Hunting Poodles

Training And History Of Hunting Poodles

Hunting poodles have a long and glorious history.  Many people only think of poodles as fluffy little dogs with fancy coats that yap a lot.

Well the Standard poodle was originally developed in Germany as a hunting dog, more specifically a water dog.  Their tight curly hair coat is perfect for keeping them dry and warm in cold water.

The poodle is also a great scent tracker.  Although not used much for this any more it can mark a trail really well.

Poodles were used in France as truffle hunters.  Truffles are a rare fungus that sometimes grows under the stumps of trees, making them almost impossible to find.  But the poodle, thanks to its amazing scent sniffing where able to find these things.

Another great aspect of hunting poodles is that they are highly intelligent, the most intelligent of all the hunting dogs.  As you can see this give them a superior edge against other dogs in remembering marks both on land and water.

Training Hunting Poodles

The training of hunting poodles should start very young.   Start them off with basic commands, like sit, stay, fetch.  You must master voice commands with your hunting poodles, because when they are off running in the woods they must respond to your voice.

Only after they master the basic voice commands take them out into a fenced in back yard for further longer distance training.

An electronic dog training collar is a must for long distance training of hunting poodles.

The best thing to do next is to join a dog hunting club in your area.  They often have fenced in large runs of several acres specifically designed to train hunting dogs.

I only let dogs out in the woods after they have master commands and the running pen.

If your hunting poodles are really good you can enter them into competitions where they compete to find and retrieve land and water marks.

Summary

Don't underestimate the poodle as a hunting dog.  Due to its superior intelligence it will outperform other dogs.

Hunting poodles have a long history, and I hope their future includes them being known as great hunters.