Squirrel Fur

10-6-06    Last night I brought Hunter home, finally. He is still trying to adjust to his new home. He loves to romp and play, but he really, really, really hates when play time is over. I got to play with him for a couple hours today, but then I had to leave for the evening and he hated every minute of it. It is hard to leave him when he is crying, but I guess we will both have to get used to being apart some, while I am working. I hope that he gets used to the routine pretty quickly.

10-8-06     Well I've had a couple more great play times with Hunter. He loved staying right under mine and my wife's feet as we did some work in the yard. We just got back inside from playing for about an hour and he only wimpered a couple minutes, when we put him up. I am glad to see that he is starting to settle in, I put a t-shirt that I had worn, in his house with him. Yesterday, I thought I would just see what he would do with a squirrel tail that I had frozen and thrawed out. I didn't even wave it in front of his nose twice and he was ready to fight me for it. He loved chewing on it and did a fair job of sniffing it out a couple times. I wanted to see what his nose was like, so I decided to drag the tail on the ground a short distance while he wasn't looking. When I got his attention, he started toward me and when he got to the beginning of the drag, he put his nose down and followed pretty close to the path that I layed. He still had some trouble along the way, but he did a great job for 6 weeks old. I let him have the tail to chew on for a short time and then he started trying to eat too much at one time and I took it from him. I think he his going to make a great squirrel dog!!!

10-22-06    I have been concentrating on bonding with Hunter and playing with him. He really likes to bite hands and ankles (not a good habit, but he is still a puppy). I have read that at about 8 weeks old, is a good time to start some obedience training, in short sessions. That means that I need to start working on some obedience training with him starting this week. They say to start off slow and make it fun. I am ready to start taking him to the woods and work with more hunting specific training, but I am going to be patient. I read on Squirrel Dog Central that being over anxious is not good, they seem to agree that patience is the key.

11-4-06    On Hunters' first trip to the woods, he really enjoyed staying right under my feet and trying to chew on the laces on my boots. He is still really young and is just a puppy. I want to get him in the woods as much as possible to get him used to the sounds, smells and sights of the woods, even though he is not ready to actually hunt. Hopefully, as we make trips to the woods, we will spook up a squirrel or two and he can see them first hand. I can't wait to see his reaction when he gets close to a live squirrel. I have a feeling that he will be pretty excited, because he love for me to show him a squirrel tail. He attacts it like crazy, so I'd say that his nose is already well on its' way to being focused on the smell of a squirrel.

It's fixin' to be firearms deer season here in Missouri, so I probably won't get to take Hunter to the woods much for a few weeks. After Thanksgiving, I want to really spend some time in the woods with him and maybe attempt catching a live squirrel in a trap for him to experience.

Continue to read about Hunter's Progress on page 2.