non traditional hunting dogs

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brybenn

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southern ontario
Does anyone here use a non hunting dog for hunting?
Mutts and farm dogs or just plain oddities?

I've been thinking about my English mastiff for field hunting. I wouldn't take her in the cold but early season I think she has potential. She's 6 months old and did great bringing me doves I downed when she saw them fall
 
A friend of mine is selling Golden Retriever- Poodle puppies and that got my wheels turning. Poodles are considered some of the smartest dogs around, plus a thick curly coat, and the natural abilities of a golden (webbed toes included). IMHO it would make an excellent non-traditional hunting dog. Then again, it's always about the training.
 
My border collie will retrieve ducks and flush upland birds and he's a great pack dog on mountain hunts.
 
Problem with a Mastiff is they do get tired rather quickly - then you got to carry ~200lbs of dog back.
Had such a sweetie about 15 years ago- lovely dog, but the breeder warned us to not take her on long walks or we'd be carrying her home.
By the time they're 2 or so and the puppy energy has passed, they slow down quite a bit.
 
Have my bluenose Pitbull. Doesn't even twitch to a shot. On the contrary he gets excited to move and retrieve. He knows now that a round fired means work time and something to bring back to dad.
 
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The only thing my Golden Doodle 'hunts' is for stuff to drag home. Water bottles are his favorite. Not much of a retriever though, but as mentioned better training might help. He does like to chase squirrels and rabbits, so he might be able to flush. The one thing that would deter me, is his coat. It's like a dense wool blanket and everything sticks like velcro. It doesn't just stick, it works it's way right in next to his skin. Even from a hike in the local ravine area, he comes home full of burrs, seed pods, and twigs, and takes some time to clean him up.

IMG-20130722-00175_zps1fe9b226.jpg
 
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Years ago one of the guys at deer camp shot a doe at the edge of the swamp, she jumped, bolted and ran into the thickest gnarliest wet tangle of reeds and fallen trees.
Camp boss brings his Beagle-Walker cross right at the spot where the shot connected, actually right at the first (and only) blood spot on solid ground. Beagle cross was not at all interested and kept wagging his tail looking for a ball to fetch.

One of the members lived close by and brought his Rottweiler on a leash, took the Rotty about a minute to track the doe about 80 yards into the swamp,
she was half submerged in water, stone dead. The dog's owner only fessed-up years later that his dog who we all thought was a purebread was a quarter black lab...
 
There is an article about this in the latest issue of the magazine Fur, Fish, Game. I have a Miniature Pinscher/Pomeranian cross*. The MinPin breed originated as a ratting terrier, and he goes after rodents with some success.








*I've heard this is known as a MinPinPom, but I call it an Attention Hound.
 
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A few years ago, the river keeper on the River Wharfe had a Norfolk Terrier. It was a hunting machine. I saw it retrieve rabbits and several ducks one morning.
 
my rottweiller at 14 months old. was laying right beside me on the moss while this buck walked by us at 30 yards :)
he's been with me for 3 kills now. haven't had to use him to track an animal yet tho I'm sure he would be perfect for the job


 
With that pic of the buck strapped to the back of your jeep, the first thing that popped into my mind was the theme song from spiderman...lol

edit: On a side note more in line with the original thread intention.... I was watching an old Duck dynasty" last night and Si had a standard bread poodle that actually went out and retrieved a duck then brought it back and dropped it at his feet.
 
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teknition said:
With that pic of the buck strapped to the back of your jeep, the first thing that popped into my mind was the theme song from spiderman...lol

edit: On a side note more in line with the original thread intention.... I was watching an old Duck dynasty" last night and Si had a standard bread poodle that actually went out and retrieved a duck then brought it back and dropped it at his feet.
Click to expand...

Always found it hard to believe your yappy little toy poodle started out as a useful working dog. :)

Grizz
 
Lab/rotty cross. (Mutt)

Hates bears, wolves, and cougars.

So far I've had him tree bears and the two of us were circled by wolves a couple weeks ago and he didn't panic. Can't wait to get him on a cat.
 
My neighbour had a red healer collie cross that would retrieve geese and ducks and flush or point and retrieve upland birds. He was the best pheasant dog I have ever worked with. His real job was cattle dog and coyote chaser on a local ranch. I will never know how his master taught him to listen when he was told to point instead of flush or vise versa.
 
As a teen I took my aunt's std poodle duck hunting with me once (wasn't a planned thing, I was dog sitting). She followed the lab in with no hesitation and picked up duck retrieval very quickly. I ha d to pay for grooming before my aunt got home, she'd have shot me. Recently I read an article in hunting dogs magazine about a gent who hunts with an Airedale, and has great success. - dan
 
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