multi purpose hunting dog?

[j_d]

Greetings, Im considering getting a hunting dog, my problem is that while hunting with a dog is great maintaining a dog through the much longer off season is alot of work and expense. All of the information i find deals with highly specialized, mostly single species hunting dogs. Does anyone have any experience with a dog that will hunt multi species, say coon, rabbit possibly help track down anything else i manage to shoot or trap. Thanks.
josh

[RangerRick]

IMHO the terrier is probably the most versitle hunting dog around however as with any dog the problem is if you exept em to hunt many different things - they will, especially when you're looking for rabbits they're lookin for anything that moves. When you're looking for coon they're looking for everything that their nose picks up. You want snowshoes she will put up grouse. Be careful what ya wish for.

;)

Rick

[jim]

Black Mouthed Curs age good also. Think Ole Yeller.
jim

[Tuckahoe]

Cur dogs are about as do everything that you can get. Squirrel dog by day coon dog by night. They are also great pets and family dogs.

I raise beagle jack russel cross (Jackabee) that are great little dogs and work for deer, squirrel, rabbit upland birds.

We also had an unplanned litter of pups this year that were Bloodhound and Chow. We kept one female named Sandy that we call a Chow Hound.

[walls0stone]

Like RR said, it's not so easy.

If you had a dog that ran deer, rabbit and would flush grouse, do you carry a 30-06 and a 12 gauge at the same time?

[flatwater]

Good advice from all. It's a lot like buying a tool that does everything. You soon fined out it does nothing well. Same goes for dogs.
flatwater

[walls0stone]

Let me kick in here.
I've got some great friends..known each other forever. When one of us makes a purchase latly, we ask what the other's think. At this point the guys and I are all about rabbits. We just have more of them. but before we all had kids and so on... I had the bird dogs, and others had the rabbit dogs.
I'd rather have a kick ass rabbit dog, OR a kick ass bird dog..than a so so anything.

[traper]

i have a dog i just got from the pound at about 12 weeks old had him for about a month and a half an already trained for hunting pretty well hes a great dog real smart hes half rot an half spanual

[retrieverman]

I use a Lab for all my hunting needs.

[remington]

I hunting dog is a rat terrier and I use her for opossum, coon, rabbit, squirrel, and turkey.

[OzarkMtnDaredevil]

I use a Lab for all my hunting needs.

;D You guys and your 'hunting' dogs. ;D
You'll call me a liar but, I swear it's the truth. I have a 'fishing' dog.
I have a 10 month old black Lab and a 2 acre pond behind the house. Moose will be swimming and playing and then suddenly stop (freeze) and act like he's on point. Without barking, he'll suddenly dive and come up with a Bass or a Bluegill, bring it up on the bank and drop it at my feet and start barking at it. He's gentle with them and I release most back to the pond. We did bring home a 3 pounder last week, though. I'm not jiving you! :P

[rAcErRicK]

I believe that Ozark. That is the most unique thing about a lab, they don't care what it is. If they discover that you want it, they are happy to go get it for you. I had one years ago that would do the same thing, she never caught a big fish, but brought in several small ones. She would be swimming along or wading, and spot a minnow and lunge and scoop him up. If they get your approval and reward they will gladly do it. Awesome dogs. There's not much more enjoyable than going in the woods with a good dog. :)

[walls0stone]

I had a britt that would catch fish.. was funny.

But a rat terrer vs a pissed off coon? Your Dog ever get hold of a coon?

You can only use a dog for Coon, rabbits, and birds in pa. not deer, turkey or other large game. I guess squierels are ok, but we have so many reds and greys... it's like saying.."I have a dog for shooting tin cans "...actualy that would be cool.

I have beagels. Grade Dogs, tri Color, bawl mouth, go all day dogs. But I work with them enough to make good rabbit hunters of them. I mean more than just running and barking... They don't run deer, they will ignore grouse and other game... they just chase rabbit.

they know were Mr Cottontail doubles back, were he cuts a 90... I do this becouse I'm so stuck to the farm with feeding cattle ect, that it's easyer to gather my friends here, or go to another friends farm...put our hounds together and take pride in the sound of all our dogs running.

If ya just want to shoot food, heck you don't even need a dog. Just toss rocks into brush piles and shoot when they come out. ;D

[Justacowboy]

If I was only going to have one dog it would be an Airedale.. they can retrieve, tree and track and I even had one when I was a kid that would herd. They are naturally protective and just make super pets.

I hunt big game with dogs now and run coyotes so I have specialized dogs now. I have scent hounds for lions, bears and bobcats and stag hounds or greyhound crosses for coyotes.. I have a half Airedale but no full blood Airedales now mainly because I'm feeding so many other dogs and an Airedale doesn't have the speed to catch a coyote or the nose to trail an over night track in this country..

But if I just had one it would be an Airedale ..

[remington]

walls-She will fight a coon. I have seen her fight and kill very, very large coon. She will also fight turkey, bobcats and coyotes but that is something else. If it moves she will chase it and with her prey drive she will not stop until it is dead on the ground. I have never seen her run from anything. By the way this is not your ordinary rat dog this is a Decker rat terrier 30-50 lbs.

[the_grizz]

my ideal dog would be a 1/4 ridgeback,1/4 redbone,1/4 leopard cur and 1/4 gwp

[RangerRick]

I was down on the lake 2 weeks ago and my pound Chihuahua and he tied into a coon at about 2 AM. He shouldn't have as he roundly got his butt handed to him. I hope he learned his lesson.

Rick

[remington]

Ridgebacks. Gotta love them too.

[farmboy]

I would say any Cur or fiest, but many dogs would do what you want. It is a matter of finding a dog to do what you want I have seen labs and lab mixes make good coon dogs and even hog dogs. If you can find a ridgeback or an airedale from a breeder that has hunting stock they would work. But if you get a dog whose parents and grandparents have been proven hunting dogs on multiple game species then you are more likely to get what you want on your first dog. Curs and fiest are proven and commonly bred to hunt multiple game species.
Here are some links
Fiest- http://squackerjack.tripod.com/
Curs & Fiest
http://www.sqdog.com/
So what it really boils down to is what you want in a hunting dog.

[zachweiss]

BLACK MOUTHED CURS

My dad uses his to hunt coon, wild hog and just about anything else that runs wild in Missouri!

...and they are tough as nails!

Very impressive!

He also has a Catahoula (BIG, Powerful Jaws - Used for hunting hogs, bear...etc). The Black Mouthed Cur hunts circles around the Catahoula!

On a completely different note, I owned a Bluetick ("Ginger") years and years ago that was a coon-treein' machine!

and I also owned an airedale for a few months when I was a kid....talk about the absolute ugliest thing that I have ever seen in my life.

[madmac]

best dog I ever hunted with was border collie and coyote. 35 pounds soaking wet. Looked like his dad, border collie, just skinny. His mother was so ugly it hurt to look at her but she made great pups. Anyway old Sam was hell on squirrels, would sometimes catch rabbits and would flush birds. Sam learned verbal and visual commands faster than any dog I have ever owned. He was all heart and lived to hunt. If it had fur it was game. I used him a lot for preditor hunting and he always gave me first shot. After that it was his. I always tried to make that first shot count. I never seen a dog get bit as often as Sam. Hardly a day went by he didn't have some kind of rodent hanging from his face while he was doing his best to win the fight. Kinda hurt just to watch. Great family dog with the grandkids too. Sam lost his life to a herd of javalinas one afternoon. I didn't see the fight, just found him after it was over. Miss him till this day. Dogs are great hunting companions, always ready for the next hunt, don't care if you miss your shoot as they will find another one and most of all they are as glad to be in the woods as you are. By the way, I like your stories about your dogs catching fish. I can just see that.