Anyone on here ever train a non hunting dog to hunt? For example I have a 1 year old red heeler, bred for herding cattle and super smart, I’m thinking about trying to teach her to rabbit hunt, I thought about pheasant hunt too but she doesn’t use her nose as much as her eyes so if she saw a rabbit move I think she would maybe be better at that then using her noise to find game bird scent, but idk. Anyway it can be done or know of a good place to start? Thanks!

Your much better of buying a dog bred for that way of hunting.

You would be wise to invest in the book titled Gun Dog and give it a whirl.

I'm sure with some dogs it could work fine, but some dogs/breeds are super focused on one particular thing. Herding dogs are one of them.

Any dog just about can be taught to do about anything a dog is capable of if you want to put in the time and effort some will be better and some worse, but almost any can be trained to do it, it’s just that some breeds have been specific bred to concentrate a specific quality to make it easier to train them for certain things such a trailing game or pointing birds, so go for it

A friend of mine has a shelty or miniature collie that is one of the best trailing dog around and regularly uses it for recovering lost deer and other game, the thing will regularly run that trail at a trot never slowing down till it finds the end

Go for it all you have to loose is some time

I'd get a specific dog. For that. One that uses their nose to the ground

I would be very hard to teach a dog to hunt rabbits. Like said above get a dog that will hunt the game you want to hunt. JMO

I agree. Get the dog that is for a specific purpose. Choose wisely.

Lol

Deep southern bloodline

If you already have the dog and want to try why not? My border collie would hunt pheasant and rabbit when I used to take him out at my old place, he is no gun do but he played his part and hunting was more fun with him than without.

Had a buddy that had an American pit bull that was an amazing dove retriever, water and land. If the bird was only winged the dog would bring it back alive. A couple of other hunters asked him what kind of dog it was. He told them “American Dove Dog”.

Have hunted quail and pheasants over a blue heeler. He was as good as the high powered bird dogs, maybe a better retriever than the bird dogs I was around. Never saw an actual point would just get birdie never lost a down bird.

Yeah, give it a try . . . if he doesn't work out . . .

I thought I was doing really good with my German shepherd had her working trails keeping to about 10-15 yards in front of me and looking to be a very good pheasant dog.

then I shot a rabbit , she would not come back to me , and just walked away when I called her she would stop and look at me for a minutes then turn and walk away.

I went and got the van and drove down the road looking for her caught her crossing an empty field a half mile down the road and she decided it would be ok to come get in the van.

we got her 5-7 years old from the pound in April we will have had her 9 years, great dog, did excellent on obedience training I can set a piece of meat down and say leave it and she will stare at it until I tell her to take it , doesn't chew , doesn't get on furniture , comes when called will work hand signals with a little practice. stays at my wife's side wherever she goes ,but does not like loud noise at all she will try and get under the desk or even go to the basement when fireworks go off outside.

You can use a wrench to drive nails but a hammer works better.

I was feeding my pups this evening and my blue heeler treed a squirrel. I thought, maybe I should take her to the woods and try to get a few with her. Then I remembered if I leave the house with a gun she leaves and goes behind the house. She doesn't like gun fire lol. Oh well, I don't like cleaning squirrels anyways.......

Had a small blue heeler pup in a deer stand with me years ago. Dog was about 6 months old, maybe less. A fellow hunter knocked a nice buck down. As I was leaving my stand mid morning, he had tracked his deer to a location near me and saw my orange cap. He called out to ask me to help. My heeler was so young I was carrying her in my arms. When I got to him I put the heeler on the ground. She immediately ran to the downed deer, it ran about twenty yards, and fell dead. The heeler began squealing and biting it the deer in the hams. She became an immediate hero.

For 15 years that blue heeler was the best tracking dog I ever saw. Members called me whenever a deer got away. She absolutely understood her job and was proud when she found a deer. I always let her be the one to find a deer, even when I could clearly see it. She would work out the trail. Required no training other than a lot of praise and some scraps at the skinning pole.

When dragging a deer out of the woods, I had to not only drag the deer but also the dog, who was tugging for all she was worth. She soon learned to ride on the gas tank of my 4-wheeler, while getting lots of loving.

God I miss her. Passed in 2/2019. RIP. Name was Sid.

Best jack rabbit hunter was a blue healer at the farm. It would pick up rabbit tracks in the snow and follow the fresh scent, till the snow exploded out of the tunnels.
It would look back at you if you missed (shot gunning) you know the look; "where you are turned to stone"

The word C-o-w could never be said in any conversation, or the whole herd was brought in from the pasture
at age 6 it could spell COW