Several have asked me to put a page on this site on how to pick a pup and train it into a good squirrel dog. The first thing I highly recommend is choosing a pup from good treeing blood lines. I can’t stress this enough. Now this doesn’t mean that there aren’t or ever have been good squirrel dogs come from non-proven blood lines. I have seen some good dogs come from non-treeing bloodlines. The problem I have saw with the dogs from non-treeing bloodlines it that they hardly ever reproduce squirrel dogs in their pups.
Good hunting dogs are mans best friends so when they do something we like and we want them to consistently repeat we need to praise them for it. There are things I watch and look for in a new litter of pups. After they are a few days old I like to handle them. I will dock their tails at day 2 or 3. I will beat on a pan each day when I feed the gyp and continue this for several weeks. I will praise them for not running. This will help them with loud noises such as gun fire. I have never had a gun shy pup doing this. If there is a pup that whimpers and acts like it isn’t liking you to handle it, it may be a shy pup. So I keep a eye on this one and if it continues acting this way after handling it several days I stay away from this pup. I watch for the first pup in the litter that will come to me when I open the top of the whelping box. I will praise him each time he greets me. If this pup continues being the first to come to me day in and day out I like this pup and keep a eye on him. I watch to see which pups ears stand up erect first. I like dogs with erect ears and I have found that the early ones to stand up if bred are more than likely will pass this on to their pups. I watch to see which pup is the first out of the whelping box on his own normally around 3 to 4 weeks. If this pup is the same one to come out of the box for a few days in a row I like this pup. I try to wean the pups off my gyps as soon as possible so I start trying to get them to eat warm milk. At 3 weeks I start taking the gyp out of the brood box during the day and leave her with the pups at night. I will put puppy chow soaked in milk right in the box with the pups. Soon they will start eating. By 4 weeks they are eating good and I will get them out of the box and take them to the yard and let them ramble. I will watch the pups with a keen eye watching for shyness, scared pups, and pups that wander freely and seem to like me and come to me. I will take the gyp away from the pups and only put her in with them twice a day and then just long enough for them to nurse. This won’t take long 10 minutes max. If you watch when she is ready she will walk away from the nursing pups. The fifth week I will only let the pups nurse once a day. The sixth week the pups will be weaned. I have found this to protect the gyp from getting mastitis and having her utters stretched out of proportion. At 6 weeks if I’m keeping a pup out of this litter I will recall all of the things I liked and disliked with the pups. Normally there is one pup that done all the things I liked. Sometimes there is a pup that has done all the things you disliked. I have had litters that I liked them all. When you reach this stage you have your brood dogs right.
Worming the pups. I will make sure the gyp is worm free before she is bred. I will worm the pups with Nemex II at 2, 4, and 6 weeks of age. I will give them puppy 7 & 1 shots at 8 and 11 weeks. I will give them a 8 & 1 shot at 14 weeks and again at 6 months.
Training pups is something I truly enjoy doing. The best way I have found to train a pup to make a good squirrel dog is take a well bred pup and train it with just you and it. This is a very slow and boring time. You will spend hours, days, weeks,and months in the woods with little or no action. But once you get a pup trained like this you normally have you a solid tree dog. I have trained a few this way but these days I may train 4 or 5 and as high as 6 at a time. I will really start handling the pup after it reaches 6 weeks . I will let the kids play and love it up too. My fore fathers didn’t like for the kids to play with their hunting dogs. I can recall them saying you kids will ruin that dog. I have been taught most of what I know about training from my dad and granddad but I have evolved just a little. I like the kids to play with the pups. But I do the training. I think the more the pups like you and your family the more it will want to please you in the woods. I will get some cheap hot dogs and cut them into small pieces then put them in a plastic sandwich bag. Each time I go get the pup out of the kennel I will give it a piece of hotdog. Likewise when I kennel it back up I reward it with a treat and praise him. This will teach him to kennel also. I will get the pups a small ball and let it play with it. After the pup plays with the ball a few days I will rub hotdog on the ball and making sure the pup sees me, I will roll the ball a few feet in front of the pup. The pup will chase his ball and pick it up. That’s when you call your pup to you. If it brings it to you, give it a little hot dog and praise him up good. If it doesn’t bring the ball to you don’t be concerned at this time. But I want all my dogs to retrieve squirrels to me after I shoot them out. At about 8 weeks I will put a small collar on the pup. I will let it wear it a couple days. I will then snap a short lead on the collar just long enough so the pup will step on it when he walks. I will let him do this a couple more days and then I will snap a lead strap on him and teach him to lead. Once he learns the lead and has accepted it good if he still isn’t bringing the ball back to you this is time to move to the next step. Make you a 25 foot lead out of weed eater string and snap it to the pups collar. Let him drag it around and call him to you. If he don’t come pick up the string and pull him gently to you and when he gets to you reward him with the piece of hot dog and praise him. Do this for a couple of days and he should come to you each time you call him. Now if he still isn’t bringing the ball to you put the string back on his collar and roll the ball. If he picks the ball up but still don’t fetch it, pull him in with the string and reward him with the hotdog. This usually is fail proof. A pup is easy to get bored and stressed so keep your sessions short, maybe 2 or 3 retrieves a session.
At about 8 weeks I will get a frozen squirrel tail out of the freezer. Not to teach the pup to tree, that’s bred in him but to look up and teach him to timber. I will tie the tail onto a fishing pole and get the pup chasing it. I will run it up a tree and through the limbs like a squirrel timbering. Don’t do this much and only 5 minutes at a time. Always keep the tail going up the tree and out the limbs. I never use drags or caged game for my dogs. The only thing they see besides the tail is wild game. The squirrel my dogs will hunt they won't find in a cage. I want to mention that this will not work on all pups. Some will make the best dogs but never chase a tail. So don’t be discouraged if the pup don’t.
I get asked all the time, when do you start taking your pups to the woods and training them. This is very easy for me to answer. I think training the pups starts from when its in his mothers tummy. I hunt the gyp the whole time she is carrying the pups. Her adrenalin will carry over to the pups. When the pup is 3 months old I start taking it to the woods. I will give him a treat when I put him in the dog box and when I take him out. Like I stated earlier, I feel the best way is one on one but I cheat and hunt my pups with old finished dogs. This has its pluses and negatives. Some pluses is you don’t have to be in the wood all those hours waiting to see a squirrel to put your pup on. The old dog will take your pup into places where the squirrels are and tree them for it. One of the negatives, you will have to watch and not let your pup become a me too dog. You also got to be careful that the old dog isn’t an alligator and growl and bite your pup anytime especially on and around the tree. This is worse than you scolding the pup. So be very aware of this. I will hunt the pup and old dog together most of the time for a while. Every now and then I will take the pup by itself to see where its progress is. Once the pup starts backing the old dog and treeing with it I will start hunting it mostly by itself and only take it with the old dog occasionally. Because I don’t want it to be (a me too dog) waiting on the old dog to do all the work then run in and tree with it. I want it to hone and develop its own skills. When the pup starts treeing, I will move in to it quickly but quietly, getting to where I can see the pup treeing without letting it know I’m there. I will try to let it tree a while but if it tries to leave I will move on in. I will tell the pup to get back on the tree by taking my hand and smacking the tree hissing him up on the tree giving him lots of praise. I will take a bb gun and make the squirrel timber on the pup often. This drives them nuts and teaches them to watch the timber. My dogs will tree about as many squirrels by site as smell. When I shoot a squirrel out I will do just like I done with the ball. When the pup picks up the squirrel I will call it to me. When it brings the squirrel I will reward it with a treat like the hotdog. My hunting buddy gives his dog the squirrel internals and it works very well too. If the pup picks up the squirrel and doesn’t bring it back to you, try walking off in the direction you were going. More than likely the pup isn’t going to leave his prize behind and will come to you with it and when he does give him a treat. Never chase after him with if he has the squirrel or ball. Make sure if the kids play ball with him to stress not to chase after him if he has the ball.
I hunt alone often and here where I’m located is some very steep terrain. So I want my dogs not only to retrieve but I want them to turn the squirrel for me. So I want my dogs to bark and stay treed until I get to them. Once I get into shooting range I will stop and I want my dogs to turn the squirrel. I will be very still and the dogs will bark on this side and move on the other side barking. This will move Mr. squirrel to my side. If the squirrel bails out I want the dog to be able to follow the squirrel through the trees using his natural instincts and hopefully the teachings I have given him to take it to where it stops.
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