What a Hunter Needs to Know About His Dog

In southern America hunting is the thing to do. It was the only way to survive for us in the past. And everybody knows that whether you are coon hunting, rabbit hunting, squirrel hunting, or anything else, you need a good dog right there with you. But every hunter has different opinions on which breed of dog would be the best tracker. Every hunter should know several facts before choosing a hunting dog.

A Scottish terrier is probably a bad choice, not that many hunters would go for the cutest dog in the cage to start with. Scottish terriers have very short noses and pricked ears. Pricked ears meaning that they do not hang down, rather they stick up. The disadvantage of having a short nose means that they are less sensitive to odors. Of course, the size of the dogs nose would be one of the first things a hunter looks for when finding a hunting dog. But, many hunters fail to think about the type of ears the dog has.

If one was to look at two dogs side by side, one with pricked ears and one with floppy ears, of course they would think that the one with pricked ears could hear better. Well, this is true. Pricked ears are open to the air and are able to move freely. This allows the dog to use their ears like satellite dishes to seek out where the sound is coming from. Floppy eared dogs are not hard of hearing, but some of the sound is blocked out because their ears hang so low. So if a hunter was just looking at the ears on a dog, they would of course choose one with pricked ears. But here again, many hunters make another mistake. To choose the perfect hunting dog, they need to seek out both the ideal nose and ear size.

Depending on which animal is being tracked, they may be very quiet. So the secret to finding the right hunting dog is their sense of smell, not hearing. So the ideal dog would have a long nose and floppy ears. Floppy ears are an advantage for dogs with long noses. Believe it or not, a dogs ears helps it smell better! When a dog is tracking an animal, they are following its scent on the ground. When a floppy eared dog is running after an animal, their ears flap up and down. This up and down motion lifts the scent off the ground into their nose. This dramatically increases the dogs sense of smell.

So when looking for a good hunting dog, find one with a long nose and floppy ears. Many hunters who have researched facts such as these would recommend coonhounds, bloodhounds, beagles, and basset hounds.