Squirrel dog training Tips

For anyone who has trained a fiest or cur pup how did you train them?
I’m about to get a cur next month and would like to teach him to squirrel hunt for something for me and the kids to do .
Start at 0 as I am ignorant at training .
What age did you introduce them to squirrels? Dead and alive ?
Introduce to gunfire ?
How did you teach them to trail , tree , look up for squirrels , etc etc.
lots of videos on YouTube are there any in particular I should be watching ?

Start with dead squirrels as soon as you get it. As it gets older get it around as many squirrels as possible. Caged work if you can catch them or just take it to the local park with lots of pet squirrels. Biggest thing is make sure it knows what you want it to tree and spend as much time as possible after 5-6 months old with it around squirrels. A good tree dog doesn’t need much training it’s natural. When I picked my two there were 15-20 in two litters different gyps same male. The two I wound up with were the only two that stayed after the squirrel I had pretty much the whole time.

Oh start with 22s in the background as you are playing with them to get them used to a gun. Don’t shoot big guns around them really young.

Like Turkey neck said start with 22 as soon as you get pups . I like putting pup in my lap while shooting. when I shoot ill love them up lets them know nothing to be scared of. I don't like showing one in cage until around 6 months old. but that's me. if pup is breed good they'll figure it out with lots of walking time in woods. get you a good pair of boots and spend every minute in the woods you have. once it starts treeing make sure you shoot squirrel out to pup and let him get that taste in its mouth. shoot as much as possible around pup , clap real loud , bang feed pans around them, yell loud around them all this will help with introducing to shot guns, they'll get used to the loud sounds and not be gun shy with time. don't give up to early , some figure it out really soon , some take time , let them be pups and just enjoy your time in woods walking them around. parks are good areas to introduce them to seeing a lot of squirrels on ground. good luck , nothing like taking kids squirrel hunting with good dogs.

Work on basic dog training skills early on. You need to be able to somewhat control your dog in the woods. It is not a lot of fun if every tree is a half mile away. You burn up a lot of ground quick with those dogs and wear your butt out.

In addition to what has been said above, you need to get them to learn to look up. I had good success with hanging a bird feeder with sunflower seeds about 8 feet up on the end of a limb close to your dog pen. Make it so that the squirrel will really make the limb shake and get the dogs attention. You will have to remove it at some point hopefully because the dog will be barking every time the squirrel comes to feed. Once he gets started, the more you are in the woods the better the dog will be. Don't expect a finished dog in a year but you should see improvements all along the way.

Very good advice given above. I like to get a long stick with a squirrel tail and maybe a foot tied at the end of a string to play with pup. Once they get about 6 months old a little caged game is OK but don't over do it. Dog handling is key...being able to load up in the truck, come to you, and not go where they're not supposed to is important. Some of the best dogs are late starters so be patient. I like to exercise my dogs before I work on any training as it is frustrating to try to work with a dog with pent up energy. Let them burn some energy off when you get them out of the pen and it makes a big difference when training. I'm not a big fan of hunting them with another tree dog, but that can occasionally help. If your dog does start treeing with another dog it is best to go right then solo so that it will hunt its own squirrels. Quite a few dogs and dog handlers make this stuff look easy but a good squirrel dog typically has a lot of hours tied up in hunting to get to where they are. The main thing is to have fun and don't worry about comparing your dogs progress to another as they all get going good on their own time. The best dog I've ever owned started treeing good at 13 months old and I was about to give up on him as I knew of many that were treeing at 7-8 months old. I'm so glad that I kept on hunting and working with him, he is an old man now and I honestly don't know what I'll do when his time is done. He has provided a lot of good memories for kids and grown men alike. I hope you and your boys have the best of luck with your new dog and lots of good hunts !

Kill a squirrel (skin it) tie it on the end of a cane pole with a short line. Drag it up a tree and hang it in a short fork. Doesn’t have to be a big tree obviously.
Then take your dog to the tree and let him sniff around the tree, get him to look up and start shaking it in the fork.
Eventually I ease it down the tree toward the dog hopefully looking up at and barking at the squirrel.
I’ll let him sniff and almost catch it a time or two, then take it back up to the fork keeping the dog excited.
Shoot some quiet 22 ammo and let the squirrel fall and let him have it.
I’ve trained a few. If a dog doesn’t get interested in squirrels this way, he’ll never hunt.
Once he’s interested in them and starts hunting them, you have to just spend time in the woods with your dog to see if they’ll make a good dog or just ok. Which is ok too.

Thank y’all, once again aldeer comes through with experience . I may hit some of yal up in the future if I hit a snag training .

I cant add much pretty much all covered. Don’t give up too soon on one. I had one we were about ready to give up on she would sniff all around the tree everything but bark. Finally at 13 months she cut loose. She was always hunted with another dog that was very dominant on the tree so I think that had something to do with it.