SWOSUMike

Hey guys. This will sound like a strange dog, but I' m curious about it possibly squirrel hunting. My friends highly specialized cowdogs are half catahoula, and then 1/4 border collie and 1/4 Australian Shepherd. Great dogs. The dogs had pups, and I was wondering if some catahoula hunting genes could come out of these pups. If I got one, it would be free, and that' s why I' m wondering. If I trained the pup, how would I do it, and how would I purge out that herding instinct for treeing? Could it be done? I' ve heard any dog can tree a squirrel if trained well. Thanks

bobcat 10

get you a squirrel tail and tie it on a rope let him chase it.
get a boxtrap squirrel and let the pup bark at it and bay it.and then turn the squirrel loose and let the puppy see it go up the tree in front of the puppys face. good luck......

go deep hunt hard.

Grasshopper13

Mike it' s been my experience that most stock dogs can be trained to tree squirrels. As a general rule, they' re pretty smart dogs. Once you show it what you want it to do, the dog will probably do allright. One thing to remember though: the dog may or may not bark much once it trees. I don' t know exactly why, but some stock dogs will hunt for squirrels and run them up a tree and then just watch them. If the dog doesn' t bark much, you' ll have to stay pretty much in sight of it at all times. That' s not hard to train a dog to do. You simply have to talk to him and keep him close. The methods bobcat mentioned are all good ways to start a young dog. Just remeber to keep it short. Dogs, especially smart dogs will grow bored if overexposed to these methods too much initially. If he does tree the squirrel, encourage and pet him up real good. try get him worked up and excited by talking to him, and hissing him after the squirrel. If he barks, REALLY lay on the praise.


Good luck!

GH