Labs as scent dogs

[wickit]

Can labs make good scent dogs. We only have room for one more dog already have a akita golden lab cross and a heniz 57. We would like to get a puppy for our daughter to grow with seening that the other dogs are 9 and 7 years old. I would like a hound but I think that a chocolate lab would be better with kids. So can a lad be trained to track by scent or should I just train it for retriving. Any good chocolate lab breeder in B.C or any ones I should stay away from.

[Dirty]

They use labs for drug, currency, and bomb detection so I guess you may be able to use them for scent training :) . Training for retrieving sounds like a good idea too. Why not train it for both, you could get it to sniff out grow-ops and then go retrieve it for you :idea: .

[rick stewart]

i now guys up north that swear that there lab will out produce there hounds when it comes to running cats as of hounds around kids my daughter is 2 she pulls on my hounds ears ,jumps on her and rides her my hound just gets up and walks away some times dragging her behind.

[Fisher-Dude]

Any dog could be trained as a scent dog. Labs have great noses and would be a MUCH better choice for a family pet than a hyper cougar hound. My friend is a dog trainer, and her WP Griffon cross from the SPCA can find you instantly no matter where you hide. In a field trial tracking competition she did stray off the scent path though...but it was to pick up a lost wallet in the long grass that had a roach and rolling papers in it! :eek:

My wolfhound cross has been given some scent training, and he's great at following and retrieving game. I say go for the temperament and intelligence first and train them to do what you want.

[Bow Walker]

Not to hi-jack the thread...............but it does have a bit to do with scent.

Why do dogs roll in the stinkiest, rottenest, foulest stuff they can find?

I've had a couple of family pet type dogs and both of them go for the ugliest stuff to roll in that they can find. One rolled in a dead salmon on the banks of a river one time.

Talk about a smell !!...........and I was hung over at the time. Not a pleasant chore - giving her a bath.

Pukie-la-barf!!

[wickit]

I live on a farm and have cattle guess what my dogs like to roll in.

[Bow Walker]

Chicken shit?

[Will]

I live on a farm and have cattle guess what my dogs like to roll in.
My buddies Dog not only rolls in it but eats it too.......so much that it then barfs it up...Yummy ! :|

If you drip some smoked oyster oil on the floor from a can my Lab will roll around and rub Her face all over it......weird :lol:

But she doesn't eat Poop so I can live with the smoked oyster fetish:)

[Bow Walker]

I take my 1 yr old pup(?) up Mt. Doug (here in Vict.) for a hike just about every day, the trails are also used by horseback riders.

Yup - the pup likes to chew on the fresh (or not so fresh) horse biscuits. I didn't get to her in time on one trip and she spewed her drinking water (it's a tough climb) and her treats and the horse cookies all over my back seat on the way home. Talk about a mess.

Another time she found some sort of excrement in the bush surrounding the archery range and rolled all through it. I couldn't see her at the time. All the way home (about a 20 min. ride) I had the windows down - didn't make a whole heckova lot of difference. Whew! What a stink. I had to bath her (in the bathtub) as soon as we got home. Good thing I wasn't hungover or anything.

[Fisher-Dude]

My wolfhound ate some horse crap once, got a bug, and was really sick for a few days (vet = $$$ :mad: ).

So we did some training with the pinch collar. I let him wander over to where there was a pile of steamy delights, then corrected him sharply with the pinch collar and "NO!". We kept doing it...fortunately he is a highly intelligent dog, and responded to the training really well and quickly.

Now when we are out walking and there are some chewy morsels on the road, he looks at them, then at me, and walks on by. Try it with your dogs...firm and consistent...they will learn.

PS - Will, what are you doin eating all those oysters? :rolleyes:

[mwj]

re labs as scent dogs. i have a choc. lab and when she was about 10 months old buddy brought over a goose wing. "jessie" had never smelt "bird" before . wow what a reaction.....out of site buddy drug that goose wing back and forth across my back yard. we brought jessie out and put her on the scent. took her about 10 seconds and she had that wing. brought it back too....

[sako7mm]

So can a lad be trained to track by scent or should I just train it for retriving.

I've been looking into this for the past few years and talked to a fellow in Ontario who trains labs for scent work. He explained to me that you should only focus on one aspect of work for your dog, either scent work or retrieving work. Apparently there are some similar signals which you use and it also over extends the dogs ability to be really effective at doing one thing by trying to excel at both. Concentrate on one aspect so you can polish of the dogs abilities, personally, I'm leaning to the field retrieval aspect and field trials etc.

[416]

Originally Posted by wickit http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=144549#post144549)
So can a lad be trained to track by scent or should I just train it for retriving

Depends what you want out of your dog. I train with some local people who run their labs for trials and there is a gal that shows up occasionally who raises chocolates for scenting mainly, but brings them out for retrieving exercise. They may never make open trial champions, but they certainly know how to run marks, and appear to be well rounded dogs for both work and family interaction. The scenting abilities of her particular dogs have made them sought after by law enforcement agencies as drug dogs and for working airports.
Being new to the game myself l am not trying to contradict what breeders have to say..........its just a first hand experience l have seen.

[GoatGuy]

I've got a chocolate lab and she tracks pretty much anything; grizz, blacks, deer, goats and even a cat last winter.

Won't stay on a wolf track though, hates 'em - don't know how they know but even wolf we've ever killed she won't even go near.

[Spokerider]

What kind of scent tracking do you have in mind? Birding? Cats / bears? Wounded game? Other?

What the dog does after it's made the track is something to consider too. You might find a lab lazily wagging it's tail at a cat or bear once it makes sight of it......not exactly what a lion / bear hunter is looking for in a dog......

So, you might factor in all of the other variables and desires that you'd like to see this next dog excell in, as you already know, some breeds are more suited to specific tasks than others.

BTW, my hound pup is shaping up to be a great house pet. She's obedient, playful, loves contact, etc. She IS a little loud however when she sees a kitty on the side of the road and opens up right in my ear when out driving! Kinda makes me deaf in that ear for a while.......

I think socialization and much human contact during the formative months is key to the begginings of a well rounded and socialized puppy / pet. You can't handle and socialize a puppy too much, exposing it to wide and varying circumstances [ non-threatening at this time ] likely to be encountered later during this formative time.

[walker(bandit)]

Well i have had great sucsess with my hounds sofar the are smart freindly love kids and don't roll around in crap they cheek it out then will either berk like made or seach for where the track went and my dogs are only 10 months and 13 weeks.Pm if your would like to know more.The dog on my profile is on a coon at 7 months.

[Ovis17]

Give Donna Savage a call / check out her website at www.fairlawnlabradors.ca (http://www.fairlawnlabradors.ca) I got a pup off of her in 2002 and he is a great all around dog with my kids and on pheasants, ducks. She is based out of Delta.