dogs arse out for being a rude bastard. The squirrel will almost always keep the tree between it and the dog but the dog will of course follow the squirrel around the tree....both of them barking like crazy....until the squirrel, who has not noticed your presence, messes around and runs onto your side of the tree at which point you shoot the bastard, it drops to the ground, the dog falls on it and acts like its going to tear it apart but does no damage before you can get there and take it away from him.
About the only thing I could think of that they'd need would be basic discipline that any pet needs and maybe being able to send them to hunt....many dogs want to stay underfoot. In my experience the squirrel dogs we had would want to chase squirrels more than eat so getting them to hunt and chase them took no effort. If there are rabbits and other things about you need to be able to call them off of them because a dog that loves chasing shite don't care what it chases....squirrels, rabbits. house cats, all the same to the dog....
About the only thing I could think of that they'd need would be basic discipline that any pet needs and maybe being able to send them to hunt....many dogs want to stay underfoot. In my experience the squirrel dogs we had would want to chase squirrels more than eat so getting them to hunt and chase them took no effort. If there are rabbits and other things about you need to be able to call them off of them because a dog that loves chasing shite don't care what it chases....squirrels, rabbits. house cats, all the same to the dog....
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