Does anyone have any experience with squirrel dogs and how to train them. Just got a dog she is 2 1/2 months old. is it too early to start training or should I start now?

put corn out to draw squirrels. let fido run around in the yard

Thanks I thought about doing that.

Or in a open area of the woods place a feeder out from the trees to you can just sneak in on the area and let the dog see and chase at 1st.

Thanks

She's just the right age to begin learning. Not the go deep get hooked up hunting but the fundamentals of come here, sit, and basic good handling training. Also a good time to start training for gunshots and loud noises.

Thanks...I have been introducing gunshots like my .22 and she doesn't think anything of it. So that's good

So is she a catahoula?

Start taking the pup for walks in the woods when you can. Don't expect much. The idea is to get her to send to new places and learn to cross logs, creeks etc. She will probably start when she is ready.

Thanks I will do that

Yes

Got a buddy who trains them , kinda crazy how he does it . Made like 100' worth if tubes from hard ware cloth and connected then up like a hamster run , had it goin under brush piles over logs up trees all sorts of crap. Would like catch a squirrel pop him in it and just let the dog out , only problem is apparently after a week of this the squirrels figured out the dog can get them and stopped running lol

I think the hardest thing for training squirrel dogs I s to get them to work around the tree, never show the dog a squirrel let them find it and until they are seasoned don't shoot any that they haven't treed.

so i would imagine squirrel hunting with dogs isnt much different than coon hunting getting your dog to tree on the right tree is one of the biggest issues with any good hound lots of times coons and i have seen squirrels do it to is jump on a tree and than jump off and go to a different tree giving a false tree you could waste a lot of time looking up a tree with no squirrel in it the other issue i can see with squirrels is they like to run up one and than use the branches to travel so the dog must be able to follow it through the trees

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have introduced her to a squirrel skin and let her play with it and then dragged it around a little bit and let her follow it. We had to leave but when we got back I couldn't find the squirrel skin in the yard. But when I let her out she ended up finding it by trailing it. so that might be a good sign.