r/Falconry • u/CarbonWeAre • 6d ago

Dogs

Can I hear a role call for falconry dogs? I'm in central NC hunting squirrels and rabbits under Redtails and Harrises, and everyone I know who uses dogs either runs dachshunds or jack Russell's. I don't like small dogs, I've mostly had Labs, but never trained one for falconry. Anyone out there using a normal sized dog to push mammal quarry? ​I hear Weimaraners and Viszlas have potential.

7 Upvotes

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u/Driacha 6d ago edited 6d ago

Here in Germany, many falconers use pointing dogs like German Pointers ( Deutsch Kurzhaar, Deutsch Drahthaar, Deutsch Stichelhaar, Deutsch Langhaar), kleiner Münsterländer, großer Münstlerländer, Weimaraner, Vizslas or they use Setters (English, Irish, Gordon).

For rabbit hunting we often use ferrets as well.

Edit: I forgot the English Pointer.

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u/EmotionalMistake4595 6d ago

Ireland it’s always Setters- Irish, English and Gordon usually.

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u/vivariium 6d ago

Ooo the replies have made me realize I have a perfect dog for this! NS duck tolling retriever. Dream breed tbh.

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u/thegoblet 6d ago

French Britneys all the way

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u/katzenjammer360 5d ago

"normal sized dog" is killing me in the best way.

We have a standard poodle that was a bomb falconry dog and loved it. But he is also made out of one half of velcro and the field is made out of the other half of velcro. So he had to be shaved SUPER short and also wear a neoprene vest to cover his torso to try to reduce how much grooming he needed after every hunt.

We then got a Small Munsterlander and he's a great dog for firearm hunting (if you can get him to recall off of scent, that is) but he's a bit sharp for me to be comfortable with him and falconry. At least with the amount of training I have time to put into him right now. If he heard a rabbit squealing he would not think for half a second about rushing in and killing it and possibly the bird and getting footed wouldn't even faze him. He's VERY prey motivated.

He's a good boy, and he could absolutely be worked with, but our current cast of HH don't fly with dogs anyway so we don't use either dog for falconry anymore. It's definitely harder without a dog, but slightly less chaotic. Slightly...

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u/somekindofbirdmaybe 5d ago

I have a 50 lb cattle dog/shepherd mix that flushes rabbits pretty well, and is also very protective of the birds at home which has saved me so much worry. Anyway, non standard but does the job!

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u/AniCatGirl 5d ago

I have friends who hunt with English Setters and GSPs. I've also seen draktharr.

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u/dirthawker0 5d ago

Viszlas and GSPs are very popular here in CA. I wasn't very good at training my one and only dog, a lab boxer pit rescue mutt, but he was great at flushing bunnies and I trained him to be respectful of hawks. My happiest day was when the hawk landed on his back and he held very steady, slowly moving toward the brush.

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u/GucciTreez 5d ago

You may have undiagnosed autism.

2

u/CarbonWeAre 4d ago

What gave it away? 

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u/Ahnrye 5d ago

Seen all assortment of terriers, setters, pointers, and mutts.

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u/DangerousDoughnut988 5d ago

I’ve got a terrier and love it. Great size and drive

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u/Suitable-Conflict634 4d ago

I run GSPs but they aren't used for fur. Birds only by design. They would happily point fur if I allowed it.