Last year I was out visiting a friend of mine who was developing his own bird hunting preserve. While I was looking at his kennels the discussion came up about hunting dogs versus family pets. It is his firm belief that a hunting dog is a working dog and that a family pet will never make a good hunting dog.


Most of you have seen my posts and articles around where I have talked about my hunting dogs. If you have, you know that my hunting dogs are also members of our family. They sleep in the house, watch TV with us, and they even have their own Christmas stockings. Yes, they may be hunting dogs, but they are also family pets.





I don’t believe that a hunting dog should be restricted to the title of a working dog only. I feel that dogs that are also members of the family will learn faster. I also think that the family dog will stay in better shape off season than one that stays outside and only gets a good workout when you have time to take them out. Just tossing a tennis ball down the hall benefits the retriever more than laying out in the sun.


Now I hear a lot of arguments about this. People want to compare the skills of my dogs to theirs. Well it has nothing to do with my dogs lifestyle. It has all to do with my training. I will never claim to be a great trainer. I can teach my dogs to hunt, but I don’t have the skill to make them competition dogs.


Richard A. Wolters is well known as probably the best trainer of hunting dogs. His method of training shows the importance of keeping your hunting dog a part of the family. His methods of training are finally being accepted by more and more professional trainers worldwide.


When keeping your hunting dog as a family pet, there really is nothing different to do. To a dog, going hunting is just another game. They will fetch a bird just as readily as they fetch a ball and don’t think of it as work. When my dogs see me getting ready to head out to the field, they get all excited. They know what is going to happen. They know it’s time to go out and play.


Changing your beliefs on this subject can be difficult. A hunting dog is not something that you can just throw away if you make a mistake. I recommend that you read all that you can on the subject to help you with this decision. Read up on the most recent training techniques. Stay away from the old training methods where they insist that your dog needs to be locked up in a small 10X10 fence and only taken out to train.


If you do make this change I’m sure that you’ll find you have a happier dog that will learn faster than any previous hunting dog that you had before. You’ll also find that you have more than just a hunting dog, you’ll actually have a hunting partner.


Happy Training!

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