Every hunter who has ever handled a dog in deer country knows the panic; your young hound or bird dog tears through brush and suddenly a deer erupts from the very same cover. Long seconds pass as you wait to see the outcome of the encounter. Will your dog ignore the deer and listen to your commands, or will you have a front-row seat for a high-speed deer chase?
Dogs that chase deer are an irritation, but the consequences of a deer chase can be tragic. Dogs that chase deer can cover lots of ground, crossing roads and property boundaries. A dog racing full speed that’s preoccupied with the thrill of the chase can run headlong onto a highway and be killed by a passing car. Deer chasing dogs have also been shot by irate property owners, and nothing riles a dedicated deer hunter (or hurts the cause of hunting dog owners) as much as the sight of a dog racing in pursuit of a whitetail. At the very least, your day of hunting can suddenly transform into a search and rescue mission, and you probably won’t be the serene, thoughtful trainer your dog needs when you finally catch up to your AWOL canine companion.
No, deer chases are not fun, and through the years I’ve heard all sorts of methods for breaking deer-chasers, none of which ended well for the dog. The key to avoiding the all-out deer chase doesn’t begin in that moment when a whitetail explodes under foot. The best way to avoid a deer chase is to lay the groundwork for good behavior well ahead of time.
Effective training at a young age will give you the tools to help your dog stop chasing deer and other off-game. (Photo courtesy of Brad Fitzpatrick) Proactive, Not Reactive I’ve heard plenty of stories of trainers who, in a state of fury, sent their deer-chasing dogs an electronic message that relayed their intense frustration. Translation: they stimulated the dog with every volt of correction their collar could muster. And while you want to send a clear message that deer aren’t the intended target, a hair-raising shock isn’t always the most effective or productive way to change your dog’s mind about deer chasing. In fact, it can cause even more problems. In some cases that electric lightning bolt causes a dog to believe that spending time in the field with you just isn’t that much fun. In other instances, the dog shrugs off the correction and keeps going. And going. And going.
In truth, breaking dogs from chasing ‘trash” game doesn’t begin when the first deer rushes away in front of your young dog. Instead, it begins when the dogs are young, and you are training the basic commands—particularly recall.
“It can be very tempting to chase deer,” says Tom Loy of Tallgrass Gordon Setters. Cartain breeds or strains of dogs have more desire to chase deer than others, and dogs that are naturally driven to run down game are more likely to follow where a fleeing deer leads them.
Loy spends a great deal of time working his young dogs on basic commands and enforces the recall command. This begins in puppyhood and continues as the dog ages. Loy says that you can correct a dog that fails to recall using an e-collar, but the dog must understand the command and understand the basis for the correction. By doing so, you are sending the message to the dog that they are being corrected for failing to respond to a command which they have mastered and understand because they have been recall trained since a young age. By redirecting the dog using established commands you are simplifying the training process. This reinforcement of recall training also protects your dog. Simply teaching the dog that deer are off-limits doesn’t prevent them from chasing a bird across the road or crossing property boundaries.
Some high-drive dogs may be more difficult to stop from chasing deer than others. (Photo courtesy of Brad Fitzpatrick) The Dedicated Deer Chaser Reinforcing recall simplifies deer breaking for most dogs, and a dog that is recalled when a deer chase starts and gets back to the business of birds soon learns from experience that deer chasing results in a recall command (and perhaps a correction). When they are redirected toward the desired game, they soon learn that deer are off-limits.
There are some dogs, however, that have a hard time kicking the deer-chasing habit. That waving white tail is like a beacon that begs them to follow, and they grow deaf to your recall commands. Their dedication to bad behavior can be infuriating.
Again, this generally boils down to breed and bloodline. A few dogs are simply hard-wired to chase deer, so the process of correcting them is more difficult. Some hounds are particularly prone to deer chasing, and I’ve been told that gun dog breeds that are bred for “fur and feather” hunting are more likely to chase deer though I haven’t witnessed this first-hand.
Since avoiding deer while hunting is rather like attempting to dodge traffic in Manhattan during rush hour, you’re going to have to deal with the issue. I’ve known hound guys to rehome dogs that won’t stop chasing deer, and when you head to the field knowing there’s an outside chance you’ll spend the next several hours chasing down a dog that’s hellbent on running down a deer, it certainly makes going afield less appealing.
The first step is to diagnose whether it’s a specific species that prompts this chase response. If so, you may have a chronic deer chaser, and that translates to a lot of dedicated training. The goals should remain the same—redirect, reward good behavior, and apply correction to stop bad behavior. Reinforce the recall response and make it worthwhile for the dog to act appropriately. I’ve met hound trainers that used deer pens to apply correction in a controlled environment, but the results have not been positive with every dog. You should also consult a trainer and even the breeder.
A good recall and preventative mindset are the best defense against deer chases. (Photo courtesy of Tanner Smedley) Takeaways The best way to prevent a dog from chasing deer is to reinforce early commands and make hunting with you more appealing than a cross-country deer chase. Sometimes that’s as simple as recalling and redirecting a dog once or twice to send the message, and sometimes it’s a challenge that lasts as long as you own the dog. But preventing deer chases needs to be a priority for any hunting dog owner, not only for the safety of the dog but also to protect others (a deer running full tilt onto a busy road is a hazard not only to your canine companion but drivers as well). Hopefully your dog makes it simple, but I believe that with prior training and in-the-moment correction, most trash-running dogs can be corrected.