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Starting on squirrel??????

I've heard some mention starting dogs on squirrel then switching over to coon, what are thoughts and opinions on this??

They are smart enough to do both.

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I don't want my coon dogs treeing squirrels.

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Squirrel

I started the dog I'm hunting now in the day on squirrel,she wasn't doing anything and I don't have another tree dog, why? I got to watch her actions and see what she was doing,corrected her on trash quicker,finished her collar training in the outdoors , see if I was wasting my time. As soon as she started checking trees and barking up I went to hunting her at nite. Has she messed with squirrel at nite? Yes but I belive she will quit she has treed a few coon so far....I would do it again if the circumstance were the same

quote:

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Originally posted by Josh Michaelis
I don't want my coon dogs treeing squirrels.

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Had one that started on squirrel, would tree a pile of squirrel and the occasional coon in the day time. Never ever had one problem with her messing with squirrel at night. Most accurate coon dog I have unsnapped. Maybe just lucky, couldn't imagine she knew the difference from day to night. But you can bet when she got treed with the sun down you were going to see a raccoon.

quote:

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Originally posted by Josh Michaelis
I don't want my coon dogs treeing squirrels.

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Dogs

I'm not a genius but I see no disadvantage to starting a dog on squirrel,some do both pretty well, about treeing slick at nite the difference is not hard to figure out,I always thought I needed to get one started before I could get one broke.....

years ago it was common to start them on squirrel as hounds as a rule didn't have that much tree in them so anything to get them to stop and look up was a plus. Todays dogs have way to much tree power in them to take the chance in my opinion.

Would the type of dog we're talking about starting make a difference then? Competition blood vs. Cold nose trail blood? Walker vs plott?

Last night

Last night
Oops. Seen a coon cross the road, cut a pup loose. He didn't open, worked around smellin. I got back in the truck. I'd say 30 min later, bam treed. Treeing hard. Walked in only thing up there was a big nest. Pow out came a big red squirrel. Hmmm. Not sure why or how but yep it happens. If that ruined him than oops.

Re: Last night

quote:

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Originally posted by nextcoonhunters
Last night
Oops. Seen a coon cross the road, cut a pup loose. He didn't open, worked around smellin. I got back in the truck. I'd say 30 min later, bam treed. Treeing hard. Walked in only thing up there was a big nest. Pow out came a big red squirrel. Hmmm. Not sure why or how but yep it happens. If that ruined him than oops.

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I don’t hunt my older dogs on them but I think it helps pups with their layup accuracy. And I like to eat squirrels.



Tar

quote:

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Originally posted by Josh Michaelis
I don't want my coon dogs treeing squirrels.

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I start taking my pups on woods walks at 10 to 12 weeks old and would be discouraged if they didn't run and tree a few squirrels before 4 months old. I don't encourage or discourage. Haven't had one yet that after a few coon and a couple "NO's" kept messing with them. Squirrels as a general rule don't get a dogs blood up to much after a coon or two in my experience

Since most pups any more are raised in a pen, you don't know what they would do if running loose. lots of pups have started naturally on squirrel, some hunters let their pups run loose with a squirrel dog. I won some pretty good hunts with a dog that was started on squirrel.

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I have a squirrel training pen. I start all of my pups in there.

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If It Climbs, It Ain't Trash

Tracking is tracking

I started some on squirrel, but don't have any around the house. However the kids have cats, like most farms. Been a many a hound that the first thing they tracked wasn't no coon. I've heard lots of different ones say that top hound would run the hair off anything with hair when it was young. Again tracking is tracking. If they can run a squirrel or cat and tree it with time and opportunity to they'll tree coons.

Treeing squirrels is now acceptable in UKC nite hunts ....!
Soooo it's ok.....lol...dual purpose dog.

I have hunted a few times with some lion hunters that say they start their pups on coons.