Best breed for big game hunting companion.

[Jaegerr]

I don't have a breed recommendation specifically for your use case, but being around working dogs and owning a few, any "protection" type breed as I'm assuming you're wanting is going to need a fair amount of training and consistency. Lack of proper training and "upkeep" can result in a very large dog being potentially unpredictable and by extension dangerous. Whatever breed you decide on, please seek out a professional trainer who will work with you on your specific needs. Any animal like a cane corso, doberman, german shepherd, etc. are all large dogs with strong bites that you definitely don't want to be reactive or unpredictable. I have a soft spot for rottweilers but seeing as your in Wyoming I'm not sure that would be great late season. Maybe one of the large shepherd breeds or mastiff's? Great Pyrenes even are rock steady, built for winter, and large, and they also are sweet and good family pets so that might be a good fit!

 

[John Doe324]

I had 3 cur dogs at once (2 black mouth cur's and a mountain cur). You are right, those dogs are way smarter than people. All of mine would fight to the death to defend me and my family. The mountain cur was a lot more protective than the black mouthed ones. If you set some boundaries and don't get rough with them, they will do whatever you like. They are the smartest dogs I have ever had.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

My father’s Great Pyrenees treats him like he is a particularly dim witted, slow, and vulnerable sheep as soon as he leaves the yard. She constantly circles and checks everything out up to 200 yards in every direction. I think she would be quite good in this role.

She also points game of all kind and attempts to track.

 

[grfox92]

I had 3 cur dogs at once (2 black mouth cur's and a mountain cur). You are right, those dogs are way smarter than people. All of mine would fight to the death to defend me and my family. The mountain cur was a lot more protective than the black mouthed ones. If you set some boundaries and don't get rough with them, they will do whatever you like. They are the smartest dogs I have ever had.

Ive heard exactly this, and I have heard they are insanely dumb.

Sent from my SM-S731U using Tapatalk

 

[SC HUNTER]

I had a yellow lab/mutt mix that had the purple chow tongue that I found on the side of the road as a little puppy. I took him everywhere I went when I was not at work. I worked at a fire department back then and had 2 out of 3 days off. Charlie was his name, but he quickly earned the name of "Charlie: The Little Shit" I trained him early on using a shock collar and he did great for a few years and I wouldn't even put his collar on him 90% of the time. Early on he was 2 hand fulls and had to be busy or he was tearing something up, digging a hole, trying to pull a water spigot off the side of the house etc. I had to remind him a few times to listen, but he was far and above the best most protective dog I've ever owned. He killed a lab one day that had gotten out of his yard and was trying to bite the neighbors' kids. Charlie was outside and heard the commotion and it might as well had been his kids that were getting chased. By the time I got outside it was all over but the crying and the guy that owned the lab admitted he was aggressive. That same dog was never trained to track deer but if you put him on a blood trail and they were dead chances were high you'd find that deer.

Back on topic. Sorry I miss that dog.

Alot of curs seem to be 1 person dogs it seems like but they are excellent dogs. I would absolutely put an Ecollar on buck and when he tries to pull your wife or kids tell him no sternly and then fry him, he'll learn as it seems he has sense.

My next dog is going to be Black Mouth Cur or another lab. I haven't decided yet, a good dog is hard to beat. I have heard really really good things about blue heelers as well.

 

[huntsman22]

red heelers rock....

 

[Pwb199]

red heelers rock....

I love this post.

 

[JCS271]

I live and hunt in an area similar to yours (and have the occasional Grizzly actually come around my house) so I decided to train a purpose-built dog as a constant trail/hunting companion and early alert or distraction system for Grizzlies. In a former life I spent a tremendous amount of time training LEO working dogs so I'm pretty handy in that respect.

I spent a lot of time searching for the right dog from the right breeder and found exactly what I wanted on a cattle ranch in Northeast Washington. Her parents were working cattle dogs (Catahoula Leopard Dogs) and were also tasked with keeping coyotes and wolves out of the 400 cattle.

There is way too much training detail too discuss here but feel free to PM me I'm always happy to chat on the phone.

The bottom line is you start them early. Have a mental list of everything that you want them to do in the field and tailor frequent training to accomplish that goal.





I have Ruby in the woods every single day of the week. Having just celebrated her fourth birthday , I can honestly state that we move through the woods like a tac team

She is never allowed to proceed ahead of me unless I release her to go through thick overgrown trails. When I stop she stops and when I'm sitting she is not allowed to do anything but sit quietly behind me.












I spent a tremendous amount of time that first spring and summer just having her sit next to me while I ran a foxpro electronic caller just to let her get used to seeing everything from coyotes to black bears come in close.

She learned to sit quietly until I gave her the go signal. Nowadays if she stops and her tail goes up or she puts her nose into the wind I know that it's something of concern. Twice this summer she alerted to thick dog hair cover and barked like crazy. It got my attention and my rifle was ready. Whatever it was disappeared but once again I was very proud of her and we avoided something potentially ugly.

If you work hard at this you will absolutely succeed and reap the rewards for many years.

 

[BLJ]

@JCS271

How does she handle the noise from the rifle being shot? Thanks.