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Hunter's Progress
10-6-06 Last night I brought Hunter home, finally. He is still trying to adjust to his new home. He loves to romp and play, but he really, really, really hates when play time is over. I got to play with him for a couple hours today, but then I had to leave for the evening and he hated every minute of it. It is hard to leave him when he is crying, but I guess we will both have to get used to being apart some, while I am working. I hope that he gets used to the routine pretty quickly.
10-8-06 Well I've had a couple more great play times with Hunter. He loved staying right under mine and my wife's feet as we did some work in the yard. We just got back inside from playing for about an hour and he only wimpered a couple minutes, when we put him up. I am glad to see that he is starting to settle in, I put a t-shirt that I had worn, in his house with him. Yesterday, I thought I would just see what he would do with a squirrel tail that I had frozen and thrawed out. I didn't even wave it in front of his nose twice and he was ready to fight me for it. He loved chewing on it and did a fair job of sniffing it out a couple times. I wanted to see what his nose was like, so I decided to drag the tail on the ground a short distance while he wasn't looking. When I got his attention, he started toward me and when he got to the beginning of the drag, he put his nose down and followed pretty close to the path that I layed. He still had some trouble along the way, but he did a great job for 6 weeks old. I let him have the tail to chew on for a short time and then he started trying to eat too much at one time and I took it from him. I think he his going to make a great squirrel dog!!!
10-22-06 I have been concentrating on bonding with Hunter and playing with him. He really likes to bite hands and ankles (not a good habit, but he is still a puppy). I have read that at about 8 weeks old, is a good time to start some obedience training, in short sessions. That means that I need to start working on some obedience training with him starting this week. They say to start off slow and make it fun. I am ready to start taking him to the woods and work with more hunting specific training, but I am going to be patient. I read on Squirrel Dog Central that being over anxious is not good, they seem to agree that patience is the key.
11-4-06 On Hunters' first trip to the woods, he really enjoyed staying right under my feet and trying to chew on the laces on my boots. He is still really young and is just a puppy. I want to get him in the woods as much as possible to get him used to the sounds, smells and sights of the woods, even though he is not ready to actually hunt. Hopefully, as we make trips to the woods, we will spook up a squirrel or two and he can see them first hand. I can't wait to see his reaction when he gets close to a live squirrel. I have a feeling that he will be pretty excited, because he love for me to show him a squirrel tail. He attacts it like crazy, so I'd say that his nose is already well on its' way to being focused on the smell of a squirrel.
It's fixin' to be firearms deer season here in Missouri, so I probably won't get to take Hunter to the woods much for a few weeks. After Thanksgiving, I want to really spend some time in the woods with him and maybe attempt catching a live squirrel in a trap for him to experience.
12-2-06 Hunter and I got a chance to go to the woods this morning, by ourselves (without our other family dog). It was a fun time, but we didn't get close to any squirrels. I saw two at a short distance in the woods, but we weren't able to get to them before they got away from us. I was happy though, because when we got the area that they had been in, Hunter started really sniffing a log. They must have been on the log, because he walked the whole 7 foot log down and back with his nose right on it.
I'm hoping to go back out in the late afternoon, and hopefully I can get Hunter close to one for him to see a live squirrel. I really want to get him experienced with knowing that squirrel is the game that I want him to hunt. All in all, I feel that he is doing pretty good. He will listen to the "come" command really good, when we are alone and without distraction.
1-20-07 Well over the past month or so, it has rained off and on at the times that I would had available to take Hunter to the woods. I've had him in the woods about 5 times since I last wrote and he heard a squirrel in the leaves once. I don't think he had any idea that it was a squirrel, but he ran a short ways to it and barked. I never saw it tree and he didn't get out sight and turned around and came back to me.
I have had 2 live squirrels in a trap for him though. The first one was pretty tired and I let him get a smell of it while it was in the trap and then released it about 8 feet from a tree. He followed it to the tree and looked up, but then immediately came back to me without being phased much by the experience. The second one, I let him smell and play with in the trap a little and then turned it loose a good 15 yards from any trees. Hunter got a late jump on it, but stayed on it for about another 20 yards through a small group of trees and then lost it. That squirrel didn't ever tree in sight either. I followed him and tried to encourage and excite him. He kept going back to spots that the squirrel had jumped through at and would sniff the ground good.
I would say that with some more time in the woods, he will make a good squirrel dog. I just haven't been able to get him in the squirrels in the woods yet. Everytime we go, we're lucky to see one up a tree at a distance and Hunter doesn't even know it's there. He is getting good at looking up at the birds that are eating the corn and seeds that I have out to attract the squirrels close to his pen. Still no squirrels that I've seen close in the yard either. I'll try to get a picture if I do the trapped squirrel thing again so you can see an action shot and see how he is growing.
1-27-07 Well Hunter got another opportunity to experience a live squirrel. He showed interest in the squirrel while it was still in the trap. On this occassion, he chased the squirrel across the yard and ran it up a tree. He lost sight of it when it got up the tree though. I probably should not have shot the squirrel out, since he was not focusing on it, but I did anyway. Hunter really enjoyed the squirrel when it got on the ground. We played tug-of-war with it for a little bit and then I took it from him. After I put him back in the pen, I let him have the squirrel to play with and get used to the smell and taste again real good. He played with that dead squirrel for at least 3 hours non-stop. When he finally stopped, it was only because he was exhausted and went right to sleep.
5-22-07 It has been a while since I have been able to get Hunter in the woods, but last Saturday (5-19-07), he finally saw a live, wild squirrel and did a pretty good job chasing it for his first time. It looks like the squirrels are going to be decent in number this year in my neck of the woods. I'm hoping to be able to shoot one out for him soon. Season opens this Saturday (5-26-07). If he doesn't keep his nose on the next squirrel or if I can't get him on one soon, I'm going to try to trap another squirrel (Have to wait for the season to open though).
I found out in that past few weeks that our tiny toy poodle, Toby, wants to be a serious squirrel dog too. He has chased and treed several yard squirrels at my in-laws. He likes to chase rabbits too and has actually caught one or two lately. All I have to do is say, "Where's that squirrel" and Toby hits the nearest tree looking up and jumping up on the tree.
Update Information April 2, 2009
I've not updated these pages with details of Hunters' progress lately, but am trying to get the pages cleaned up a bit. As for his progress, a combination of a very low squirrel population, not spending enough time in the woods and some frustration with Hunter attacking Toby, he has not progressed as a squirrel dog very well. I blame most of it on myself. I didn't get him in the woods enough to get him started firmly. He has also shown aggression to Toby a few times.
I guess, my attempt at training Hunter failed for the most part. I am going to try to see what he does this next season if we have any squirrels. If you are thinking about getting a squirrel dog, make sure that you have the time to keep them in the woods or get a firmly started dog to start out with.
As far as squirrel hunting, you don't have to have a dog to have fun. Hunting with a dog is a different experience than hunting alone though. Whatever method of squirrel hunting you chose, have fun and be safe.
Products
I have written an Ebook (Microsoft Word format) called, " How to Get Started Squirrel Hunting", to help get the word out that squirrel hunting is a great outdoor activity. If you have ever wanted to learn how to squirrel hunt or want a way to teach someone else, check out my Ebook by clicking the title above. It would make a great Christmas gift for the young hunter in your life.
If you have questions or comments, send them to: 
@squirrelfur.com
