Squirrril dog problem, I need help

ryanh_johnson said:

I raised rat terriers and a few fiests for about 8 years prior to switching over to Mtn. Curs....as far as most of them treeing that way, I only had 2 out of all my time that just treed by sight. So they dont all do that. From my experience of dealing with squirrel dogs at the age of your dog if he is just treeing by sight there is a strong possibility thats all he will ever do. I not gonna say it wont happen for him to tree by smell but its likely he wont. I know this isnt what you want to hear but im just throwing in my .2 cents and being honest with you. Ive never had luck in changing one like that.

But hey you do have a dog that will tree....thats a plus. All I have at this point in time are a couple young dogs, nothing to depend on all the time to tree.

Ryan

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i second this. i had 1 fiest for 4 years that never would bark treed. he would however whine and whimper at the tree. he would trail some but mostly depended on sight. he got stolen from my driveway. the next fiest i had was a barn burner. had all the hunt anyone could ask for. she had a good nose and would trail a squrille ok but she was strongest with site. she could see a bushy tail from a mile away and keep her eye on it till i got there. she would bark some on a hot track but did most of her treeing by site. she was allways looking in the trees. this was ok by me because i did not comp hunt. my point is if you are not completly happy with a dog that hunts this way. you should give it a new home cause you aint never gona be happy. 3 years old and only treeing by site ? that is most likely all he will ever do. i have a cur that will stick his nose in the air when he winds 1 then trying to find just witch tree it is in. if he comes on a hot track you would think he was running a deer the way he barks. but most of the time it is a bushy tail he finds in a tree. good luck with your dog and make him your best friend. you will get more out of him that way

Sounds like you have a perty decent little squirrel dog to me.:biggrin: I tend to like a dog who hunts by scent first and sight second but my dad prefers them to hunt by sight as he does not like to walk a long ways for a den or nest, if the dog trees you know the squirrel is there!! I have had several Mtn Curs and I have 3 Feist (and my folks have two fiest). Out of all the dogs we have had, none of our Feist hunt stricktly by sight! Now I have had several Mtn Curs who would only tree by sight for a while. It seemes as though they will tend to learn what the squirrels smell like and will start treeing a little more on just scent. But these dogs I had never did tree entirely by scent!
You may find that as he gets a little older he may start treeing a few by scent alone. OR, you may have just what you are seeing! If you are happy with the dog I would not worry much about it. For instance, I have a male Feist that locates squirrels like no bodies buisness but he don't bark much. He is learning but I don't think he will ever "blow the top out" on a squirrel. I love the dog, the way he hunts and everything about him except the closed mouthed thing, so I will hang on to him!

Rachel