I want to teach my dog to go out on the trapline with me this year. He's a 1 year old lab, great dog listens very well just wondering if anyone knows of an archived thread or has any tips on how to train him. Thanks

He'll get caught a few times, then he'll know better and avoid your sets!

That's kind of what I was thinking so far I set some traps with weak springs in the driveway and lured them up and he's gotten popped a couple times

Dogs are very keen to learn by location. Teaching him to avoid a trap in the driveway will teach him just that . . . to avoid driveway traps. Its a very cognitive concept to expect him to transfer the idea that a trap in the driveway is something he should also look out for when he goes 10-20 miles away and gets to run through the forest at full tilt. You're going to have to transfer that idea to the field.

I guess it depends on the dog but I've always purposely had the dog watch me set and then let them get caught. Let them sit in the trap for a minute and let it soak in what happened. I usually can't catch them again even if I wanted to. Snares are the same way. Use a normal strength trap if it isn't uncomfortable it won't work. Trap wise dogs can be crazy helpful, I've used mine to help me find sets buried under snow that I couldn't find.

This^^

Thanks I appreciate the help

Keep your dog at home and you will have less issues.

Lol, I've often thought that a dog could be very advantageous in the field. They could show almost exactly how a coyote would act/react to a set, plus they could show you where to set. JMO

I would like to take my dog( 45 lbs. English Shepherd) along , but at only 5 years old he's 50% blind in one eye and about 75% in the other, so he tends to come up on trapped critters to fast and close . Maybe take him out this year anyways.

This will be the second season for mine. Still work in progress but has come along way this summer while riding along with me doing ADC work. He's been caught a few times but that was last fall so a refresher course may be in the works before this season. The more you work with him/her, the more they understand what their job is and what you expect from them. And if your not careful, one day they may teach you a thing or two.

Its helpful to have your dog with you, the word no is important, if mine got to close id say no! Or ah ah ahhh! Both my females figured out what i meant when i said find the trap, find the trap, they stop a foot or more away and look at me like there you go, i aint going closer!

This will be my second trapping season with my male blue heeler and I can say that I wish I had gotten a trapline dog years and years ago. Watching them work every time you go out will teach you valuable lessons, from where predators mark and even down to which side of the two-tracks they travel on. For a coyote guy that likes to use drags they come in very handy as well...

He got caught caught twice his first outing in a foothold and hasn't been caught since. He has no defense against snares and when he gets caught he usually just sits down immediately. My danger word is "TRAP" and he usually sits or lays down immediately until he can identify it.

In summary, I don't leave home without him.

My GSP many years ago had the drift from working him on the place but the day we came on a coyote caught that he could harass he seemed to instantly pick up the importance of not having that foot caught, holding him back.
Never an issue after.

Osky

In my opinion, there is no special instruction or training needed to make any dog a good trap line companion. all you need is a dog that has been trained to obey the basic commands of "sit", "stay" and "come." And I'm not talking about a few basic obidience lessons. I'm talking about a dog that has had daily training for a good amount of time (training and reinforcement never stop with my dogs). A dog that will sit when told and stay there until told to come. A dog that will stop whatever he is doing and come no matter what elsew is going on.

It is really not hard at all to get any dog to this point. A bit of time for short daily training sessions is about it.

I have been taking dogs with on the trap line for a long time. All they are on the trap line is companionship. i have often heard the line about having then show you where to set. I don't know about your dogs but if i set everywhere they took a leak I'd be out of traps by the time I finished scouting the first farm.

None of my dogs have ever been caught in any trap of mine. urposely catching your own dog in your own trap seems like a good way to degrade it's trust in you. I don't advice it.

I once had a pup get himself into a snare. I had cabled a fox on a two-track and told him to heel (get by my side) then sit. I went around to the other side of the fox to take a pic and the bouncing fox was too much for the pup. He broke from the sit/stay command and rushed the fox. I ha another cable hung in he other track and he hit it the same instant I yelled sit. He hit the end of the cable and did a back-flip. He got up and looked at me with wonder and respect for the awesome power he hadn't realized I had up until that point.

Here he is sitting like a good boy after experiencing my telekinetic wrath.



Some random trap line photos with my dogs:

Use whatever scents you plan to use on the line for the "Training Sets", like an aversion therapy, so he will avoid them. Make some real set's in the yard so he doesn't think all traps are above ground.

Sure like my trap line dog, so do the coyotes lol